Consumer complaint received 2019-09-15
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
To whom it may concern : I have recently had Wells Fargo deny a claim that I had made for 3 transactions totaling {$870.00}. Wells Fargos claim department made an absolute disaster of the claim. By the time that the claims department was finished it had turned into 2 claims. One was Claim XXXX   XXXX and the other was claim XXXX XXXX. When the claim/claims was/were denied somehow, they reported denying 10 items at over {$2000.00}. How inept can the claims department be!!!!!!! 
Now I am going to start over and need someone at Wells Fargo to correctly complete the claim this time please. The claim is for 3 transactions totaling {$870.00} plus a {$35.00} insufficient funds fee caused by this happening. 
I am going to make every attempt to clarify the happenings and the timeline : XX/XX/2019 - I accidentally misplaced my card ( XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX ) sometime after paying for dinner that evening XX/XX/2019 I went to the XXXX, N.C. Wells Fargo branch and cancelled that debit card. I was issued instant card ( XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX ) and a new card was to be sent to me in the mail. 
XX/XX/2019 Received an email saying that the new card had shipped XX/XX/2019 I reported that the card had still not been received XX/XX/2019 Received an email saying that a second card had shipped XX/XX/2019 I received that new replacement card ( XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX ) and activated it at the XXXX, N.C. branch by making a deposit on XX/XX/2019 AT this moment the temporary card ending in XXXX should have been deactivated immediately. 
At this time, I threw the instant issue card that I had been using away. It was supposed to have been usable ONLY until the replacement card was received and activated or 30 days. My disposal method was bending it in half and placing it in my kitchen trashcan. I live in a house which is 20 miles from the nearest town. I do have trash pick-up but I seriously doubt that they went through every bag that they picked up that day until they found a temporary debit card bent in half. 
I was told over and over again by Wells Fargo that an instant issue card is only good until the permanent replacement card is received and activated or 30 days after it is issued. This means that card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX  SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEACTIVATED on XX/XX/2019 when I activated card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
It was at this time that I put it all behind me and continued with business as usual. I had misplaced a debit card and made it through the hassle of obtaining another permanent card. I had done this before with Wells Fargo without any problems. 
I was scheduled to receive my paycheck on the night of XX/XX/2019 and this is when things went wrong causing the claim to be made as follows : XX/XX/2019 during the night three separate transactions took place on my supposedly deactivated and thrown away temporary card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX  at a XXXX XXXX in XXXX, N.C. about 100 miles from my residence. 
1. Transaction # XXXX for {$300.00} 2. Transaction # XXXX for {$310.00} 3. Transaction # XXXX for {$250.00} XX/XX/2019 When I woke for work at XXXX XXXX  I signed on to check that my paycheck had been deposited and found the above erroneous transactions had taken place. I immediately called Wells Fargo and reported the situation and had the card deactivated. While on the phone with Wells Fargo I was told that the person/persons responsible were in the process of attempting to make a fourth transaction while I was in the process of making the report. 
XX/XX/2019 I went to the XXXX, N.C. Wells Fargo branch that morning when it opened and reported to XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX what had happened. They checked to make certain that a claim had been filed then issued me a new temporary debit card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. They ordered a new permanent card for me at this time. When looking into things XXXX informed me that was not the only person that had bogus transactions reoccurring at the same exact XXXX XXXX location in XXXX, N.C. that night. 
XXXX I received the new permanent card but am afraid to activate it since everything that I have gone through with the last debit card replacement ordeal. 
Over the 10 days ( XX/XX/2019 to XX/XX/2019 ) I was in contact with the claims department and resolution departments daily. {$870.00} was close to 80 % of my check and with XXXX  small children going back to school plus medication for XXXX XXXX  I could not go without these funds that I had worked very hard for. Each and every time that I spoke with a Wells Fargo representative the facts about the transactions were incorrect and confused. The more time went by the worse the confusion became. How can Wells Fargo employ such inept people to work in such important departments? Probably so they can make a disaster of every claim that is filed and make them easier to deny. 
It does not have to be this difficult for Wells Fargo to admit that when the first new permanent card was activated on XX/XX/2019 that the instant issue temporary card issued and signed for on XX/XX/2019 was not deactivated and caused this entire mess. I have not been to XXXX, N.C. in 20 years and definitely was not there in the middle of the night 3 different times purchasing a total of {$870.00} in groceries! With the same thing happening to multiple people happening at the same store at the same time on the same night all with cards that should have been deactivated I feel that it had to have been an employee of Wells Fargo with access to these card numbers. When XXXX had informed me that I was not the only person affected he told me that one of the others was a lady from XXXX, N.C. which is about 100 miles from XXXX, N.C. in the opposite direction from me. 
I need this claim resubmitted and processed correctly this time. Below and attached are screen shots of the 3 transactions from my online registry which clearly show that these transactions took place well after card XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX  was supposed to have been deactivated. In addition to the original {$870.00} I have incurred an insufficient funds fee of {$35.00} as a direct result of this fiasco. In all Wells Fargo owes me a total of {$900.00}. 
I have spoken with the following departments during the course of this misled frenzy : Claims dept cases XXXX and XXXX Resolution dept case XXXX Higher Resolution dept case XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief