Consumer complaint received 2018-06-07
Company: PEOPLE'S UNITED BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: VA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
Summary : I placed an international wire to transfer funds to an offshore trading account and as of this writing the funds have not reached their destination and have completely disappeared. My bank, Peoples United, the intermediary bank, XXXX XXXX, the beneficiary bank, XXXX ( XXXX ), and the final beneficiary, XXXX ( XXXX ), have no idea where the funds have disappeared to. 

Details : On XX/XX/XXXX I entered a local branch of Peoples United to place an International Wire  Transfer to send XXXX dollars to an account I hold with a XXXX XXXX   in XXXX ( XXXX ).  During this transfer process there was a point of confusion that I need to address. Initially XXXX   customer support sent me an outdated IBAN ( International Bank Account Number ) which was used on the initial transfer. However, having remembered that there was a different IBAN displayed on their website I quickly, within 30 minutes, filed an amendment with the local branch. Documentation will be provided. 

Over the course of the following weeks the funds failed to appear so I began making inquiries with the branch as well as with Peoples United Bank N.A.  Customer Support. The responses I received were always the same, " we are waiting on XXXX to reply to our messages, try back in a few days ''. So, every few days I would call again only to get the same response as before. Having the sneaking suspicion that perhaps some type of incorrect information had been used, I gave a customer support agent the information to double check against that of the information used by the Wire Department. The customer support agent informed me that the previous, and incorrect, IBAN had been used. A week after that I spoke with the Call Center supervisor who informed me of the opposite, that the amendment had actually been implemented. I have also been told that different SWIFT/Sort codes may have been used from the one I provided. Upon receiving two separate stories and being repeatedly told that all they could do was wait for a response from XXXX I requested that they call XXXX directly. In fact, I have requested this measure be taken on multiple occasions and have been refused multiple times. Employees cited that 'all communication had to go through " official channels '' and there was no way for them to contact XXXX outside of what they already were doing '. 

At this point I decided to take matters into my own hands. On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted XXXX customer support, I informed them of the situation and they were very helpful and forthcoming. I spoke with a representative from their Business Banking department, he contacted the XXXX Wire Department to see if any funds had come in from my account number, or in the amount transferred. According to XXXX they hadnt received anything like it. According to XXXX given that they never received anything, they have nothing to reply to, thus my bank is waiting on a reply that will never arrive. This is something I have communicated to my bank several times and yet they still refuse to try other approaches. 

I have also maintained communication with XXXX throughout this ordeal, unfortunately they have no information to add. 

In this day and age everything is electronic, the idea that funds can just be " lost '' is preposterous and Peoples United have shown an extreme lack of competence in the way they have mishandled this situation. It is now XX/XX/XXXX and they still have no idea where the funds are or even what next steps to take. In two hours of making phone calls I had learned more about this situation than they had in two months. The lack of imagination in this regard is disturbing, that no one from senior management can pick up a phone and make a phone call to move things in the right direction so that " official channels '' can even be used, is disturbing. 

The XXXX representative did inform me that perhaps it's in a hold with XXXX XXXX, I attempted to contact XXXX XXXX but they, unfortunately, were not as forthcoming. 

I have also been informed that there may be fees in tracking/recovering these funds, which, in my opinion only adds insult to injury. Given that Peoples United lost these funds, I am holding them directly responsible for replacing them. 

At this point I am surprised and appalled to not have heard from any senior representatives in Peoples United Retail Operations on how they intend to resolve this issue. I have been very patient and understanding thus far, however, clearly it is time to take further action and explore other options. Peoples United Bank 's ability to handle this matter is questionable and I believe their investigation requires oversight.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation