Consumer complaint received 2017-05-18
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Confusing or missing disclosures

Complaint:
I decided to sublet an apartment through a post I saw on  XXXX . The apartment was located at  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , MA. The contact who I spoke with was  XXXX   XXXX  and his email was  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX . I viewed the lease and needed to send a deposit of {$3000.00} to hold the apartment and to take it off of the market. I was given an account and routing number to send the money to.     I went into the  Citizens Bank  branch located at  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , MA on  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   at approximately noon. I went in asking to speak with someone because I was wary of the situation. I wanted to see if sending a wire transfer was safe and what my rights were to receive this money back. I acknowledged that this was a  XXXX  posting. I spoke to the  manager   XXXX  and he had me sit with a junior worker. I gave the representative the account number and then the routing number. He stated that the routing number did n't match to that of the account. As I did not have another routing number to give he proceeded to look and select  one himself. He stat ed how it was odd that there were so many accounts in so many different states held by this holder. He assured me this was n't a fraud since he found a routing number that matched the account number. Meanwhile this citizen 's bank representative was unprofessional and made me feel uncomfortable throughout the whole process. I was alone and among other things he commented on how I am " all set '' due to the number of savings I have in my citizen 's bank account. He even said he knew  one  of my coworkers discussed alcohol and how he often gets drinks with my coworkers. As a young female I was n't comfortable with him serving me but went through with the transaction out of pressure.     After leaving the office I felt that something about the transaction was not right. I immediately had reason to believe that the  XXXX  posting was fraudulent. I calle d Citizens ban k after hours on  XXXX  to notify them and see what I could do to get this money back and to cancel the wire. They said since it was  XXXX  or after business hours that there was nothing that they could do but to call the next day. I called the wire department the next day and they opened a claim but told me that it was too late. Ever since then I have been told many different things by citizens bank about what should or should n't have been done. Not many people at the bank seem to know how to handle an incident like this and I was skirted around many times. After contacting the  manager  in the branch he said that I should have contacted him sooner rather than the citizens bank wire department hotline and he said he was working with the fraud department. I was told by him that I will not have an answer about whether there are or are n't funds to be returned until  XXXX .     The receiving bank for the wire was   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX . I am currently waiting to see if there are funds in the account or whether the account was liquidated. If it was liquidated I have been told that I will receive nothing in return.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation