Consumer complaint received 2016-03-18
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: CA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: General purpose card
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing account

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, 2016 I sold a set of racing ski bindings on XXXX. The item was paid through XXXX, packed and then sent to the customer.The payment was shown in my XXXX account, to which I had attempted to attach my XXXX Prepaid Mastercard, so that the funds could be transferred for use in point-of-purchase transactions.I had trouble doing so on my own, so I called the XXXX Prepaid Customer Service number ( XXXX ). The first call ( of an ultimate TOTAL OF 13 CALLS BETWEEN XXXX XXXX ), was met with frustration when the agent, who 's grasp of conversational XXXX was limited, had trouble understanding my issue, continually interrupted me, put me on hold, and ultimately HUNG UP ON ME AFTER BEING " ON HOLD '' FOR 13 MINUTES.BETWEEN XXXX XXXX AND XXXX, 2016 I MADE 13 CALLS TO XXXX PREPAID, ALL FOR THE SAME DILEMMA, AND SPENT A TOTAL OF 2 HOURS AND 32 MINUTES ON THE PHONE WITH THEM, WITH THE END BEING ABSOLUTELY NO RESOLUTION.WHILE ATTEMPTING TO RESOLVE MY ISSUE, THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS WERE MADE TOWARDS ME, MY ACCOUNT AND XXXX, BY THE XXXX PREPAID AGENTS, AND HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED IN COMPLAINTS SENT TO XXXX PREPAID THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE ( PAYPAL.COM/PREPAID ) : XXXX AGENT QUESTIONED THE ORIGINS OF THE FUNDS IUN MY XXXX ACCOUNT. HE ASKED IF I KNEW THE PERSON THAT SENT THE PAYMENT, AND WENT ON TO SAY THAT " HIS SYSTEM SHOWS SOMETHING THAT XXXX ACCOUNT SECURITY SPECIALISTS WILL NEED TO ADDRESS. '' HIS IMPLICATION BEING THAT THE FUNDS WERE THE RESULT OF AN ILLEGAL OR ILLICIT TRANSACTION AND THAT I " COULD BE IN TROUBLE. " .ANOTHER AGENT TRIED TO BLAME THE ISSUE ON XXXX ( I CALLED XXXX XXXX VERIFIED MY IDENTITY ; FUNDS WERE POSITIVE AND AVAILABLE ; THERE WERE NO " SECURITY ISSUES '' ; XXXX HAS NO DIRECT CONNECTION TO THE PREPAID CARDS, OTHER THAN FACILITATING EASY FUND TRANSFERS ). ANOTHER AGENT CLAIMED THAT " THE DEVICES THAT I USE TO ACCESS THE XXXX PREPAID WEBSITE NEED TO BE VERIFIED, AND THAT BY USING MULTIPLE DEVICES ATTEMPTING TO SOLVE THE ISSUE MYSELF, HAS LOCKED MY ACCOUNT '' UNTIL THE DEVICE CAN BE CONFIRMED. WHEN I CALLED THE GUY OUT ; " now, you 're just making XXXX up in order to not admit you have no idea what you 're doing '', he became beligerant, shouted at me something XXXX and then hung up on me.ANOTHER AGENT CLAIMED THAT THE ONLY WAY THAT THE PROBLEM COULD BE RESOLVED WOULD BE A " CONFERENCE CALL BETWEEN HIMSELF, ME, XXXX AND XXXX BANK ''. WHEN I QUESTIONED " XXXX '' AND SAID ; " WHAT ABOUT NETSPEND? '' HE HUNG UP ME.OVER THE COURSE OF THE 2 3/4 HOURS AND 13 CALLS THAT I MADE TO XXXX PREPAID, THEIR AGENTS BELITTLED, INSULTED AND CAJOLED ME OVER WHAT THEY BELIEVED TO BE MY FAULT, MY PROBLEM, AND WERE OF ABSOLUTELY NO HELP.THEY ALTERNATIVELY BLAMED ME, AND THEN XXXX FOR THE PROBLEM, AND XXXX THE CALLS ENDED WITH ME BEING PUT ON HOLD REQUESTING TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER, ONLY TO GET SENT BACK INTO THEIR CALL ROBOT TO START THE PROCESS FROM THE BEGINNING! NOT HAVING THOSE FUNDS AVAILABLE HAD TREMENDOUS REPURCUSSIONS! ; I INTENDED TO USE SOME OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THE XXXX SALE TO PAY FOR THE SHIPPING OF THE ITEM, BUT WAS UNABLE TO, AND HAD TO USE THE LAST OF MY CASH ON HAND TO PAY FOR THE SHIPPING.HAVING NO CASH ON HAND NOW, AND NOT HAVING ACCESS TO MY FUNDS IN MY XXXX ACCOUNT, I WAS ABLE TO SCRAPE UP AND BORROW JUST ENOUGH MONEY TO GET GAS SO I COULD GO TO WORK. FOR XXXX DAY. NOT HAVING ANY MONEY MEANT THAT I MISSED XXXX FULL DAYS OF WORK ( NET LOSS = {$120.00} PER DAY ) I HAD NO MONEY TO BUY FOOD, AND HAD TO SCRAPE MEALS TOGETHER FROM RANDOM ITEMS IN MY CUPBOARDS ; EVER HAVE CHOCOLATE JELLO PUDDING WITH LEMON JELLO SMOOTHIES? DO N'T. THEY XXXX. 
I RAN SHORT ON DOG FOOD AND MY DOGS KNOW WHEN THEY 'RE BEING RIPPED OFF AND ACT UP WHEN THEY DO N'T GET FULL MEALS.I PLANNED ON USING SOME OF THE MONEY TO RE-UP THE SERVICE ON MY PAY-AS-YOU-GO PHONE, WHICH WAS DUE BY XXXX XXXX. SINCE I COULD N'T, I LOST XXXX MINUTES 0F CALL TIME ( NET LOSS {$25.00} )

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation