Consumer complaint received 2022-04-30
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I attempted to deposit 2 paychecks into the drive-thru ATM at Wells Fargo Bank , located on XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX FL XXXX XXXX Ph ( XXXX ) XXXX, Fax ( XXXX ) XXXX. After placing the checks in the ATM the door of the machine remained open and stated, " Are you still there? ". I hie enter but the next response was, " Still waiting ''. I hit cancel so the transaction would cancel and my checks ( 2 ) totaling {$410.00} would be returned to me. They weren't. Instead, the door closed to end the transaction. I then placed my debit card back in the machine and requested a balance summary to ensure that the machine would not spit out the checks after this malfunction. The ATM gave me the balance. I drove up the the drive-up teller window and spoke to the teller. She referred to the manager at the time, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). He instructed her to tell me to call the number on the ATM. I drove back to the ATM got the number and remained in front of the teller window calling the number until I was told to leave so other customers could be served. After 40 minutes of calling this number outside the bank, I went inside the bank and complained to XXXX XXXX XXXX that I could not get through to claims with that number. He hesitated to assist me at first, but I was insistent, so for at least 2 hours he called claims for me for his phone. We finally got through to place the claim and request a credit for the amount of {$410.00} since these were long awaited and needed pay checks. I received a phone call from the claims dept. later that day, stating that they could not advance me the money until they did their investigation, and that they function differently form the fraud dept. I insisted that these were my paychecks and that I had upcoming payments to make and needed the money. It took them until XX/XX/XXXX to call me and tell me that they were crediting my account with the money. I asked the representative, if they found the checks and he said, " yes. '' Believing all was well and done I went on with my daily life. Unfortunately, my mother died in XX/XX/XXXX and her funeral was in XX/XX/XXXX. Wells Fargo Bank had written a few letters to me informing me that, they did their investigation and found nothing wrong so they will be retracting the temporary credit of {$410.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. It was after observing my account to be overdrawn for {$410.00}, that I realized their action. I filed a complaint with the ATM claims dept. who could not answer the question, Did anyone go to the ATM to retrieve the checks? This was escalated the the Executive Dept. of Wells Fargo, where I spoke to three different executives, all you affirmed that their decision was final. None of these people were located in Florida and none, responded to my request to go to the ATM to retrieve the checks. I stated to them, " This was a physical event not a fraudulent one. Had someone gone to the ATM in a timely manner after the incident, they could have retrieved the checks, instead of informing me two months later that they found nothing wrong. They left it up to me to try to get the checks reissued, however I explained to them that these checks were back pay from an insurance company and I did not recall their dates, etc. I am a XXXX who gets paid for piece work on an irregular basis. This overdraft led to further problems where my current paychecks were absorbed to cover that debt and I had no access to my current earnings. The total is over {$1000.00}. I hope you can help me find the best resolution to this devastating situation. 
Sincerely, XXXX XXXX, Ph. D. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX 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 explanation