Consumer complaint received 2019-06-03
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
Greetings, I had multiple bank accounts with MB Financial. In early XXXX, Fifth Third Bank converted all MB Financial accounts to Fifth Third Bank accounts. Since that time, I have  used the online bill pay system to schedule payments for things such as utilities and credit cards. 

3 payments were made to credit card companies and funds were withdrawn as expected. Then, the same payments were sent a second time to the credit card companies, effectively double paying the credit card bills. 

I understant there may have been problems with converting from one bank 's systems to another bank 's systems. The problem is that I have spent about 8 hours trying to get customer support and the systems are terrible. I do not know if these double payments will be reversed or not. I do not even know if Fifth Third Bank is trying to get the funds back. Let me provide you with some details. 

On XX/XX/2019 {$380.00} was paid to a credit card company On XX/XX/2019 another {$380.00} was paid to the same credit card company On XX/XX/2019 {$5400.00} was paid to a credit card company On XX/XX/2019 another {$5400.00} was paid to the credit card company On XX/XX/2019 {$8800.00} was paid to a credit card company On XX/XX/2019 another {$8800.00} was paid to the credit card company On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Fifth Third customer support to report that one bill had been paid twice. I was told they would investigate. On XX/XX/XXXX I realized that the problem had happened again and contacted customer support. On XX/XX/XXXX, I could see the problem a third time with a double payment " pending. '' I drove to my local bank branch where the local folks did an online chat and were told the problem would be escalated. 

The local folks saw the same thing that I did. On the bill payment screens, the bill is only scheduled to be paid once. On the account balance screens, the bill is shown as paid twice and the funds withdrawn from the account twice. I did check whith the credit card companies, and yes, the credit card accounts received double payments ( the total amount due two times ). 

On about XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from someone with a name starting with XXXX who told me that they would resolve the matter and get my money back. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called for additional information. Here 's how that process went. 

I called and spoke to XXXX. After 19 minutes XXXX  told me she could not help and transfered me to XXXX. XXXX wanted to help me to log onto my account, which wasn't a problem. XXXX then spent additional time before trying to transfer me and my call was dropped. 

If a call is dropped, these customer support people are not able to call customers back. They explained they have no outbound calling ability. So I had to call back in and start all over again. 

I called and spoke to XXXX  for 43 minutes before she decided she could not help and she transferred me to XXXX. XXXX told me that XXXX had closed out the case. Let me remind you that XXXX had called me to say that the problem would be addressed and my money returned. According to XXXX, when XXXX closed the case, she made the note that " it's not a bank problem '' and there was no effort to get the money from the extra payments back from the credit card companies. I asked XXXX, how XXXX could tell me Fifth Third would get the money back, but then she closed the case with no intention to get the money back and no one updated me to tell me this. XXXX told me that XXXX is very busy. 

Let me repeat that. XXXX called and said my money would be returned. XXXX closed the case and the money was not going to be returned. XXXX did not tell me of this change in plans because XXXX was very busy. 

XXXX told me that this would be investigated and someone would get back to me. This process took about 105 minutes. 

On XX/XX/2019 I called and immediately asked for this matter to be escalated to a manager or supervisor. I then spoke to XXXX. XXXX explained that the ticket was never closed and something needed to be done and I would be notified one it's resolved. 

On XX/XX/2019 I received a call from XXXX from the Office of the President of Fifth Third Bank. XXXX said she'd work on this and get back to me, probably by XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. I did not hear from XXXX, so called her twice on XX/XX/XXXX with no answer and no return of my phone call. XXXX XXXX answering machine gave another phone number as a back up. I called that back up phone number and was told that during the last week two things had been done. 

1 - XXXX called XXXX and asked for an update. XXXX did not respond. 
2 - XXXX called XXXX again asking for an update. XXXX did not respond. 

So here we are. I have spent hours and hours of time trying to understand. 

1 - Will these duplicate transactions be reversed and money returned to my accounts 2 - If I pay these credit card bills using the online system in the future, will the payments be made once or twice. 

I called XXXX again today and left a message. Still no answer. 

It's been 17 days since I first contacted Fifth Third Bank. 

Payments totaling {$14000.00} have been sent twice rather than once and I don't know if those funds will be returned or not. 

I now have new credit card bills to pay. If those duplicate payments will not be returned to my bank accounts, I have a credit ( nothing due ) on the credit cards. If those duplicate payments are being reversed, I need to pay my credit card bills. If I use the online bill pay system, I don't know if the payments will be sent once or twice. 

I do not know what the plan is. I do not know if anyone is working on this. 

I have spent hours and hours of time trying to resolve the matter. 

I the names and employee numbers for the people I spoke to if that is helpful to anyone, however, this seems to be a system error. There should be a way to speak to someone who knows about the case rather than starting from square one each time. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation