Consumer complaint received 2023-07-13
Company: TransferWise Ltd
State: CT
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Foreign currency exchange
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023 I initiated an ACH transfer through Wise.com ( formerly Transferwise ) in the amount of {$60000.00} USD, which was sent from our XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX account to Wises account at XXXX XXXX bank in XXXX which would then be converted to EUR and forwarded to our account in the XXXX. As per their instructions I had included my Wise membership number in the reference field This ACH transfer was fully funded from our account at XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and the amount was debited from the account on XX/XX/2023. 

On XX/XX/2023 I still had not received the EUR transfer, and had not received any communication from Wise informing of any issues so I called Wise customer support, connecting with " XXXX in XXXX '' from the large transfers team He stated that due to a " name mismatch ( my wifes name was on the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX account and my name is on the Wise account ) that on XX/XX/2023 they had rejected the transfer from our XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX account into their XXXX XXXX account, and that the {$60000.00} would be refunded back to our XXXX account in XXXX business days, by XX/XX/2023 the latest I asked for a transaction receipt of the refunded transaction and was then sent a fraudulent (? ) transaction receipt with an amount in XXXX and a completely different transaction number. 
Also many required info was left blank. I have attached this transaction receipt to this complaint so you can have a further look. 

On XX/XX/2023 I still had not received the refund and contacted Wise again, speaking with " XXXX in XXXX, XXXX '' At this time I was advised that they needed to see screenshots from my XXXX  account showing the account balances in order to verify that the money had not arrived. I provided this and was told that they are " not sure what happened, but will need to escalate the case and should have an answer for me in XXXX business days '' Also, I was asked by XXXX if XXXX wanted to file an official complaint, which I agreed to do. He wrote my complaint down and stated that complaints are taking very seriously here and would be thoroughly investigated and could take up to 14 days to get a response Later that evening I received a generic email from Wise stating that Weve initiated the refund of your payment, without mentioning any details about amount, transaction number or bank account info. To me this seemed strange as they had previously stated that they had rejected the payment on XX/XX/XXXX and issued the refund that day, not 7 days later. 

On XX/XX/2023 I received an email from Wise Support, signed by XXXX, stating that We have reviewed your complaint and prepared the final response, please find it attached. I will also include this letter in my documents to the CFPB. 
In the complaint final response letter, XXXX blames me several times for the name mismatch and then states that : ( ) The rejections via our partner bank in these cases are manual, and the timeframe for receiving the refund in these cases is a bit different than a regular refund, since it's dependent on the bank processing times. It usually takes XXXX working days but can be longer in some cases. The rejection was submitted to our partner bank, XXXX XXXX on the XXXX of XX/XX/2023, due to the weekend, the XXXX of XXXX was the first business day. Please also note that the XXXX of XXXX was a bank holiday ( ) and As for the transfer receipt, unfortunately transfer receipts for rejections via our partner bank aren't containing much information, since we're not originating a refund transaction but rather leaving it to the bank to return the original transaction as rejection.If there is a further delay with receiving the payment bank, the sender can trace or recall the payment with their bank. In case the sender bank needs any information or documents from us, you can let us know what exactly they need, and we will do our best to provide these information/documents. 

On XX/XX/2023, I still had not received the money, so I replied to XXXX email, asking him to please provide documentation that you have sent the rejection request through XXXX XXXX as he had offered in his complaint response that they were willing to provide these. 
I did not receive a response from XXXX and later that day I called Wise customer support again, and the call disconnected midway through. 

After the call I received an unsigned email from customer support stating that ( ) unfortunately there isn't any way we can speed up the process or provide you with an ETA on this issue. We understand you'd like a proof of rejection however there's not a downloadable version of this action in order for me to send this to you This was getting beyond frustrating now.it was a huge amount of money for us and they handled it so poorly and without any regard for the truth. First promising time frames and documents and then later recanting all of itso I got creative and Googled and found some email addresses for Wise leadership and send them a polite email ( also included in this complaint ) begging for anyone with any responsibilities please get in touch with me asap? 



On XX/XX/2023 I received another unsigned email from Wise customer support stating : Unfortunately, because of a technical problem, it is taking us longer to refund your money. 
We expect this problem to be fixed within the next 5 working days I responded with This is unacceptable. What technical error? You told me it was refunded on the XXXX of XXXX and now this? 

Today, XX/XX/2023 I receive several emails from Wise customer support. 

First an unsigned email at XXXX stating : We've submitted the refund to be processed on the XXXX of XX/XX/2023 but we've received an update from our team that due to a technical issue with our banking partner, refunds can't be processed at this moment. 

Then another email at XXXX, from XXXX XXXX Complaints Specialist stating : We will be opening a full investigation into your issue and In some cases, full investigations can take up to 10 working days to complete In this email, XXXX refers to a completely different transaction number than the one at issue.

I replied stating that these stalling tactics are unacceptable and Why are you keeping my money that does not belong to you? and also tell him about the error in the transaction number. 

At XXXX XXXX emails again, now stating : We've finished investigating to determine whether rejected deposit for transfer ( xxxxxxx ) has been delayed. What we've found is that your deposit was affected by a partner bank delay reported to us on XX/XX/XXXX, involving 118 total transfers. 

Our payments team have informed me that XXXX XXXX has given us an estimated completion date of today. Once they provide us the debit links for the initiated refund, we will be able to provide a proof of refund. You have the right to request any documents we've relied on in our investigation to come to this conclusion. 

and Because we made the error with your transfer, we'll compensate you ( ) with 100 GBP of fee credit. This can be used on any future transfers until the full 100 GBP is used I replied : Yes, please send me all documents that you relied on to come to this conclusion. 



IN CONCLUSION : As of the submittal of this complaint, I have not received any documents from Wise showing that there is an issue with XXXX XXXX or that the transfer has indeed been rejected and refunded. Furthermore I still have not received my money back. Is this a scam, a stalling tactic to collect interest on the funds or?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation