Consumer complaint received 2017-01-08
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: FL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
My father XXXX XXXX XXXX passed away on XX/XX/XXXX. He banked at Wells Fargo in XXXX, Florida, along with renting a safety deposit box at the same branch. XX/XX/XXXX, my father updated access to the safety deposit box by removing my Mother who had passed away a few months prior. My father was the only named lessee on the safety deposit box. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX an employee allowed someone to access the box and sign a poor forgery of my fathers signature. Which was obviously not my fathers seeing as how he passed away 8 days prior to this. I was told by XXXX XXXX ( Branch Manager ) and XXXX XXXX ( Regional service manager ) that they saw my brother XXXX XXXX impersonate my father on the video. The estate had gone into probate due to unable to find a will at my Fathers time of death. I was appointed the admin of the estate by the courts and obtained a court order to access the safety deposit box. I accessed the safety deposit box on XX/XX/XXXX and it was obviously empty. The day that this was found out ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I was given a copy of the safety box access record and filed a police report. The detective gave them a subpoena requesting the video and the record of access. Senior Attorney XXXX XXXX for Wells Fargo told the detective that there is no longer a video and there are no records of entry. I have a letter from XXXX XXXX stating that " it appears they were removed by a third party, believed to be XXXX XXXX, who procured access to the box through misrepresentation or other unlawful act ''. If there is no longer a video, then how would that statement be true? They also have forgotten that I have a copy of the access records that was submitted to the detective and my attorney handling the probate case. XXXX XXXX states that I do not have a valid claim and they are rejecting it. The Well Fargo Branch in XXXX unlawfully let someone steal the items from my Fathers safety deposit box and they are now destroying evidence and covering up their mistakes. I know what my father stated was in there. There could have been a will, something personal for me along with the items my Father told me were in there and Wells Fargo stripped that from me. XXXX XXXX is a convicted felon so there is no way of getting any of that info from him. In the attached letter XXXX XXXX stated " In fact, you have stated that you do not know whether anything at all was in the box ''. That also is not correct, the report that I wrote for Wells Fargo and the police report stated the items that were in the box. XXXX XXXX also stated " if anything was in the box at the time it was last accessed by the lessee XXXX XXXX, to the extent it is no longer in the box, there is nothing to suggest that Wells Fargo had any involvement in the loss or removal of any such item ( s ) ''. My Father would not be paying an annual fee for the safety deposit box if he had removed the items, my Father was a XXXX and was very tight with his money. The fact that Wells Fargo allowed someone to access the box without proper identification makes them fully involved in the removal of the items.

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