Consumer complaint received 2022-06-09
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On Saturday XX/XX/2022 I was in XXXX XXXX California at my home at XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX when I received a notification that my chime account was charged for {$54.00} by a company out of XXXX California called XXXX XXXX  As soon as I saw this text notification, I received another text notification that another charge pf {$29.00} was declined due to non sufficient funds ( the account only had around {$60.00} in it at that time and after the unauthorized {$54.00} charge my funds had been depleted under the attempted {$29.00} charge. I immediately called Chime and notified them of this. I was told since I needed my current card to stay active for my work, that I wouldnt want to submit a fraud claim until after I recieved my new card which was fine. I also want to note that I saw 3 more unauthorized and unknown charges however I have been unable to get a hold of these 3 other merchants so I am not going to include them in this complaint.

The representative I spoke to also suggested i try and get a hold of the merchant, XXXX XXXX. I was able to find their information on XXXX and I verified they are a store in a mall in XXXX California who only does in person transactions, they do not do internet transactions. I am including this information because 1 of the many supervisors I spoke to at Chime told me I made the charge online which is false. I was able to contact XXXX XXXX and they confirmed the transaction and confirmed it was an in store transaction for the amount I listed ... .they then also confirmed the 2nd declined transaction did take place but was declined due to nsf. 

I received my new card on Thursday, XX/XX/2022. I activated my new card and then submitted my claim through the chime app to receive the money back for the fraudulent charge. Approximately 25 minutes after submitting my claim, I received an email from Chime that said they are dealing my claim because I made these charges myself. I explained to them that these charges originated out of XXXX California and I have not been to XXXX California ( 750 miles away from my home ) in many years. I have now spoke on to a total of XXXX people at Chime. I have been called names, hung up on, told I was lying and I really made these charges, and laughed at by representatives. I have tried to escalate to a higher tier of customer service but have been denied. I have requested callbacks from the Vice President of Member Experiences XXXX XXXX but have been denied by tier 2 ( supervisors ) customer service. I have done everything in my power to prove that I did not make these charges to include referencing chime to simply look at my account and they can see charges taking place in XXXX XXXX, thus I couldnt have been in XXXX to make these charges. They have caused me a great deal of stress and anger. They refuse to help me and they only ever tell me that their decision is final. I dont know what to do... I am not a rich man. I just want my {$54.00} back and I will move on from them. 

Please help. Chime is stealing from people and not letting people move up their chain of COMMAND to proper levels of management who can actually do something about this. Based on the number of claims put in and the amount of complaints with the Better Business Bureau, Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I believe someone on the inside of Chime is protecting themselves from letting these matters be escalated. I did not AUTHORIZE this or any of the charges I submitted. The charges originated out of XXXX California and I reside in XXXX XXXX California. Please help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation