Consumer complaint received 2015-04-01
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: PA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I 'm an account holder with Wells Fargo. In XXXX, I wrote out a check for {$5200.00}. After receiving the check the individual that the check was written out to was unsuccessful in cashing it and the check bounced, after which that individual acquired {$12.00} in fees. After it was brought to my attention, I was perplexed as to why the check would bounce, since I specifically inquired about my balance that same week while I was depositing my funds. After investigating the issue and spending a substantial amount of my time at the bank, I was informed that the reason why my check bounced was " inconsistencies with my signature. '' Although, I appreciate the efforts of Wells Fargo to protect their clients from fraudulent activities, I am extremely upset that Wells Fargo would not make any attempts to contact me before canceling my OWN check and causing me so much stress and time on resolving this issue. I did not receive any notification or messages informing me of the issue and the check was simply canceled and I almost ended up losing extremely valuable transaction and prior deposits that were associated with that transaction! I was also informed that I may be charged additional fees ( {$35.00} XXXX in regards to this transaction. I am perplexed on how I ca n't assign my own funds and Wells Fargo can simply just cancel a transaction because " it seemed like it was n't my signature '' and for Wells Fargo not make a reasonable attempt in contacting me. The account was opened 10 years ago and there might be minor changes in signatures for different reasons like older age. I 'm just wondering why Wells Fargo did n't bounce all of my other checks that were substantially smaller in their amount value, since I write out a lot of them every month. My signatures vary and are not identical every time. It seems that it only benefits Wells Fargo. I had to repay the {$12.00} to the individual for acquiring the fees, additionally had to pay {$10.00} for the cashiers check because I could n't use my OWN check. I do n't see the purpuse of having checks if i ca n't use them. Also, I was informed that for the issue to be resolved I had to write a letter explaining the situation, which I did. It was still not good enough and I was continuously transferred from one department to the next. Wells Fargo representative informed me that they would reimburse me, but they could n't since the receiving party was not a Wells Fargo customer. Does n't make sense to me! They are essentially admitting their fault but ca n't resolve the issue. Every time I will have to write a check for a large amount, I have to notify them?!? It is so frustrating to feel like you have done everything right on your part and you still ca n't get a resolution. 
I would like for the issue to be resolved and all of the fees associated with this transaction reimbursed or stopped, since I do n't feel that I should be held accountable for Wells Fargo 's inadequate assumptions about my own signature. Additionally this account is a joint account and both names on the account have the same initials, hence the confusion might of emerged from there. In any case, I would like to get refunded the {$12.00} that I had to repay, in addition address any further fees/penalties on my account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation