Consumer complaint received 2020-04-08
Company: Comerica
State: WY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I had my regular Social Security Insurance benefits deposited ( {$770.00} ) into my Direct Express card. At XXXX, MST, I withdrew {$200.00} from an ATM. I live in a certain western state and was traveling to another state later that night. When I arrived in the next state, I tried to withdraw another {$200.00} but the ATM said there was insufficient funds. Tried another ATM and got the same results. I then called the card and found out there were five unauthorized transactions on my card. Three of them had been done even before I took out the original {$200.00}. All five of them were done on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I called Direct Express back and was put on hold for at least two hours before I finally hung up. Called back again at XXXX, now XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Was again on hold for one hour and 32 minutes, when XXXX finally came on the line. He tells me, " don't worry about it sir ''. He transferred me to the Dispute Dept.,  was put on hold again, but XXXX (? ) got on the line in just a few minutes. He issued me a new card that I was told I would receive in five to ten calendar days. He went through the amounts charged on my card and to what vendors they were charged to. Of the five transactions, only one had posted, while the others were still pending. He gave me phone numbers and told me I had to call the companies and try to stop the transactions.which were pending. He said I could only file a dispute for the one that had posted. He also informed me that he would be mailing me dispute papers that I would receive in three to five business days. I had to send those papers back to them within ten business days of original date I notified Direct Express ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) of the fraudulent charges. He also gave me a dispute number and a fax number to send back the filled out dispute papers. I ended up forgetting all about the fax number when it came time to return the papers. I was also told that I was to call back in a few days to see if the other transactions had posted so I could file a dispute on them. 
Here are the transactions : 1. {$49.00} at XXXX. to XXXX XXXX. This was the one that had been posted. 
2. {$110.00} at XXXX. to XXXX 's XXXX. ( was later modified with a tip added ) 3. {$190.00} at XXXX. to XXXX 4. {$58.00} at XXXX. to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( again, was later modified with a tip added ) 5. {$29.00} at XXXX. to XXXX XXXX Numbers two through five were all still pending, so I began to call the phone numbers I was given. XXXX XXXX  and XXXX were the only two I could try and stop since there was no number to call for XXXX XXXX XXXX, but I did find the location and was attempting to call the location at a time they might be open for business later in the day. Was not successful getting ahold of them. I talked to XXXX and was successful in getting that transaction to not get posted. XXXX XXXX was a question mark. Not sure that one was going to not get posted. 
I was rather taken back by this whole approach to this process of having the card holder having to call these vendors to get them stopped. I assumed that was a process reserved for the card company. I was certain that I had caught all these charges quickly enough that Direct Express could have caught the thieves red-handed. Apparently not a capability of this company. XXXX was more likely to nab the thief because they were not going to suspect that the sale had been detected and hence thwarted. Plus, they had an address for the delivery, however I was not informed what happened after I contacted them, even though I let them know that I would be willing to testify in any court case. 
On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, ( XXXX. ) tried to call Direct Express to find out about the other amounts to see if they had posted so I could dispute them but was unable to talk to anyone due to them cancelling my card and I had yet to receive my new one. A recorded message said my new card was sent on XXXX, XXXX and I would receive it in five to ten calendar days. So again, there is a problem with their process. How can I call them in a couple of days to dispute the other amounts if I have no new card yet and their computer system won't let me past the recording? 
Finally, 18 calendar days later, I received my new card on XXXX XXXX. Prior to that, I did receive the dispute papers on XXXX XXXX. That was six business days, not the three to five I was told it would take. So now I'm worried that they won't get back to Direct Express in the ten business days from the original date of my dispute. By this time, I had forgotten I was given a fax number to send them back by. I made copies of these forms, but currently can not find them. Due to the Coronavirus, my wife and I are doing some much needed house projects and things are everywhere right now. I am not too worried about them because later on, while talking to a supervisor, she verified those papers with the other amounts on them. More about that later. Anyways, I filled out the papers and on the form, I was asked if there were anymore amounts that I needed to dispute, so I filled in the other four amounts. At the time, I was unaware that the two XXXX XXXX XXXX charges had been posted at a higher amount due to a tip being included. I could not have known that because I still had no new card and couldn't get through to Direct Express. The very next day, I went to the post office and paid an extra XXXX dollars to have the forms sent back within three days so as to make sure I made the deadline. 
XX/XX/XXXX, the day after I received my new card, I called to find out where my claim stood and spoke with XXXX (? ). Can hardly understand anyone who answers the phone, much less their names. Found out for sure that the XXXX transaction had been refunded to my account, so I immediately took out all I could at an ATM just in case my new account got hacked into. This is when I found out that the XXXX XXXX  XXXX transactions had posted for more. I was rather irritated that these were still processed despite my notifying Direct Express the very day they happened, not to mention they were posted at a higher amount than originally appeared. Was told that was their policy. XXXX passed me on to the dispute dept again. Before she did that, she asked me for my email address and my ATM transactions to verify it was me. I asked that my wife be the one to speak with anyone because she had all the details and handles this stuff better. XXXX gave permission to my wife but put me on hold for 17 minutes. XXXX XXXX (? ) asked for my social security number, full name, date of birth, address, and phone number. She said my address was not listed as being tied to this account. Neither one of my email addresses came up tied to the account either. Somehow, my new account got hacked into while I was on hold, and my address was changed to somewhere in the southeastern United States. So without being able to verify my address as being tied to my SS # or my name, I could do nothing, so I ended the call. 
Tried calling back at XXXX. and was told wait time was 30+ minutes. Ended call. Called back at XXXX. and was hung up on. Called back at XXXX. The wait time was now 45+ minutes. Finally gave up until XXXX, hoping at this time I could get somewhere without having to wait forever. This was on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. And thankfully, XXXX answered right away. At this point, I'm a bit frantic because they can't verify my identity and I barely used my new card and it has been hijacked again. XXXX sent a verification code via text message and we got that all cleared up. Nothing had been done to my new card, but there were several attempts to use my old card to places like XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. From there, I was transferred to the fraud dept. and was on hold for about 15 minutes before XXXX answered. I asked him if the other three remaining transactions were included in the dispute yet and was told they were not. XXXX said " a provisional credit could show up at any time ''. Also told me my '' dispute papers were received on XXXX XXXX and that they were being reviewed now and seeing if they will issue provisional credit ''. Told me about the different equipment used to steal card numbers and information. Told me it was good that I did not use my card for online purchases. He then said to call back on XXXX ( this was XXXX  now ) to see what updates there are from the investigators. ****When I asked him if I was going to have to send in more paperwork for the other amounts, he told me he would transfer me to the Dispute Dept to tell the investigators and they will add these amounts to the dispute. He then gave me confusing and conflicting information when I told him I had already told the investigators those amounts. XXXX decided I did not need to be transferred to the Dispute Dept. after all. He asked me if there have been any more transactions since we reported them on the XXXX of XXXX. I said no. He told me " the investigators will see the other transactions and that they will add those to the investigation. '' Told me that " dates were not that important, that they were just guidelines. They don't go by their own rules and it could go however it works out. The investigators will figure it out. '' Also added that " there is no date or specific time I will get a provisional credit, but to keep calling and checking back on the account. " **** I was more confused after talking to XXXX so later on in the day ( XXXX XXXX. ) I tried calling Direct Express again but could not get through. 
Next call was on XXXX XXXX at XXXX. XXXX XXXX (? ) and immediately asked to speak with a supervisor. He tried to ask me what the problem was but I just insisted on a supervisor. By this time I had done some major research on my rights and found the Electronic Fund Transfers Act and so I knew that there were timelines in which I was to be credited provisional amounts during a dispute, along with a plethora of other information on my rights as a card holder. None of which I was being granted by Direct Express. Anyways, a Level Two Supervisor got on the phone after waiting 15 minutes. He wanted to verify my account so asked me some security questions. The second question he asked me was what the color was of the XXXX XXXX I had. And I asked " which one? '' because my wife still has her old XXXX on the property and she drives another one. He would not give me a year on the vehicle so I had to guess. Then the next question I misunderstood him and so answered somewhat incorrectly so he said he would not verify me. Ended up wasting 30 minutes of time for nothing. 
Called back at XXXX. and got someone who had very poor English and could not understand a word he said so I just hung up. Called again at XXXX. and had the same thing happen. Called once more at XXXX. and again asked for a supervisor but was on hold for about 17 minutes and no one had answered so I just gave up for the day. This is how it is constantly when I call them. Wait times are anywhere from no time to over two hours. Doesn't matter what time I call and I have tried every time of day. Or I finally get through only to not be able to understand a word the person says because his/her English is so poor. Many times I will be on hold and get hung up on. Too many times to count this has happened. 
The next time I called, the call lasted two hours and one second shy of seven minutes. XXXX XXXX (? ) and again asked to be given straight to a supervisor. On hold forever and talked to someone who did not say their name very well. I asked if I could let my wife talk for me and they said yes. First, they asked me for the dispute #, but I never got one on any of the correspondence they sent me. My wife talks to the guy and he found the amounts we have been inquiring about for the last month and a half. He puts her on hold so he could look for any updated info on the three amounts. He found nothing but says he will note it on the dispute for the investigators. My wife got mad and demanded something be done so he put her on hold again for about 45 minutes. That is when XXXX in the Dispute Dept. got on the phone. She asked if I wanted to file a new dispute, and explained that was all she could do at this end. She said that if I filed a new dispute that I would be starting over from scratch. I said I did not want to do that so she said I was in the wrong dept. She only has record of the one dispute for {$49.00}. She wants to transfer me to customer service again. She says I have to tell customer service to tell the investigators that we included the other transactions on our paperwork. ****Celeste said that " when we filed our paperwork we put down the other amounts so they were informed that way. They should have been added to the dispute. The dispute is still pending, so they ( customer service ) need to tell investigators to add the other three amounts. " ****Again transferred and put on hold for 18 minutes, then XXXX answered phone. Again asked for supervisor and again put on hold. XXXX XXXX or XXXX. Claimed she was the top supervisor. Gave permission for my wife to talk to her. She asked for the three amounts ... again we go through this with yet another person. She wants to file a separate dispute. My wife so no way are we doing that because we have already filed a dispute on those amounts. We already filed that paperwork and those amounts were on that paperwork my wife told her. She puts my wife on hold to look for that and gets back on phone and surprisingly finds those amounts on the papers we filed back in XXXX. She says she is writing down the other three amounts for the investigators to add to the other dispute. Then my wife starts demanding that we get our provisional credit and that we should get it today. This lady tells her that she can not provide the provisional credit immediately. Says that it is not 100 % guaranteed. My wife disagreed with her. 
The next time we called was on XXXX XXXX at XXXX. and was again on hold forever and hung up before ever speaking to anyone. We have tried several times since then and each time the wait times are 45+ minutes or we get through then get hung up on. I have been recently dealing with setbacks with my XXXX and have been focused more on those issues than I have been on this issue. However, I am now doing well enough and with the lockdown I finally have had the time to sit down and write this lengthy complaint. The last time I spoke to a real person at Direct Express was on XXXX XXXX and it was that supervisor who claimed to have taken care of the remaining transactions to be added to our dispute. She said it would be taken care of, yet we have not heard anything from them. There has never been any provisional credits done for these amounts either and I do believe I have interpreted the Electronic Fund Transfer Act correctly and therefore believe that Direct Express has violated my rights according to this law. If they want to try and tell me that I am past the deadline for these amounts I will say that they can go back to the very day these occurred and see that we informed them immediately and also filed all paperwork correctly regarding these amounts. This money is very much needed, especially now during this virus crisis. I would like to see my account credited for these unauthorized charges and I would like to see this done soon. Now that I have all this extra time, it will be amazing what I can do to get some attention to what I have had to go through with this company. It is a shame that the government has picked such a poor customer service oriented company to supply money to those of us unable to make an income due to health issues. 
The finalized amounts in question are as follows : 1. {$130.00} to XXXX 's XXXX 2. {$83.00} to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX 3. {$29.00} to XXXX XXXX   Grand Total of {$240.00} I did have the original amount of {$49.00} credited back to my account and the case on it was closed. A letter sent to me on XX/XX/XXXX informed me of such. Also of note, when you call to follow up on a dispute, the phone system asks for a SR #. If you can not provide an SR #, you can not access that pathway when calling. On none of the correspondence from Direct Express was there an SR #. The dispute # does not work in its place either. I believe they are just trying to wear down people and make things extremely difficult so people will just give up. That is what has felt like to me this entire time. A lot of misinformation, running around, endless hold times ... these things are meant to irritate people.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief