Consumer complaint received 2019-05-16
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: VA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
Wells Fargo violates my rights under the laws in the state in which I live. 

Due to past problems with Wells Fargo representatives conveniently forgetting facts and refusing to share recordings of phone calls the company makes, I have begun recording the calls I make to and receive from Wells Fargo. Under the law in Virginia ( where I live and make/take the calls with Wells Fargo ), it is legal for either party in a phone conversation to record the conversation with no requirement to inform the other party of the recording activity. I however, as a courtesy, always say I am recording. 

During these calls, the Wells Fargo representative always begins the conversation by saying the call is being conducted on a recorded or monitored line, indicating Wells Fargo is recording. However when I, as a courtesy, inform the Wells Fargo representative I am also recording, the representative begins to try to intimidate and bully me to stop my recording by firmly stating, " I do not consent to you recording me ''. Actually, that may not be entirely correct as often the Wells Fargo representative simply hangs up when I inform him/her I am recording ( it happened again just yesterday, XXXX XXXX, when representative XXXX XXXX ( as he identified himself ) hung up on me ). When the Wells Fargo representative does not hang up on me, I firmly reply to his/her " I do not consent to you recording me '' statement by informing him/her I am acting well within my rights under Virginia law to record and conversation I am a party to and only inform him/her I am doing so as a courtesy. This usually spirals into a back-and-forth with the Wells Fargo representative repeating his/her objection to being recorded, despite the fact they all begin a phone conversation stating the call is being conducted on a Wells Fargo recorded line. The irony of the Wells Fargo reps not consenting to being recorded when they are fully aware and inform callers Wells Fargo is recording the call is somehow lost on the reps. 

This idiotic behavior is supported by a written corporate policy ( according to Wells Fargo supervisors I have argued the point with ), and is designed with one purpose in mind : intimidate and bully Wells Fargo customers with no regard for their rights or the law. This corporate culture of threat and intimidation of customers is directly in line with federal court decisions regarding Wells Fargo 's " highly reprehensible '' relations with customers ( XXXX XXXX XXXX 's ruling ). It is exacerbated with customers, like me, who are FORCED into a relationship with Wells Fargo ( mortgage servicing ) due to Wells Fargo acquiring mortgages from mortgage lenders without the consent, or even knowledge, of the mortgage customers. If my link to Wells Fargo were anything but a mortgage, I would simply close the account ( s ) and walk away to a better financial institution ( any institution fits that description ). But I have no choice with Wells Fargo acquiring my mortgage with no input from me, except incurring another set of mortgage closing costs ( $ XXXX {$15.00} XXXX ) to refinance the mortgage with no guarantee Wells Fargo wouldn't again acquire the mortgage, which is a XXXX XXXX choice.

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