Consumer complaint received 2022-10-01
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
I logged onto my account XX/XX/XXXX and saw there was an XXXX pull from my business account in the amount of {$9800.00} that had been processed and withdrawn from my account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I called the fraud department and filed a claim. They said they would contact me with an update within XXXX days. 

Several Days went by and I never heard from anyone! No call, voice mail, text or email. 

I logged on again at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX noticed there was another XXXX pull for XXXX XXXXXXXX that was in pending status. I called the fraud department again and asked them to put a stop payment on it since it was pending. They did that and then I asked what they were doing to secure my account and why this was happening? I asked about my previous claim and she said she was send me over to the claims department, after holding she came back and said I the claims department systems were down and that I can try calling them tomorrow. 

I hung up and called back again and spoke to a different agent in claims and they were able to access my claim and said my claim from XX/XX/XXXX was denied, and the reason they gave me was that I didn't report this fraud within XXXX hours of its occurrance. XXXX did nothing to investigate, they simply just denied the claim. So basically as a business account holder, I have to keep an eye on my account every XXXX hours for any fraudulent activity. WellsFargo is basically telling me my money isnt safe with them. The agent wasnt equipped to answer any of my question and wasnt able to guide or help me. Money is being fraudulently taken from my account, and the fraud nor claims department is doing NOTHING to help of prevent it. 

What measures did wellsfargo take to protect my money when I reported the first fraud ach pull? How and why did it happen again? 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I went to the XXXX XXXX  XXXX and spoke to XXXX XXXX, who was empathetic and spent over XXXX hours with me to try to help. He called the fraud department and didnt have much luck either. While I sat in his office Wells Fargo finally called me to tell me the that my fraud claim from XX/XX/XXXX was denied. It seems I got this call because he told the representative he spoke to that no one ever contacted me about my original claim. This agent who called me gave the same reason for the denial - we cant help you with this fraud claim because you reported after XXXX hours from when it happened. I said what can you to help me get my money back, she said you try to contact the merchant. I was shocked that she was telling me to do it. I asked her why wouldnt WellsFargo dispute this on my behalf, and she said they dont want to hear from us, they want to hear from the customer directly. So I sat in XXXX office and called the merchant who is XXXX XXXX Bank in XXXX. When they answered the phone I explained that XXXX of their customer accounts fraudulently pulled an XXXX  from my XXXX business account in the amount of {$9800.00} the representative said ok then your XXXX XXXX needs to submit a dispute. I asked if I can do it, and he said no, we dont deal with the customers directly. He said we get these from Wells Fargo all the time and they need to submit the dispute! XXXX heard all this as I had this call on speaker phone the whole time. XXXX called the claims department back again, and tried to ask the XXXX representative to submit a claim and the representative said we dont do that. The claim has been denied. The end. I pushed back and said that isnt an acceptable answer, after about XXXX mins of me pushing back that representative offered to put a note on the file to request of the person who denied my claim would be able to submit a dispute. I couldnt believe I was sitting here crying and begging for someone at XXXX to help me. I felt so betrayed, so vulnerable and so scared how my money isnt safe and I have XXXX protection! XXXX offered to escalate my problem to the branch escalation team and said that lets see if they can help us. I left the bank crying, literally tears down my face because Wells Fargo dont do anything to help me in my time of need. 

I went back to the bank again on XXXX  XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XXXX there, so then I spoke to another bank XXXX who listened to me and said that it has been escalated and we need to wait to hear back. He offered to call the fraud department again to see if they had any updates and they were still useless and said sorry the claim is denied because it was XXXX hours after it happened. 

I went back again to the bank on Friday XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to XXXX and asked him to call the bank XXXX at the XXXX XXXX bank and tell them whats going on and see what they say. I was thinking of what else I could do to help myself because XXXX XXXX department wasnt doing anything at all! He called and he was advised again that XXXX needs to fax over a dispute. The representative on the phone did confirm that there was an ach pull and she confirmed that she sees it. But she directed XXXX to submit a dispute. XXXX asked if they had a form of what was needed, she said that every bank has their own form and WF should have their own dispute form. XXXX wrote up a letter with all the information they required and faxed it over to XXXX XXXX Bank. A few days later XXXX XXXX Bank responded back saying my claim was denied because the see the XXXX pull was " valid '' without providing and proof of authorization or any type of investigation results. They said I should got to XXXX XXXX, who is the payment processor. So then that's what the bank XXXX did, after submitting a claim to XXXX XXXX, they responded back with the following : " In regards to the above inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX, we are writing to inform you that the investigation has concluded and the account associated with this transaction has been closed. Our payment operations team has begun to attempt the funds recovery process and will notify this email address of any outcome. '' On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to XXXX to follow up and see if they got any further correspondence from XXXX XXXX, they said no. 

For the record, I have never done any business nor do I know these merchants. 

XXXX  XXXX and the XXXX XXXX XXXX each have a XXXX day period that applies to unauthorized payments. I reported this this fraudulent activity to XXXX within XXXX days. Furthermore, there was a second attempt of a fraudulent ach pull which they successfully put a stop payment on, which goes to show the first one was also fraud. Yet XXXX is telling my I only have XXXX hours from the moment the charge appears on my account for me to report it. This is completely unacceptable.

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