Consumer complaint received 2015-07-20
Company: Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc.
State: WA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: General purpose card
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing account

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX 2015, I emailed T-Mobile Visa Prepaid Card customer service several times because I could not access funds in my account but received no reply. On XXXX XXXX, I called customer service, and after answering several questions correctly, was told that I passed the ID test and that someone will call me within XXXX days but nobody did. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX from Blackhawk Network XXXX XXXX XXXX. called and left a message. T-Mobile Visa Prepaid Card product is serviced by Blackhawk Network XXXX Inc. On XXXX XXXX, I called XXXX and he asked what I used my account for. I told him that I used it recently for bill payment. He launched into a tirade about how I was breaking the law because I had used the card to make bill payments and have not made any purchases. He said I had committed a crime and could go to jail. He was not interested in what I had to say as he was focused on terrorizing me. He said that I have to make purchases on my card and that I am not allowed to make any more bill payments. He asked me several questions to verify my identity and warned that he has all my personal information in front of him and that I had better not lie to him - his tone and choice of words were that of a bully threatening his victim. I answered his questions correctly and he said that I passed the ID test and agreed to unblock my account. I was upset by his bullying, threats and baseless accusations against me, so I told him that I wanted to close my account and also to speak to a supervisor. He said there was nobody higher up than him and hung up on me. He also did not unblock my account even though he said that he would. 
I called the next day and spoke to XXXX in the same dept. I told him that XXXX had agreed to unblock my account the previous day but that my account remained blocked and asked if he could unblock it. He refused to unblock my account and behaved as XXXX had done the previous day. It was as if XXXX of them were working off the same script on how to threaten and terrorize customers who call in about blocked accounts. He made the same threats and accusations to terrorize me even when I tried to tell him about my encounter with XXXX, that I had passed the ID test and my account was to be unblocked. He said that I will have to answer to him now and that he will ask the questions, not me. He said in a threatening voice that he knows everything about me. Unlike the previous XXXX times, XXXX asked me many more questions than in the previous ID tests and asked questions that were very personal, such as the nature of my relationship with another individual, and the age of that individual. He was offensive and rude and even though I knew I answered the questions correctly, he said I failed the test. He refused to unblock my account. He also said that an IRS check that I had deposited weeks ago will be returned to IRS. He refused to say why he deemed it necessary to return a check that was deposited many weeks ago. I felt that he was retaliating against me because he revealed that he knew about my dissatisfaction with XXXX and my request for a supervisor and he implied that I was going to be sorry for my action. Even though my IRS check deposit was valid, he decided to disallow it and refused to give a reason for his action. To get my money back, I have to send XXXX documents to Blackhawk Network within XXXX hours : a picture of my T-Mobile Visa Prepaid Card, a picture of my driver 's license, a picture of my driver 's license next to my face, a picture of a utility bill showing my name and current address, and a picture showing the debit card, utility bill and driver 's license together. I will also be charged a refund check fee which he refused to tell me the amount. He talked over me constantly and refused to answer most of my questions. I asked for a supervisor but he said I could only talk with him and he hung up on me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation