Consumer complaint received 2017-03-22
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction issues

Complaint:
At the end of XXXX XXXX I tried to start the process of selling my shares of XXXX XXXX XXXX and having the funds transferred to my account at my bank in XXXX. 
I sent the XXXX ( Foreigner with no tax obligation in the USA ) form to Wells Fargo to tax certify my account, which got lost in the mail. 
Before giving the sell order, I called the customer hotline twice, and received the following information : 1. the due tax amount is 15 % of the profit ( period between buying and selling each share ) 2. the funds would be transferred in US $ to my US $ account in XXXX On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I sold the shares ( $ XXXX ) and gave the transfer order to my US $ account in XXXX, including all relevant banking details. 

On reviewing the transaction details, I noticed that 28 % tax were withheld on the total cash from the sale ( $ XXXX ), and a ) not the stipulated 15 %, and b ) not on the profit as I was previously informed by Wells Fargo. 

After waiting for 1 weeks for the funds to arrive in XXXX, I contacted Wells Fargo to enquire about the funds and tax withheld. I received the information that the funds were transferred to the correct account number in XXXX and that I have to patient for the money to arrive in XXXX. 
I was then told that I would have paid no tax at all if I had submitted the XXXX ( this conflicts with the prior information I was given that the withholding tax is 15 % ) and that now the withheld tax can only be claimed from the IRS, if I provide the XXXX form ( which previously never reached them! ) and a claim form to Wells Fargo. I was told this could take up to 2 months, but there is no guarantee that Wells Fargo is able to claim back the tax for me. 

3 weeks after the transaction I still had not received any funds in XXXX. 

Upon checking by balance online, I saw that my account had been credited with $ XXXX, instead of $ XXXX that were initially transferred to XXXX XXXX Upon contact Wells Fargo customer services numerous times, I finally found out that they had erroneously transferred the funds in XXXX ( after converting from XXXX $ to XXXX ) and that my XXXX $ account in XXXX had rejected the XXXX transaction, as it 's only setup for XXXX XXXX The funds were re-credited to my Wells Fargo account in XXXX $ ( once again after converting from XXXX to XXXX $ ) which cost {$500.00} in fees. 

Wells Fargo then sent me a check with the balance, even though I told them and wrote them on numerous occasions that checks are not accepted in XXXX and that I can only deal with electronic funds transfers. Wells Fargo told me that they do n't care, this is their process/policy. 

After several more calls to the customer service hotline supervisors, they checked the recordings of our previous calls and confirmed that I was given the wrong information, and that it was their mistake. 

Again after numerous calls to the supervisors I have been told that they will not be able to reimburse the conversion fees ( {$500.00} ) which they caused by their mistake, and that they will not transfer the funds to my account in XXXX in XXXX $ as I requested and was promised from the outset. They would not even consider transferring the funds in XXXX at this point. 

I tried to deposit the check at XXXX different banks in XXXX, but both refused ( as I had told Wells Fargo from the beginning ). 

It is impossible to reach supervisors by name. Those that I previously talked to now refuse to talk to me. It is also impossible to reach anyone there at a reasonable time from XXXX. Almost every call-back is made late US time, which has meant me on the phone to Wells Fargo at XXXX in the morning! No amount of request from my side to call me in their morning ( my afternoon ) were considered. 

I have resent the required XXXX and claim form to Wells Fargo by registered mail, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, which according to the courier company arrived in US on XXXX. Wells Fargo however claim nothing had reached them.

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 monetary relief