Consumer complaint received 2022-02-22
Company: FISERV INC.
State: OR
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
Attached, please find a notarized Power of Attorney authorizing me to act on the behalf of XXXX XXXX. This individual is an unfortunate victim of fraud and has enlisted the help of our firm, XXXX XXXX to aid in their recovery process. Enclosed is also an ID Theft Affidavit with his police report information, identification, and proof of residence. 

Mr. XXXX used his FiservXXXXMoney NetworkXXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX at a XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2021. The card went missing at the point of sale in the XXXX XXXX store, at the register. He checked with the grocery clerk and looked around the area for the card, but it was nowhere to be found. Mr. XXXX provided time for the card to turn up at the store, but it did not turn up. He then contacted the card issuer to report the card as lost and ordered a replacement card. XXXXXXXX XXXX did not allow him to check his balance by phone unless he knew his full card number, which he did not have memorized. This initially prevented Mr. XXXX from realizing fraud had occurred. Mr. XXXX assumed the PIN number requirement would prevent fraud from occurring. However, a PIN is not required if the card is run as credit. 

Mr. XXXX noticed numerous fraudulent transactions were made on XX/XX/2021 - XX/XX/2021. Attached are details of those transactions. 

XXXX XXXX in general is very difficult to reach by phone as their phone tree does not often route to an Agent, regardless of the menu options you choose. XXXX XXXX has encountered this problem directly and we have received a strong pattern of complaints about XXXXXXXX XXXX from our customers. Their phone numbers reach Agents sometimes while other times they appear to be entirely unstaffed and waiting on hold is not given as an option to callers. 

Another issue is the requirement that you enter a card # to proceed through their phone menu. If you do not have the card #, it is difficult and often impossible to proceed to an Agent. 

XXXXXXXX XXXX  also employs multiple choice questions related to credit history to authenticate customers over the phone. When trying to contact XXXXXXXX XXXX  with Mr. XXXX on a conference call, despite Mr. XXXX answering the questions correctly, XXXXXXXX XXXX failed to authenticate him and therefore the Agent would not speak to us about his account. The Agent said our only recourse was to try again another day. This is unacceptable considering the long hold times and difficulty getting through to an Agent in the first place. We have not been able to authenticate since, basically blocking Mr. XXXX from disputing the matter over the phone. 

After receiving his replacement card, Mr. XXXX was finally able to check his balance. He found that it was much lower than it should be. At this point Mr. XXXX reported the fraud to XXXXXXXX XXXX  immediately. This was well within the timeline afforded by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act ( EFTA ) ( 15 USC 1693 et seq. ). XXXX XXXX has not reimbursed the funds under the provisions required by the EFTA, despite numerous requests and complaints by Mr. XXXX. 

There is evidence that XXXXXXXX XXXX has engaged in a common deceptive practice to avoid reimbursing Mr. XXXX. XXXXXXXX XXXX steered Mr. XXXX towards filing disputes on only some of the fraudulent transactions while not filing disputes on two of the transactions that were in the middle of the string of fraudulent transactions. Mr. XXXX was very clear that he lost his card, therefore all charges after that time should have been disputed by the Agent that took his dispute over the phone. 

Later, XXXXXXXX XXXX claimed that by Mr. XXXX not disputing those two transactions, it shows inconsistent and conflicting information on MrXXXX XXXX part. This is an obviously false claim and is a way for XXXX XXXX to systematically avoid honoring the EFTA. XXXX XXXX has noticed this behavior by XXXX XXXX and many of our customers have reported similar experiences to us. 

For the record, the fraud started after the XXXX XXXX purchases on XX/XX/2021 and ended by XX/XX/2021. There are a total of 16 fraudulent charges totaling {$1000.00}. 

Our desired resolution is for XXXXXXXX XXXX to reimburse Mr. XXXX {$1000.00}. 

Please see attached documents for further details and a full accounting of the fraudulent transactions. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation