Consumer complaint received 2017-06-27
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (CA)

On XX/XX/XXXX we paid our daughter 's tuition payment via e-check and received a confirmation & routing number. The funds were taken out of our Wells-Fargo checking account on XX/XX/XXXX, the first business day of the new year. Shortly thereafter, we began to get notices that her tuition payment had not been received. We contacted the university, and at first all thought there might be some delay. After all, the bank had provided a routing number. By XX/XX/XXXX, as penalty charges were mounting, our daughter was being denied the ability to register for her XXXX year classes and was not even permitted to use the copy center at her school. At the college 's suggestion, we called the bank. Wells-Fargo promised to launch an investigation. We did not hear from them. We called back over two weeks later. Unable to reach the original representative, we told our story again. Wells-Fargo promised to launch another investigation. Again, we waited. And again, we did not hear a word. Meanwhile, we discovered that the unpaid check to the college was not alone. There were at least 6 checks that Wells-Fargo had, at our direction, taken out of our account, cancelled and not paid to our creditors. With the clock ticking for our daughter 's XXXX  year registration in jeopardy ( as it still is ) we wrote to the President of Wells-Fargo. We received three xeroxed letters stating that our " feedback was important to them '' and saying that the company was " currently researching the items brought to our attention in your ( our ) letter. '' These form letters were identical except for the name at the bottom -- an initial and a last name only -- impossible to contact in any way. They were not from the president 's office, but from Consumer Correspondence. Each promised a result within 10 business days -- those promises were not kept. One letter was answered 24 days later with a different xeroxed letter saying they were still investigating and no end date in site. At that point, we made another stab at calling a representative. We we escalated to a representative in the Executive office. She said she would look into it. We sent her the checks in question ( including the college e-check information ). She sent those checks to the Check Fraud Claims Department. That department decided that because all the checks had been cancelled that it was our very diverse creditors that were trying to defraud the bank. That the problem could not be internal. That all these diverse creditors, who had not received payment, actually HAD received payment and were trying to receive double payment. They asked us to sign affidavits of check fraud which we refused to do because it seems clear to us that this diverse group of companies and individuals, from our child 's college, to our doctor, to our gardener would not all claim not to have been paid in this relatively short period of time. We have never known these people to be anything less than honest and we do not intend to accuse them falsely on Wells-Fargo 's behalf. Throughout this disheartening process, Wells-Fargo has steadfastly refused to look within. When we asked them, " are you saying that all these creditors decided to make claims not to be paid at the same time? '' the Wells-Fargo representative said, " Yes. '' When we spoke with her supervisor, things got even weirder. She told us that if the creditors were not paid it was because we did n't have the money in our account. We countered, how could that be if we had cancelled checks. She told us we could n't have cancelled checks ; the bank does n't allow patrons to keep checks and they do n't keep them. When we told her they were the copies from the computer, she became very flustered. Needless to say, this is very frustrating. We have the records. What 's going on appears plain. Wells-Fargo took money out of our checking account but failed to pay our creditors. We just do n't know what to do. Our child still is unable to register for her XXXX year in college. It is hard enough to pay one tuition, much less two.