Consumer complaint received 2023-01-19
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — Payroll card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer — Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card
Company: Payfare International Inc. (TX)

Hello, I am writing to file a complaint for the lack of support I feel is sufficient when an account has been hacked. On Monday, XX/XX/2023, at about XXXX XXXX CST, two charges appeared on my account that I did not make. XXXX notified me that they suspected fraudulent activity and that my card had been locked. I logged into my account, saw the charges and went to check that it was locked. It was not locked, so I locked my account. I then went to their help section on what steps to take. It said to lock my account, order a new card ( at a {$5.00} fee ) and to report the charges. It also asked me to contact the merchant. Even though it said to report the charges, it did not say how to. So I contacted the merchant that evening and waited to call customer service the next morning since it was pretty late at night. While on the phone with customer service, it took 32 minutes to get to a third person that could actually help me. It really should not take that long to get assistance when you've been hacked. That person advised that they were going to order me another new card ( one top of the one I already ordered after following their steps on their site, at another {$5.00} fee - so that's {$10.00} now in fees to fix something I already felt violated enough for ). After disputing this a few times, she put me on hold to tell me they didn't have to order me a second card, but that the charge for the first card still stood. My first complaint is how can a company profit off of someone who is already going through the hassle of their account being hacked. They have since reversed that charge for the card fee, but nobody updated me on that, I saw it in my account. Back to the call, the lady tells me I need to contact the merchant and provide screen shots of that to them for them to investigate it and that it can take 60 days to process. This is where my major complaint is ( not just the extreme lack of customer service in a situation where you feel you have been stolen from ). They can look at my account and see that I have never used this card online, I have only ever used it for in-person transactions locally. The hacker paid for services in XXXX through a XXXX website. However, they are not releasing my money back to me till the investigation is complete. In the meantime, they put the money back in my account, to then take it back out ( screenshot attached below ). I'm furious as to why a company would take so long to place the funds back when it's clear that I did not make the purchase. I even provided them with screenshots of when I tried to contact the company where the transaction came from that showed that the email account is fake ( attached ). XXXX has been anything but helpful in a situation where I already feel violated. I also thought this is why financial institutions have insurance to cover situations like these, instead of making the customer wait so long. 
I have never used this card online, and the few times I have used it have all been in person, that makes me feel their system is not secure and has been hacked or someone on their internal team used my information.