Consumer complaint received 2021-10-24
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: UMPQUA HOLDINGS CORPORATION (CA)

Re : Umpqua Bank, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and its XXXX application for customer use through the bank and which is linked to our checking account. 
In XXXX or 2021, I filled out a form to get authorization from Umpqua Bank to send more than {$300.00} per day via the XXXX app which is available for use from within my checking account. They approved me for {$1000.00} per day. In XX/XX/2021 I tried to make {$1000.00} transaction as payment to a contractor and it was rejected. I called into the branch about it, but my call got routed to customer service where a person told me that even though I am approved for sending {$1000.00} per day, anytime I needed to send over {$300.00}, I needed to contact him at XXXX customer service for preapprove of the transaction. I complained about it, because I needed to get the payment to the contractor immediately and XXXX could do that for me and that is why I chose to use it. The branch manager said there was nothing she could do to help so I spoke with XXXX XXXX the district manager. He offered to send me a cahiers check via overnight mail so the contractor had to wait a day instead of getting his payment in minutes as I had originally told him would happen. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I tried sending {$1000.00}. I tried 4 times, it was rejected all 4 times, so I called the branch but the phone call was rerouted to customer service. I told the person that I forgot I was supposed to call in first to get the preapproval from the department which puts the transactions through. Then I asked to speak with the transaction guy. The customer service person did not know what I was talking about but offered to look into the situation herself. I waited while she searched and then she did not know, so I was transferred to another person and retold my story after they identified me again, she also checked while I waited. That person said, it was because my transaction was flagged as fraudulent and that is why it won't go through. I said okay but now you have spoken to me and I'm telling you its not fraud can you release it so that I can pay the contractor? She said she could not but that I needed to be transferred back to the branch and they could help me. So XXXX answered the phone at the branch, and verified me and I asked for the manager but the manager was on another call and couldn't help me, so I asked to leave a message but XXXX insisted I tell her what's happening, so she verified me and then I told my story again. She said she could fix it by talking to the back office guy who can put the transaction through. She called me back about an hour later to say that the guy was going to approve one of the 4 transactions which I tried to do earlier and it will be sent to the contractor by the end of the day. Sadly, it wasn't, so on XX/XX/XXXX, which was a Friday, I called the branch back but I got the answering machine. I left a message saying that I was told the transaction would go through by end of day yesterday and it didn't and could someone please call me back. Hours passed and no one called, so I called XXXX, the district manager, again, but he wasn't available so I left a message. He didn't call me back either and by this time it was closing time. By this time, the contractor had been waiting for two days for a transaction which should have taken only minutes. Then I waited the weekend and now the contractor had waited 4 days for his payment and on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, the contractor called to inquire about it. So, I called the Umpqua Bank headquarters help line. I was verified and told my story again. She said she would look into it and call me back but she didn't. The next day, XX/XX/XXXX, someone named XXXX called me from the customer service dept and left a message which asked me to call him back, but, he did not leave a number. So I called the branch but reached customer service instead and got verified and retold my story, and asked for XXXX, they didn't know who XXXX was but after sometime located him, so I got verified again and he told me that he was checking my account. Then he said the reason for the problem is because the contractors ' name ( which is XXXX XXXX ) is on the OSAC list. So I said okay can you please fix it and send the transaction through? He said he could not. So I said what it the XXXX list anyway and why was the contractors name on it? He didn't know so I asked for a supervisor. XXXX got on the line and verified me and I told my story again, then she proceeded to tell me the same thing as XXXX. I asked her what did my contractor living in XXXX Ca. have to do with a list for overseas potential XXXX fraudulent transactions? I also told her that we both live in XXXX and the transaction was going to XXXX. XXXX didn't know any answers but she wanted me to fill out a form so that she could submit to get approval and she explained that after submission of the form, eventually possibly a few days time there would be an answer. So I then asked well then why didn't all or any of the people I spoke with previously tell me about this list so I could have done this five days ago and by now my contractor would possibly have been paid? She didn't know. So I asked for a manager and waited again for some time and then XXXX, the customer service resource center manager, took my call and verified me again and then I had to retell my story again and I added that I had tried to send {$300.00} over the weekend and it too was denied. So I ended up sending the payment to the contractor using XXXX but then I had to pay {$49.00} so that he could receive the money. So she said the same as XXXX and XXXX she didn't know why and couldn't do anything to help, but added that my XXXX account was presently frozen and it will take about 3 days for it to be unfrozen. I told her that XXXX days had already passed since my first transaction was denied but that it is still not working. She said she didn't know why and would have to speak with the back office guy and so I should expect to wait about 3 more days before I will work again. I told her, well thanks but I didn't need to send the money any more because I already sent it via XXXX and had incurred fees of {$49.00} and I wanted to be reimbursed for that. She then explained that she will not reimburse me because it was not a bank error. I told her that was just wrong and I asked her if all the frustration and time I wasted asking for help with this was nothing? I then asked her for a letter explaining all that happened and how they handled it. She said she could not but would ask for permission but that I shouldn't get my hopes up. 
A little later the branch manager called to say that she heard about the situation and is sorry she can not help me. I asked why no one called me back on Friday to say that the payment they promised would go through by end of day didn't go through. I also asked why didn't someone tell me about the form to clear the XXXX list so that I had the option to fill it out on the first day? She didn't know but she thought it might have been something wrong with my phone because she tried to call me about 3 times before reaching me and I didn't answer and my voicemail was full so she couldn't leave a message. I checked my recent calls list and her number was not there at all and I checked my voicemail and it was not full. She insisted that she called me and then said my phone must not be working properly so that's maybe why on Friday someone couldn't reach me. I said there were other ways to message me if not by phone and I asked her if she knew that I had an XXXX app on my phone and she could have left me a message there and that she could also have sent me a message through the mobile banking app. She said that was a good idea for the future but that it probably won't work because as an example, if she wanted to send me a message at that very moment while we were speaking, she could not, because XXXX was not there and XXXX is not always there and so because she was dependent on XXXX being there to send messages through the XXXX app, she probably would not have been able to send me a message using it. I asked her to reimburse my {$49.00} and she said she could not. I asked her for a letter explaining what had happened but she didn't think she could and would have to ask about it. I asked to speak with XXXX and told her he did not call me back. Later on the same day, XXXX the district manager called me back and said he would have to look into what really happened and get back to me before he could write any type of letter. However, he wanted to know why couldn't I just use a check to pay the contractor instead of using XXXX? I explained that no one uses checks anymore and that I don't have any checks and that I needed to get the payment to the contractor right away and that's why I used the XXXX option. So, he didn't ask to see if I agreed or not but decided on his own that the answer to this problem is that he would have the branch create and send me about 10 checks so that I can use them next time.