Consumer complaint received 2016-02-10
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NY)

I have been having a lot of problems with Chase bank employees, inconsistent practices and advice. On XXXX, XXXX charged me for a XXXX membership when I was trying to rent a movie. The charge was XXXX. I immediately called XXXX and was told that it would take 14 business days. I could n't afford that. It was right after XXXX. I made purchases on XXXX using my XXXX account so there were several different debit transactions that were all done separately. I had enough trouble keeping track of that. Not knowing what else to do, I called Chase to tell them what happened and how XXXX said they could n't refund for 14 business days. The associate told me that I had to file a claim. I explained to both associates, the one that answered the phone and the one that opened the claim, I did call XXXX and they said it would take 14 business days. They filed the claim and told me they would issue a temporary credit until they could retrieve the funds from the merchant. 
At the time this was going on, my father in law was in the hospital. He XXXX on XXXX XXXX. I was not looking at my bank account the few days before his death. As I said, I called Chase with a problem and that 's how it was handled. Fast forward to today, XXXX XXXX. I get up for work and my bank account is in the negative. There was a credit reversal. I called and found out that XXXX refunded the money on the XXXX and Chase added the credit on XXXX two days after I called. They said they sent me an email telling me that they would be taking the funds back. I did n't get the email. I have had problems with my email account since this year someone filed a fraudulent tax refund under my social security number. I have had many problems with my gmail account and believe that may have compromised as well. Either way, I did n't see the email so this was a complete surprise. Chase however, said that it was my responsibility to monitor my account and see that they had credited me after the refund. I was also told that I should NOT have filed a claim since that is only done in cases of fraud. I explained that I was n't the one that made that decision. I called and told them what happened and that it was Chase employees that decided what to do. How is that my fault? I asked them about overdraft fees after this, since there was an error and they said I would be responsible. I spoke to fraud after that to go over the situation and was told by that associate there is an annual limit on overdraft fees that the bank can charge. I was not aware of this. She transferred me back to the general customer service number. That associate told me she is n't sure why I was told that but that overdraft fees are not capped and they can charge up to 5 per day. She advised me to go to the branch and freeze my account. I called again as I was on the way and was told that I could not do this since it was n't due to fraud. I asked for a supervisor immediately. This was n't the first time I had received conflicting information. The supervisor told me I COULD actually freeze the account which would avoid any overdraft fees. So I turned around and went back. Now, because of the fee reversal and my negative account I could n't put gas in my car and the light had come on. When I arrived at the branch, the associate told me that you could NOT freeze an account unless it was because of fraud. 
I could n't believe that a supervisor told me I could do something that I could not and how poorly trained Chase associates truly are. I have paid hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees and I 'm sure I 'll end up paying more. They are taking advantage of the fact that I 'm in a very tough financial situation and profiting from it.