Consumer complaint received 2026-06-17 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Money was taken from your account on the wrong day or for the wrong amount
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
I, XXXX XXXX, owner of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, submit this complaint against Wells Fargo Bank N.A for its wrongful handling of a XXXX chargeback dispute ( reason code 10.4 - other fraud, card absent environment ) The financial harm to my business resulted from two distinct failures ; Wells Fargo 's failure to follow XXXX XXXX mandated dispute investigation procedures for card-not-present fraud and XXXX XXXX automatic deduction of transaction processing fees and dispute fees, which I was charged despite the dispute being incorrectly decided against me. Wells Fargo 's mishandling of this dispute led to an incorrect chargeback decision that caused direct and material financial harm to my business. MERCHANT ROLE IN THE TRANSACTION XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is a registered merchant operating on the XXXX XXXX platform, which uses XXXX as its payment processor. The following describes how transactions are processes in the environment, and why the merchant bears no responsibility for cardholder registration, verification or authorization. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( merchant ) has no involvement in bidder registration and does not handle, enter, or store any card credentials. The merchant does not perform and is not authorized to perform any verification, authentication, or authorization of payments. All cardholder data is transmitted directly and exclusively from the cardholder to XXXX. The merchant is never is possession of this information. Charges are processed and authorized automatically through XXXX 's secure, tokenized payment system entirely without merchant involvement. The merchant 's only visibility into a customer 's account is the name, billing and shipping addresses and last four digits of the card number - information already verified and authenticated by XXXX and the issuing bank prior to authorization. FACTS OF THE TRANSACTION On XX/XX/year> bidder XXXX XXXX registered on the XXXX XXXX platform. He purchased multiple lots of fine jewelry totaling {$3800.00}. Following the auction XXXX XXXX contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX via email and requested that the items be shipped to the shipping and billing address on file with the XXXX XXXX platform. A shipping and insurance fee of {$120.00}. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX fulfilled the order in the full compliance with platform procedures. The goods were delivered to the verified billing and shipping address provided by the buyer. The billing and shipping address were identical. On XX/XX/year> XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX received notice of a chargeback dispute for the full amounts of {$3800.00} and {$120.00}. All relevant evidence was promptly submitted to XXXX in response to the dispute. WELLS FARGO 'S DISPUTE DECISION ; On XX/XX/year> Wells Fargo issued its dispute decision in favor of the cardholder. The bank 's stated rationale was as follows : ( Our center has certified that this is an unauthorized transaction. The merchant provided no proof that our cardholder authorized the disputed transaction. Neither the name nor the address provided by the merchant matches our cardholder 's profile. The cardholder denies participation in the transaction, engagement with the merchant, or receipt of services. We have met all technical and certification requirements. The account was closed, placed on the exception file, and reported to XXXX as having been used fraudulently. Our cardholder is due full credit ) Wells Fargo categorized the dispute under XXXX Reason Code 10.4 ( other fraud card absent environment ) GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT a ) The merchant XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX can not provide authorization proof. Wells Fargo 's decision faults the merchant for failing to provide proof that the cardholder authorized the transaction. This requirement is factually and procedurally impossible to satisfy. As described above, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has no role in the authorization process. The merchant never handles card credentials, does not interact with XXXX or Wells Fargo 's authorization system, and is not provided with any authorization codes, CVV results, or AVS response coded. The information merchant submitted- the buyer 's name, billing and shipping address is the information that XXXX presented to Wells Fargo during the authorization request. If that information did not match Wells Fargo 's records, the bank had both the ability and the obligation to decline the transaction at the point of authorization. WELLS FARGO FAILED ITS DUTY AT THE POINT OF AUTHORIZATION Under XXXX Rules and XXXX Product and Service Rules, when an authorization request is submitted, the issuing bank is responsible for verifying cardholder credentials including name, billing address, and card validation codes against its own records. If those credentials do not match the issuer is required to return a decline response, such as Response Code 93 ( transaction can not be completed ) By approving the XXXX tokenized request, Wells Fargo effectively certified that the credentials presented were valid and acceptable. The bank can not now claim that the name and address did not match its records, while simultaneously having approved the transaction. These positions are mutually contradictory. The merchant had no mechanism to perform these checks and no access to the results of any AVS or CVV verification. Chargeback liability can not be assigned to a party who is structurally excluded from the authorization process. ASSIGNEMENT OF CHARGEBACK LIABILITY VIOLATES CARD NETWORK RULES XXXX XXXX own rules prohibit issuers from assigning chargeback liability to merchant under the following circumstances ; Merchants did not process or authorize the transaction. Merchant relied on processor level ( XXXX ) authentication and tokenization. The issuer approved the transaction through its own authorization system. FINANCIAL HARM FROM INCORRECTLY ASSESSED FEES In addition to the chargeback amount itself, XXXX automatically deducted transaction processing fees and dispute fees from my account in connection with these chargebacks. These fees were assessed despite the fact that the dispute was incorrectly decided and the merchant bore no responsibility. RELIEF REQUESTED XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX respectfully requests that the CFPB take the actions ; Direct Wells Fargo to reverse both chargebacks ( {$3800.00} and {$120.00} ), Direct Wells Fargo to reimburse all XXXX dispute fees assessed to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as a result of this incorrectly decided dispute. I certify that the information in this complaint is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. All supporting documentation will be submitted to this complaint. XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/year> 2026

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation