Complaint Review: Wells Fargo - Internet Internet

We are Wells Fargo customers for nearly fifteen years. (Previously Wachovia/First Union days without a problem. Well I should say First Union, Wachovia, and now through acquisition we are deeply unhappy and horrified Wells Fargo customers, but not for long. To my point, we decided to close an amazing Merchant Warehouse credit card processing account to move our entire relationship to Wells Fargo. We were a Merchant Warehouse client for five years without one problem. We generated $2.5MM in sales the third year with Merchant Warehouse. With that being said, we decided to move our credit card processing to Wells Fargo considering their banking speacialists were always begging us to move our relationship. Well, we did and what a mistake we made.

 Lets get to the break down, within the first two months we processed 440 transactions (I.E 440 towing jobs) generating $88,000 dollars in revenue for their DDA account (Business Checking/General Ledger) not to mention the credit processing department. Consequently we called their customer service department to ask why we didnt see a deposit of $5,000 dollars on Monday morning from the work over the weekend. They stated that the risk department closed our account and will be holding our funds for up to 180 days. They also stated, "we will allow you to keep processing transactions with WF for the next 30 days until you find a new merchant account." So I asked, "so will the funds be deposited into our account?" The representative said, "No those funds will also be held for 180 days." What a horror story, they want me to give them more funds that they can hold? I asked the representative why they closed our account, they said its because 4 customers out of the 440 complained about our services and they were unhappy with the tow/price and/or dates it was completed. More over, because of this high risk towing business with less than a 1% dispute ratio they closed my business account/personal accounts, put a credit restraint on the account but not a debit restraint allowing all outstanding checks to go through causing the account to go negative. They even closed an employee account and held $1,400 dollars of her money even though she had nothing to do with the business. However, they left our very financial sound well over six figure mutual fund in their securities department, safe and sound. And my last little fact about them.

 On another note, we added our son Brian to our safety deposit box as a beneficiary. Not an owner, a beneficiary. He didn't sign any safety deposit box agreement, know about it, he wasn't present on the addition as a beneficiary. None of the above. Well, we decided to go on a cruise for 10 days a month ago. What do you know our safety deposit box was locked and we couldn't access the box due to our son in a civil legal matter with a past landlord due to his mistake. Although we all make mistakes and he is learning his lesson which we do not ignore, his legal liability shouldn't roll over to our box due to him as a POD. That would be like your neighbor getting into a legal matter with your homeowners association and you being held responsible because hes your neighbor. He isn't on our accounts, he isnt a signer, he is only a POD/Beneficiary. Now we have missed our cruise cannot acccess our box and asked for help with the legal department regarding the frozen box which they have suggested to get an attorney because they cannot speak to me. So now, we are going to find the most aggressive attorney that can make this situation right. An attorney that loves banks and situations like this that they think they can just take advantage of. Not only that they said bank procedure was not follow but we have to hire/PAY an attorney to tell them they made a bank error. We even called legal for a second time and they said Troy, who is the branch manager called the legal department and spoke with Dan about our situation and sent him the documentation regarding the contract of the box etc. When we called to verify their had been no phone call per the notes and the only names on the notes were us calling in. They said no store manager ever called. Our mission is to be vigilante for the rights of the Wells Fargo customer that wants to be treated right. Slogan says it all huh, "Together We'll go far." Got that right, right to the cleaners. I could raise $20,000 a day too if it wasn't considered fruad or stealing if I thought my customer looked at me wrong and I kept his car for collateral for 180 days. I'd be in jail right now. We are going to stand up for all the other consumers that have been taken advantage of and put in financial distress. We have also wrote the Attorney General, FCC, and other governing bodies.

To top it off its not finished. On top of all that, hey added us to a TMF or MATCH list so we are unable to get a traditional merchant account because we are labeled as HIGH RISK on a shared list of companies, however, we didnt have a problem with the first merchant provider we were using for credit card processing. Consequently, we are still unable to get a new merchant account because they said im on a list and our account is labeled as fraud/high risk. Meanwhile, I have the four chargebacks that caused us to get "shut down" and they are customers that are complaining a vehicle being transported from Florida to California took an extra day to get to California. I mean that sounds like a Nigerian scam? Come on Wells Fargo, you didn't have to have your cake and eat it too. I mean the driver drove 3,000 miles which is 7 days of driving to deliver the vehicle.And because the driver was a day late the customer wants his $1,000 dollars back? Friendly fraud was in the billions this year based on consumer reports. I am a victim, and I have been taken advantage of by Wells Fargo. We are unhappy, hopeless in what to do, and need others to see this message. We hope you can help. Please let us know your thoughts.

Alfred S and Brian C
Boca Raton FL