I'm going to preface this rant by saying I am not a big complainer. I had a Wachovia account for ten years before they were bought out by Wells Fargo, and never had even the slightest problem with my account. I gave Wells Fargo a try, and it was ok at first. I later found out that was due to a grace period where all of the Wachovia policies were grandfathered in. I now have the standard-issue Wells Fargo checking account without all of the bells and Whistles of the Wachovia predecessor, and Wells Fargo has apparently done all of the hiring of the underpaid and under-qualified Customer Service Reps I spoke to. I won't go into the whole Norton anti-virus complaint I have. I already ranted about that on a separate thread. But, I had a withdrawal I did not want, which was going to set up a chain reaction of ugly overdraft fees. It was still in pending status. I spoke to three CSRs and they told me three completely separate things. The first wanted to cancel my debit card, return the withdrawal to Norton, and consider it an unauthorized withdrawal. I liked the way she thought. But, of course, my phone service died and I lost her forever. I called back, and got CSR #2. She was nice, but did not see the notes from CSR #1 and would not consider the withdrawal unauthorized, since I had apparently agreed a year ago somewhere in the terms and conditions to have Norton take the money. She told me to call the Norton toll-free number, request a refund, and call back with information about the refund from Norton and they would see what they could do. I followed her advice. I called Norton, and was given a confirmation number of the pending refund. I called Wells Fargo back with my confirmation code written on a napkin. CSR #3 then told me there was nothing she could do, but Wells Fargo would reverse the overdrafts if I called and filed a complaint and it was found after several business days of research that the transaction in question did in fact cause an overdraft. I explained to her that I am a stay-at-home mom and am working with extremely tight margins, and this was my grocery money and my baby formula money (I do actually have backup baby formula, because I am at least that responsible, but I was desperate enough to use whatever guilt tactics were necessary, because it really was the baby's dad;s and my grocery money). She continued to emphasize there was nothing they could do, and I should take the check I wanted to cash-but couldn't with an overdrawn account- to "Wal-Mart or something." The whole reason I have a bank account is so I don't have to do my banking through "Wal-Mart or something!" Oh, and I have a (small) Amazon Mechanical Turk payment that appeared in my account, then disappeared. When I asked CSR #2 about it, she said this was "typical for that sort of payment." I don't know where to start with that one. I think I need to move my money to a credit union that will decline things I don't have the money in my account for. That's all I want, an old-fashioned 90s-style embarrassing decline! Who's coming with me?
I recently opened a new checking account with Wells Fargo. I haven't had any problems so far, but it's only been 2 months. I am so for your troubles. Wachovia Bank wasn't in my area so I don't have anything to compare it to. Credit unions are great. I have a checking and savings at a local credit union. I love it and I will never close those accounts. They have been very good to me. I only opened up a checking account with Wells because I wanted a national bank for my business account.
We have been with Wells Fargo for a few years now and over the years we have been ok with their customer service until the last few months. Every time we call we have issues! Whether the representative is clueless to her job or she just could care less not quite sure. My daughter called last week for the simplest question and they kept her on the phone for over 22 minutes. She was actually late for work. I made sure I called the next day and spoke with someone in management but really nothing was solved. My plan is to see how things go and then take the proper steps either way....
Maybe it is just a recent decline in their Customer Service. I think I would be more patient with them if they weren't obligated to sell something to me during every call. They tried to sell me "online bill-pay" during this last situation. I understand I made an error, but in the old days, a bank would work to keep the business of a long-time customer. I think I want to know how my money is being invested anyway. At least with a credit union, I could find out if I were subsidizing mountaintop removal for coal-mining or something else I disagree with. Who knows what the major banks are doing with my little dollars? I think I can deal with the inconvenience of having to pull cash out in advance from a credit union. It might even help me to save money!
I had a checking account at Wells Fargo for one year and never had any problems with them. On the contrary, customer service was always outstanding. With banks you never know, someone can have a really crappy experience with a brand while the other person thinks it's the best bank ever. A friend said you have to be lucky with banks... I'm inclined to agree!
I am sorry to hear about your bad experience with Wells Fargo. I understand why you would want to use a credit union. I have been with PNC Bank for years and I haven't had any problems with them. If I do start having problems with them, I would be more than willing to change to credit union.
