Really Bad Customer Service
AHHH!!!! I had a HORRIBLE customer service experience with Wells Fargo. I'm giving you the letter that I am going to send them:
From:
xxxxx
To:
Wells Fargo Card Services Executive Office
PO Box 4134
Portland OR 97208
I am greatly disappointed in the service I was given this evening by Wells Fargo. I went out to get a cup of coffee and a muffin at a coffee shop this evening (5/16/07) and my Wells Fargo platinum card was declined. They ran it through again at the coffee shop, and my Wells Fargo platinum card was declined again. I did not have any payment due on my card. I had $100 charged the week before, but no payment was due on my Wells Fargo credit card. I called the Wells Fargo customer service to find out what was wrong, and I was told by the Wells Fargo customer service rep that everything was fine and that there shouldn’t be any problem. That customer service rep was sincerely apologetic.
Now, I only had my Wells Fargo platinum card on me at that moment. My Wells Fargo platinum card, at that moment, was my only form of payment. I was seriously embarrassed.
I had them run my Wells Fargo platinum card again, because the Wells Fargo customer service rep said everything would be fine this time. My Wells Fargo platinum card was declined again. I called the Wells Fargo customer service department again, and was told (again) that there shouldn’t be a problem with my card. I was then put on hold for over FIVE MINUTES before I hung up the phone. I was put on hold while I was waiting in line to pay for a cup of coffee and a muffin. I was put on hold when I explicitly told the Wells Fargo customer service rep that the store was closing, and that the cashier wanted to go home. I was put on hold by Wells Fargo as they cleaned up the store around me.
I had already consumed the coffee and a muffin, so it’s not like I could give it back. The cashier obviously thought I was broke. Because this wasn’t worth her time, she gave me the coffee and muffin for free. This is not the outcome I wanted. I can’t tell you how mortified I was, sitting on the phone with Wells Fargo for ten minutes, getting put on hold, and having my Wells Fargo platinum card declined three times. All for $4.
I called the Wells Fargo customer service department when I got home. The Wells Fargo customer service rep I spoke to the third time was not helpful. She told me nothing was wrong. She did not sound apologetic. She said she was sorry, but she was obviously just paying lip services to the words. She obviously just wanted me out of the way. I asked to speak with her manager. I talked to XXX at the Des Moine Iowa service center (ext yyyy). XXX, too, only paid lip service to an apology. He told me that everything looked fine on my Wells Fargo platinum card. I told him that I had been told that three times already. I asked him how I could trust that it wouldn’t be declined again. He told me that I couldn’t. He told me that it might be declined again, but that he couldn’t do anything. He told me that I would have to just try again, and call back while I was at the retailers, after it was declined, so Wells Fargo could figure out what was going on.
XXX was not helpful. At all. I felt like XXX was reading off of cue cards, and they were the cue cards for “how to handle a stupid complaint.” I felt XXX didn’t really care about my issue. I was appalled that Wells Fargo’s solution was for me to go out and get my Wells Fargo card declined again at another retailer, and then have the retailer call Wells Fargo so they could trouble-shoot the problem.
If I were the type of person to swear when I talk to customer service reps, or when I write a letter like this (and the only other time I ever wrote a complaint letter was when a mechanic literally stole money from me), I can assure you that my phone conversation and this letter would be filled with four letter words. I am completely disgusted.
I do not think Wells Fargo will take this letter seriously.
I am posting this letter to Wells Fargo on my FINANCIAL BLOG, for the entire world to see. I will not remove this letter. I will only record how you have handle this situation. Good day.
Sincerely,
YYYYY
I'll keep you posted as to their response.
7 comments:
I think it's your fault. Why don't you keep some cash in your pocket, so these sorts of things don't happen to you?
While I agree that having a credit card declined is embarrassing and the customer service you experienced sucked, since you are blogging about getting out of debt and your blog says you owe over $5000 to credit cards, maybe you should try to stop using them.
Are you serious? His fault? Wells Fargo has the worst customer service anywhere.
I am switching EVERYTHING, including our mortgage over to ING, where there are intelligent, helpful, polite people on the other end of the phone. They also don't charge me $2.00 when I have to call and have a question.
Wells Fargo - where you can sign up for anything that costs money online, but to cancel you have to flip over backwards, sign your name in blood backwards, and jump over the moon at the same time. Where every single issue is met with the "well it's in your terms and conditions you got when you opened the account (5 years ago!)".
My advice - switch to ING - they now have a online checking account with great interest rates.
For more Wells Fargo sob stories (and there are so many), see:
The Worst Bank
Blog on brother! Good luck with that letter. I sent a similar letter to Bank of America a few years ago to both the branch in question, and to the corporate office -- never heard a word back. Closed my accounts and never seen them since.
And about swtiching to ING, you may want to consider reading this first:
http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2007/05/10/ing-direct-closed-customers-account-due-to-bad-credit
That must have been quite embarrassing. This has happened to me as well with Wells Fargo, in a grocery store. Fact is, technology doesn't always work. I used another card, came home and called Wells Fargo. They determined it was a glitch, it rarely happens, and they would make a note of it. I thanked them for their time, reminded them not to charge me for the call (don't get me started on that though!) and hung up.
What I'm wondering is what you expected them to do? Debug their transaction software while you were on the phone? The best you can hope for is that any bugs in the software (it may not have even been Wells Fargo's fault) would be corrected in the near future.
Out of thousands of transactions, mine has only failed inexplicably once. Not bad!
What killed me, and please don't take offense to this, is that even though your card was clearly not working for whatever reason and you had no alternative payment, you went ahead and ate the muffin anyway.
I have been severely dissaointed with WF customer service as well, but I rarely use their credit card and plan to cancel once I pay the last bill.
My real problem was in the loan department. I made the mistake of consolidating my student loans with them, and now, a year later, they still are screwed up. And I'm stuck with WF until I payt hem off. UG.
Sadly,
I must agree with Beyond the Consumer. While WF customer service may be poor, there are things being processed on the back end that are entirely out of the financial institution's control.
If the merchant swipes the card, and their system never reachs the FI, no declination can be found on their end. Thus, they would assert it is fine. The notion to find another retailer to ensure it works is not too outlandish--dumb, yes, but possibly an indicator if it was that particular merchant.
What seems to be at issue is WF CS, not necessarily the declination.
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