When Is A Bank Not A Bank?

Answer: When you can't get them to honor cash.

I finally had a customer service experience this morning worth blogging about, to break my long dry spell. I figure that, in the current economy, companies are being extra nice so it's harder to find really dumb customer service. (Indeed, I've noticed that I'm getting actual email from companies that used to be too good to send email, like the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton hotel chains.) I even had the experience of taking four different flights on two different airlines on Sunday and every single flight left exactly on time and three of them arrived early! Even the airlines are making my night job rough. But I'm still on the job, looking for egregious service situations to report to you, my dear, loyal readers!

And I am thrilled to report that it is my old nemesis Wells Fargo that continues to meet my expectations. I have to get a new passport to replace the one that was stolen, and I need it in a hurry because I'm headed to New Zealand in 10 days. So I went to the SF City Hall passport office because it opens at 8am (the USPS offices open at 9:30am). They forgot to mention on the phone yesterday that the feds don't take cash, so I had to go buy a money order with all the cash I'd just gotten out of Wells Fargo's ATM. I went back to the Wells Fargo branch, figuring what better place to use cash to buy a money order than a bank! The sign says that the line is for Wells Fargo "Members" but I thought they were just being cute.

But, no, the lady behind the bullet proof glass (it is City Hall Plaza, where the homeless like to hang out) required that I produce the Wells Fargo debit card to verify my account number. I observed that I was a buying a money order (a negotiable security) with cash (also a negotiable security) and that a bank was a depository of cash. (Well, I didn't sound that sophisticated; it came out more like, "But you're a bank!") I walked out muttering about how Wells Fargo has forgotten how to be a bank and that there was a good reason that I took all of my money out of that institution four years ago. (And remembering that Wells Fargo screwed one of my companies by buying auction rate securities in a cash account without asking for permission.)

I turned left, found a Fedex office two doors down, bought the money order for cash (no ID needed) without even talking to the gentleman behind the counter (who looked like he might not have total command of the English language anyway), all in less than 120 seconds. The passport office accepted the money order and promised to get my new passport ready for pick up next Wednesday!

In which part of its corporate body has Wells Fargo stuck its head, when it can't even match city employees for quality of customer service?

Comments

[Rlucas]

I cannot help but notice that the root problem was the United States, which failed to honor it's own fiat legal tender...

[dar]

Wells Fargo, after soliciting a forbearance agreement I did not even need (I had adequate funds in my WF checking to bring the loan current) and cashing the large down payment the same day they initiated a foreclosure (which I ended up curing in full out of frustration, paying all their litigation fees in the cure), then refused to send me an invoice as verbatim that is a courtesy. I am not entitled to title information as verbatim that is confidential. They then maintained I was in default 31 days after curing, and that was last September. I filed a suit for injunctive relief, they were going in for another round. They refuse to provide me with account information now as there is a lawsuit and demand whatever account discrepancy I maintain occurred in their response to my suit I filed, from me, without providing the account information in the first place to dispute it. They had PMI on the loan, which is over the value of the property, likely got reimbursed for the value of the loan, and now, don't want to -- or can't -- reassert it. So, after I cured, they just didn't. They refused to invoice me until they could maintain a default. Back to back fraud.

I am going pro se. I can't afford a lawyer as the last episode cost me about $10-15 over what the mortgage payments were. I am going to have to file bankruptcy if I lose and they get any legal fees.

They have asked me for discovery of every employer I had since high school -- I am 51 -- the name of my supervisor and reason for leaving. ?

They are now trying to go for the character assasination angle it's all they have as there is no case whatsover and no way to grease the palm of their usuals with the jury, a jury who will have no problem seeing my side of this.

Wells Fargo is the largest depository bank in this region. They have market domination and PAC influence. They use attorneys as their loan service provider who are by law not liable for consumer fraud AND in this state can't be removed, and to get them sanctioned by the Attorney Regulator you first have to have won a legal suit -- which would be based on consumer law that doesn't apply to them. It's a conflict of interest that to me appears to be a very basic violation of civil rights.The service provider has no incentive to modify the loan or to negotiate a settlement, that is not reimbursed. They are the same entity that handles the foreclosure for Wells Fargo.

[Lisa]

It is absurd that the gov doesn't honor its own almighty dollar and equally absurd that Wells Fargo operates that way.

My experience with a recent re-fi leads me to conclude that the banks are completely corrupt. They charge you a fee just for asking to borrow their money, and then another fee to get down on your knees and beg for that money.

TARP? What a joke. We threw good money after bad and consumers will never feel the impact of that bailout.

[Andy]

Get this. I went to Wells Fargo in Santa Fe to deposit a $10,000 check into a new account (mind you I didn't want to take any cash out against it - just wanted to deposit it). The "customer service representative" said I would need to wait for him to do a "funds verification." The whole ordeal took me 45 minutes to put $10,000 into the bank!

Wow. No wonder all my other banking is with Los Alamos National Bank - they get the service part of customer service!

I feel your pain and share your hate for WF.

[Rachel G]

And another one for the customer service hall of fame...Best Buy. Some should send the CEO a photo of Circuit City to show him what the future looks like. Actually, maybe I will!

[Wing Yu]

I recently purchased a money order from Citibank in Foster City, drove 3 blocks to a nearby Wells Fargo branch, and made a deposit. I was told that the funds would not be available for 2 weeks (except for $100), because the money order was from out of state. Of course, I wanted to reverse the transaction, but they wouldn't let me.

By the way, does anyone know why a business savings account ALWAYS earns less interest than a personal savings account from the same bank?