Wells Fargo strikes again
6 Sep 2006
If there was another bank with a branch anywhere near my house, I’d have switched banks by now.
A month ago while we were camping amongst the redwoods, my wife used her ATM card to buy some things at a small grocery store near the camp. She somehow left without her card and didn’t realize it until we’d arrived home.
No problem, just cancel the card and order a new one. Wells Fargo informs her that it would take 7-10 business days for the new one.
Two weeks pass and no card arrives. So she calls back in and discovers that Wells Fargo never sent a card, and there’s no indication that it was even ordered. Perturbed, she orders another one. No, they can’t expedite the card, so we need to wait another 7-10 days.
That brings us Friday. Once again, two weeks have passed and no card has arrived. So my wife called in again, and you guessed it, there’s no indication that a new card was ever ordered. Once again, she asked them to send it again.
Friday night, I tried to use my card and find it was declined. I fear the worst and call Wells Fargo. My fears are confirmed—when my wife called in, the clever people at Wells Fargo cancelled my card and I’ll have a new one. In 7 to 10 days.
This comes on the heels of Wells Fargo randomly deciding to send me a new card last March.
I picked up a temporary card Saturday at the local branch. Although I was promised that it would to act just like a regular card, it doesn’t. I can’t use it at the gas station. I can’t use it in the grocery store. I can’t use it anywhere that I’d normally do a PIN-based transaction. And it’s not a debit card, so I can’t use it as a credit card. All I can do with it, apparently is withdraw cash. And that’s limited to $69 each day, despite all promises to the contrary.
I called Wells Fargo to have them change that limit, but they can’t. I have to go into my local branch between 9am and 6pm and plead with a branch manager to have it changed. With such brilliant office hours apparently Wells Fargo is only interested in having the unemployed and the retired as customers.
It seems there’s one other thing my card is unable to do, again despite promizes to the contrary—deposit money. I deposited a sizable sum into my account last night. It’s not there. And the terribly helpful people at Wells Fargo don’t have any idea what happened to it. But they’ll find out and fix it for me. In 7 to 10 days. Sure, I’ve heard that one before.