Wells Fargo is up to its old tricks again. A customer named Nate returned from a wedding in Mexico to find a whopping $1,500 fraudulent charge on his credit card, as reported by Seth Kugel in The New York Times. But when Nate tried to get help from his bank, Wells Fargo repeatedly denied his fraud claim.
"The merchant appeared to be a restaurant in Mexico City," Nate recalled. "I remembered that when we went to fill up the rental car at a Chevron station near the airport, the attendant placed the card in a hand-held machine and then told me it had been rejected, requiring me to use a second card. Nothing else unusual happened that day, and reviews on Google for this gas station contain eerily similar accusations of fraudulent charges from other tourists. I disputed the charge, but Wells Fargo repeatedly denied my claim, even when I asked the Better Business Bureau to intercede."
The NY Times' Kugal said, "I reached out to Wells Fargo and soon afterward, a representative got in touch with you by phone and agreed to refund the charge, plus interest. A week later, you received a check for $1,609.96."
This is just the latest example of Wells Fargo's long history of mistreating customers. Remember the massive scandal where they created millions of fake accounts in customers' names without permission? Or the time they improperly repossessed hundreds of customers' cars? The bank has paid billions in fines for their misdeeds, but apparently they still haven't learned their lesson. So it's no surprise that it required intervention from The New York Times for Wells Fargo to finally take Nate's fraud seriously and issue a refund. As Kugel writes, "it should have been resolved earlier and without my intervention."
At this point, why would anyone still trust this bank with their hard-earned money? At this point, why would anyone still trust this bank with their hard-earned money? Wells Fargo's slogan may be "Established 1852. Re-established 2018," but it might as well read "Re-established as the bank that continues to treat its customers like suckers."
Previously:
• Your tax dollars subsidized $125m executive bonus for Wells Fargo exec who led massive fraud
• Wells Fargo blames 'computer glitch' for its improper foreclosure on 545 homes
• Wells Fargo: preventing the customers we ripped off from suing us is doing them a favor
