Wells Fargo is the 4th biggest bank in the US with a revenue of 87.6 billion and a total assets of 1.313 trillion dollars, as of last year. So why would they care about the little guy?
Last year, when my husband switched positions at work, he also switched his employer (very complicated! He works for one company but another company pays his salary), so our pitiful few dollars that we paid in 401K distributions were supposed to be moved from Wells Fargo to the new company. Hubby requested a rollover of his 401k in a check directly to his new employer but a week or so later we received a check with money distributed to us. We called Wells Fargo about it, and they promised to fix it. We never cashed the check so it was void 90 days later.
The new company doesn't match contributions at all, and with us going through some hard times, we really couldn't contribute anyway. So we assumed that money was just sitting there until we got tax documents from Wells Fargo showing that we took money out (mind you, we only talk a few hundred dollars from a short period when he worked for the first place). Hubby called them and talked to a charming lady who acknowledged their mistake and promised to send us a new document with 3 business days.
That was a week ago. Because of that we had to reschedule an appointment with our tax guy. So today Hubby called Wells Fargo again. But this time they sang a different song. They told us that even though it was their mistake, they can't do anything about it because it all happened last year. They claimed that they called us and left a message (which never happened!!!) back in December. They said that we have to take the money now even though the original check was, first, void and, second, mailed back to them a week ago. And we have to pay a penalty for early withdrawal. So they will now send us a new check issued in 2012!! So they cannot fix the documents from last year but they surely can make us pay for their own mistake from last year.
I know that we only talk a few dollars here but these are the dollars that come out of our pockets, and not ofthe financial sharks that own Wells Fargo. We never banked with them before, and surely, will never do this in the future. Even if it was the only bank in the world left, I would rather keep our money in the sock under my pillow...
I really hate you, Wells Fargo, right now...Oh, will March ever end???
it's always the little guys who pay for the big buys mistakes........and it's not bloody fair!!
ReplyDeleteGill
I know:(
DeleteThe banking industry stinks!! We are with a diffrent big bank and have problems all of the time with fee's they stick on that I have to call and have removed. We do have really good luck with our credit union but it is not local so we can't use it for everything. Good luck with your tax problems, baying the penelty and tax on the 401K stinks
ReplyDeleteThanks. We do all our other banking with a small, local but FDIC bank, an we've never had problems with them.They really care about their clients.
DeleteThe local banks here are also getting on my nerves bit by bit. They always do stuff like that to people. Customer service comes first and foremost in my books and that is bad customer service on the bank's end.
ReplyDeleteI myself am slowly making the credit union my main banking institution and the big commercial banks upset me in many ways.