Wells Chargo…
On April 13, 2005, I went to the Wells Fargo branch office within Safeway at [street] and [street] in [city], California to make a deposit into my business checking account (XXX-XXXXXXX).
The teller took my deposit and noticed that my business accounts consisted of only a checking account and a line of credit. She said that if I opened a business savings account to complete a group of three different business account types, I would no longer be charged monthly fees. In other words, my having the group of three different accounts (checking, savings, and line of credit) would qualify me as monthly-fee-free on the checking and savings accounts. When I questioned her, she verified that no minimum balances were required. I said OK and authorized her to open a business savings account for me. She indicated that the minimum opening deposit was $100 which I allowed her to transfer from my business checking account to the new business savings account (XXX-XXXXXXX).
Once she completed that transaction, the teller noticed that I already had a triumvirate of personal accounts: checking, savings, and line of credit. After examining my accounts, she indicated that “something was wrong” with my multiple personal banking accounts as I should have qualified for the no-monthly-fee option for my personal accounts for over a year since the time of the fee-free program was initiated. I allowed her to “fix” them, but as I have no insight into Wells Fargo banking systems I have no idea what she did.
My business checking downloads transaction data directly into Quicken, so I continued tracking the account as normal. (The business savings account is still not yet set up with access by Quicken) Through September, the system seemed to work: I was not charged any more monthly fees in the business checking account. However, on October 24, November 22, December 21, 2005, and January 24, 2006, I was once again assessed a monthly fee — which had now increased to $16!!
Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me to check until now, but my personal checking account (XXX-XXXXXXX) fees have actually gotten worse since the change. Not only had I continued to have been charged a monthly fee of $9.95 on May 6, June 7, and July 8, but then the fee INCREASED to $14.95 on August 5, September 8, October 7, November 7, and December 7, 2005, and January 9 and February 7, 2006.
To make matter worse, the fee-free business savings account that I only opened in order to save on monthly fees on all the accounts has been almost emptied thanks to the fees you are charging there — a fact I discovered only during a year-end review of my accounts. As of January 31, 2006, the balance was only $10.09 thanks to a total of $90 in monthly fees you charged over the previous nine months!!!
To sum up:
- Refund $134.50 into XXX-XXXXXXX for monthly fees mis-charged from May 6, 2005 through February 7, 2006.
- Refund $90 plus lost interest into XXX-XXXXXXX for monthly fees mis-charged throughout 2005 and 2006.
- Refund $64 into XXX-XXXXXXX for monthly fees mis-charged from October 24, 2005 through January 24, 2006.
- Fix all of my accounts so that I am no longer mis-charged monthly fees.
And why do I still not have a refund for the ENTIRE YEAR (ending April 2005) that you overcharged me?!
Expecting a rapid and satisfying response IMMEDIATELY!!
UPDATE: Three days after I sent the letter, I received a phone call from a specialist at Wells Fargo. I now have refunds (some still pending), and I have two representatives assigned to me (one for business accounts, the other for personal accounts) to assist me with any future matters. Behold the power of a well-crafted complaint letter!!
Not that they fully resolved everything, mind you! But steps were at least taken.
