I have a major issue with Wells Fargo that has not been resolved. On Tuesday Nov. 17th, we deposited a check from the State of California, written to me in the amount of $950, into my mothers account. I signed it, endorsed it to her, she signed it, and deposited into her account via ATM. We had done this previously with 5 checks from the State of CA via ATM. She originally took it into the bank, where the teller looked at the check, both front and back, and told her to go outside and deposit in the ATM, because the money would be available sooner that way (it was after 3 pm, end of banking hours). She then went outside and deposited it in the ATM, as he suggested. The next day, the online banking said it was being held and the funds would be available the next day. On Thursday, she checked her account again, and it was $200 negative, and it said that check had been returned. We called the phone bank and were told that we are not allowed to deposit third party checks in an ATM. We explained this was strange because not only had we done this 5 times previously and everything went fine, but we were explicitly told to do this by the teller at the bank. We went into the bank and asked what could do because we needed that money. Our banker said he could open a new joint bank account for the two of us and get the check put in immediately into (the ATM exceptions department still had the check). On their advice, we did open this joint account. We had to get a $200 cashiers check that day, so the banker put a $475 memo credit on our account, in anticipation of the check going through (he had already called on the check and it was good and depositable). He then got us a $200 cashiers check. He stated we would then have another $275 in the account and asked us if we wanted to take out the money. We told him we did, and he gave us a withdrawal slip to fill out in the amount of $275. We then went up to the teller, who informed us that we only had $75 in the account. I went back to get the banker who said he didnt understand why it said that, but whatever the computer said was all we could take out. He also promised the rest of the $950 check ($675) would be available after midnight that night. We checked the account online the next day, Friday, and were surprised to see the account $475 negative. Not only because he told us the check was going through at midnight, but that we had only gotten out $275 of the memo credit. We went back into the bank and were told the check would go through after 3 pm. We needed another cashiers check in the amount of $600, which we were given, as another memo credit on the account. We were very frustrated at this point, because all this was happening because of something a Wells Fargo employee TOLD us to do. Also when we went into the bank on Friday, we talked to them about 9 overdraft fees that had occurred on my mothers account, each in the amount of $35, because that check was returned (even though we did exactly as the teller told us to do). They told us there was nothing they could do about the overdraft fees, because we are not allowed to deposit a third-party check in the ATM. I expressed my frustration because we had done this many times before and never had an issue, and were TOLD to do it by the teller! Never once did they apologize or take responsibility for the mistake. After 3 pm, that check was posted on the account and there was $75 in the account, which I took out. The account then should have been at $0. I checked it yesterday and it was $70 negative. It said we had 2 overdraft fees on the account! I called the phone bank and was told that the first day we went to the bank about this issue, Thursday the 19th when the banker got us the memo credit for a $200 cashiers check and $75 in cash, the account went negative, and thats where the overdraft fees came from. I explained to her that there was no actual money in the account but they were banker memo credits and that the banker was the one that got us both the $200 check and the $75 in cash! She said there was no note of a memo credit on the account. I have now called both bankers we worked with at the Grand & Fairview branch in St. Paul, Dewey Khiev and Michael Burgher. Michael is on vacation this week and I left a message for Dewey, who was the banker that got us the joint bank account and got us the memo credit for the $200 check and $75 in cash. Never should we have been charged for overdraft fees. He told us that as soon as that check went in, which it did the next day, everything would come back to $0. So now we have been charged a total of $385 in overdraft fees, which we cannot afford. Money is very tight and every penny counts. We got these overdraft fees because we did what the bank employee told us to do. The teller was asked about this and told the banker he didnt remember what he told us. Again, never did they accept responsibility for anything. They are profiting from their mistake and I am absolutely angry. We have asked to talk to the branch manager multiple times, who always refuses, even though we have seen him sitting in his glass office laughing with employees and sipping on an iced coffee from Caribou (the two days in a row that we were there). Our bankers kept going into his office to see if there was anything they could do for us, and every time he said no. I strongly recommend that you not use Wells Fargo! They have awful customer service and will take your money.
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