Upside Visa has now been holding $1,577.59 of my money for almost a month. On the 4th of February I contact upside when I once again tried to use my card (this happened before) only to have it declined. At that time I was informed my account had been flagged as potentially fraudulent because of a direct deposit coming into the account from the social security office. The deposit was for my grandmother who we had not yet received a card of her own.
The upside representative informed me that there policy would not allow for the deposit since my grandmothers name was not on the account & that I couldnt add her to the account because I already had my husband on there. They informed me the deposit from the SSA was returned to the government & that they would only lift the hold on my card if I would fax a copy of my drivers license, current utility bill and a copy of MY SOCIAL SECURITY CARD!
I informed them I wasnt going to send a copy of my SS card to anyone who was obviously not located in America. I have never spoken to anyone at Upside that didnt have an extremely thick Indian accent. I asked for my card to just be closed and the balance ($18.59) be mailed as a check. I was told they wouldnt do that either unless I sent in the items they requested. At that time I told them to keep the money that was left as I wanted nothing else to do with this shame of a company.
My grandmother & I contacted the SSA and asked that her money be sent via a paper check until we could get something else in place. On 2-22-12 we contacted the SSA again as she hadnt received her check she should have gotten at the beginning of February. The SSA informed us that the "bank" had never returned the funds and that they wouldnt issue a paper check unless upside returned the funds to them. At that point I logged in online to find that Upside had in fact posted the $1559 deposit to my card.
They also dated the deposit for 2-2 even though on 2-4 the deposit was not showing in the account. Again I called Upside to be told that the deposit was never returned to the SSA and would not be returned and again that I couldnt have access to the funds unless sending my id, ss card & utility bill. At this point my grandmother has been without her only source of income for the entire month so I VERY RELUCTANTLY faxed the information to Upside so they would stop holding her money hostage.
I was advised that it would take up to 72 hrs for them to reactivate the card. I logged in online today, 2-24-12, to find that Upside has now done 2 withdrawals from my card, both listed as CSR REFUND CHECK, one for $12 and one for $1547. Of course I called Upside yet again only to be informed that in order to reactivate my card they must first remove the deposit. That once the card is reactivated the funds will go back on the card. Also, that it is not his department that is doing this but the "risk" department and that he cant explain to me why its been there for almost a month and now it is gone.
He also tried to tell me there werent 2 withdrawals even though I was looking at them & did a screen shot so I would have proof. I asked for the number to talk with the risk department & he provided it to me. There recording advises they are only open M-F from 8 am to 5 pm. The first time I had problems with my card being flagged as fraud I was told it wasnt possible to speak to anyone in the risk department.
Upside has had all of my personal information, including my social security number, since I first activated my card. They have given one excuse after another for why they froze my card this time or that time. I did nothing wrong, my grandmother certainly did nothing wrong yet she has had to suffer for almost a month because of the shady practices this company is using. I have had to pay various bills for my grandmother this month because she has no savings and without her social security benefits has no money.
This has caused me to be late on my own bills and caused me to go without necessary medication I need so I can make sure she is taken care of. This company has shown zero concern for my situation and I have honestly never been treated with such an "I dont care" attitude by any other company. I would like nothing more then to see Upside closed! Most of all Id like each customer "service" representatives that has showed zero concern to see how it feels to go without things you need to stay alive. I have to take 5 blood pressure medications a day to stay alive. Ive gone without 3 of them for almost a month now & no one at that company cares!!!
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