Wells Fargo Bank, MORELAND-SELLWOOD BRANCH

In a Word - Disgusting
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by AngiOlekson, Jan. 14, 2014

Wells Fargo is a revolting bank. They have no regard for their customers other then bank fees. They just take and take and make no effort to help those who need it. They are only there to help those who have a ton of money already and not there to help those who actually need help. I am completely disgusted by the people that work here and the policies that govern. I will tell anyone and everyone that will listen to choose wisely when banking. Choose someone who actually listens and cares for their patrons.

* this reviewer has be with this bank for 3 - 10 years
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 banks before.
* this review was made on Wells Fargo Bank, Moreland-Sellwood Branch at Portland, OR
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International wire transfer scams facilitated by Wells Fargo
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by sansan, Mar. 18, 2012

On 3/14/2012, I was told by the Sellwood Wells Fargo bank manager that "upper management" has instructed their employees not discuss anything with me regarding an incident described herein. Since then I have been passed off to several of Wells Fargo Bank’s chain of command and was finally asked to contact a person in California “in writing”.

On 2/2/2012 and 2/24/2012, my 71 year old mom who is on a fixed income, wired transferred $45,000 and $80,000 respectively, to a country in west Africa. One banker at Wells Fargo who helped her with both transactions never “tried to stop her” or “warn her” that the transaction she was about to make could be fraud.

I understand that Wells Fargo’s bank employees are highly trained to identify fraud activity and have strict policies in place to handle cases where fraud activity is suspect. Unfortunately, one of your bank employees did not follow protocol and as a result, my mom and dad have lost every dime of their IRA savings and are now moving out of their home.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced that in 2011, international money transfer scams is listed as one of  the top three complaints on the Oregon Department of Justice's annual Top 10 Consumer Complaint List. In my mother’s case,  one Oregonians’ loss represents 12.3% of the combined total of Oregonians who reported losing  $1,016,583 due to international money scams in 2011.

The tragedy doesn't stop there.

On 3/13/2012, Ed Teachout a reporter with our NBC affiliate KGW, investigated the crime against my mom (http://www.kgw.com/news/consumer/).  My mother told her story despite her shame and humiliation. Tom Unger, Wells Fargo Bank’s spokes person, told a story too. Tom Unger told the viewing public that "three employees tried to stop the transaction" because they "suspected this was a case of fraud”. Mr. Unger, as a knee jerk reaction, went on the "defense" and lied on camera without getting the facts straight first.

Here are few things I would like from Wells Fargo:

1)        Clarify what happened on the two dates 2/2/2012 and 2/24/2012 by reviewing the surveillance video. My mom only worked with one banker, Nick, for both wire transactions. Surveillance video would discredit Mr. Unger’s public statement that “three employees tried to stop the transaction”. Without discovering there is a “hole” in the system Wells Fargo will not implement procedures to protect future customers from devastating loss.

2)        I would like a formal apology from Mr. Unger in a follow-up story Reporter Ed Teachout is going to air next month.

3)        I would like to know what written policies are in place to deal with instances where bank employees suspect there is fraud, do they document that the customer was warned? Or do they simply state that "this may be a case of fraud" and continue with the transaction? When bankers state they “tried to stop” the customer, what is the specific action that is taken? Does the bank employee check for a secondary contact listed on the account, possibly a son or daughter?  As a matter of fact, I am listed on as cosigner on a secondary account of my mother but no phone call was made.

4)        I would like to see Wells Fargo to adopt a uniform protocol that will ensure this will not happen to other innocent people. As it stands the current procedures that are in place are not working.

5)        What will Wells Fargo do if the truth came out that a Wells Fargo employee failed to act and then lied to conceal their failures.

The tragic part of this story is not only that my mom was scammed, is that it could have been prevented. There were professionals who watched this happen and did nothing.  

Because internet crimes are getting more systemic and sophisticated the fight against international money transfer scams must involve the commercial banks that are the conduit to the success of their business. Until banks are held accountable for facilitating these money transfers nothing will change.



* this reviewer has be with this bank for 3 - 10 years
* this reviewer had 1 - 2 banks before.
* this review was made on Wells Fargo Bank, Moreland-Sellwood Branch at Portland, OR
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Excessive Bank Charge
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by Frosby, Jun. 22, 2011

I've been a long time customer of Wells Fargo and have a "premier" account. I recently had money wired to my account and was charged $10.00. I talked to a teller about it and her response is "this is what we charge, you can talk with a manager if you want to."

The amount seems excessive, I checked with my credit union, Unitus, and they said they don't charge anything for a wire transfer.

I've been thinking about moving my accounts from Wells Fargo and this has been the deciding factor. I'm moving to Unitus.

* this reviewer has be with this bank for >10 years
* this reviewer had 3 - 5 banks before.
* this review was made on Wells Fargo Bank, Moreland-Sellwood Branch at Portland, OR
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