1 Jan, 2018 → by ClaimboUser159610
unauthorized charges /unbelievable amount of fees charged/ bad customer service and sympathy

1

I noticed on wednesday 1/24/18, that I had received several fees on my account each at $35 each, resulting in my account being put in the negative $70+!! I call the bank branch the moment that this happened and expressed concern. The girl I spoke to tried to tell me that one of the transactions that I was being a overdraft fee for was for an ATM withdrawal that I made... mind you I have made ATM withdraws before and were never charged a fee because the money is in my account or else I wouldn't be allowed to take out the money in the first place! Another was a gas station charge that I had not made on that day for $26. so after arguing on the phone for whole first part of my morning and making me late to work to deal with this, the phone call ended with no help what so ever.. was just told that there was nothing they could do. So! then later, just a few hours after I spoke with them, I checked my account again and noticed that there were 2 more $35 fees processing to my account making it now a total of $176, yet no new transactions were showing different from this morning! I then contacted the location again and was asking about those, I spoke with a different girl this time, and was told that one of those newer charges was for the charge that the other girl mentioned earlier that morning that I had supposedly already received a fee for! we kept going back and forth and I even got another branch involved and was still told that there was nothing that they could do and they could not remove the fees since this was not a bank error. I Borrowed a $100 from my friend and drove it down to one of the branches here in Boise, ID who I had been dealing with that day and was asking if I deposited that if the last 2 fees could be removed... they gladly took my money but the branch in Ontario, OR who holds admin rights to my account would not reverse any fees and work with me to avoid accumulating any further charges. So once paying the $100 I was still negative $76 bucks. This morning, 1/25/18, I checked it again and sure enough another charge from the same gas station who supposedly I had several transactions with over the last couple of days, charged me another $36 something. I called the BOW 1-800 # since the branch was not assisting me previously and was told that this charge was from back in NOVEMBER!!! This is absolutely absurd! I get paid weekly... if there were any discrepancy on ANY payment at ANY time, I feel like it should be resolved and removed from any of the other SEVERAL checks that I had received between that time. My debit card does not work if there is no money on my account... even if its only a dollar over... I know this because I have had it reject in those cases and had to alter my purchase... BOW tried to tell me differently. And now again today... because of that charge... I have yet another $35 fee just since this morning, again a few hours after speaking with them. I have been with this bank since like [protected]. I have never experienced this before and I find it unbelievable that they can overdraft a persons account over $200, which also causes bills to be returned because the money that was in my account was taken by all these Bulls*t fees and transactions.in just less than 3 days I have managed to receive 6 fees in the amount of $35 dollars each, a returned bill which now costs me more as well, and a short paycheck which causes me to be short on my car payment that's due this coming week! I will be closing my account with the bank and Will never recommend it to anyone! I bust my [censor] to earn my paychecks every week because I live alone and do and pay for everything myself... to have this kind of penalty with no understanding of my health situations and finances, even though I walked in there with cash to try and straighten the situation out... I got nothing!! I did not appreciate the run-a-round information as to what the fees were for and I certainly did not appreciate the lack of understanding and sympathy for my situation. If there were a transaction that hit when there were no funds, I gladly take accountability and do not try to fight the charges... but this? this I repeatedly explained that on those dates listed I had not made those purchases and I was still told this was not a bank error and that there is nothing they could do... They wouldn't process the fraudulent charge request that I put in nor turn off my card. I do not feel that it is right to have that kind of control over the money that I and I alone work so hard to earn... and it certainly should be illegal for gas stations or any kind of business to pull such ridiculous stunts! When I make a purchase and pay with my debit card I expect my payment to be made when I make it and not several weeks or months later... I understand banks aren't open on the weekends, but a charge from NOVEMBER? I cant even believe I was given that response... I do not have a credit card, Just my debit card and the only time my card is not ran as a debit is when I am fueling at a gas pump! there should be no reason that ANYTHING like this ever happens. I have taken extra measures in insuring that I don't over spend my account, and there are times automatic bills hit or I ask for one to go through for a bill but again I dont fight those... I am accepting of the charges that I am accountable for and aware of for one thing! I certainly hope that other customers aren't being treated this way...
Helpfull? 0 votes

Post your comment:



Do you want to help? Probably you've just been in a similar situation, know the solution and want to help? Perhaps you are just a kind person who has advice on the merits. Please write your comment — you can do a good breed.

If you are actual Representative of Bank of the West you can contact the user using the comment form and help resolve the situation. The user can always mark his complaint as "resolved". Maintain your brand image, it is FREE.

Copyright © 2023 CLAIMBO.COM. All rights reserved.