Recently we ( Chugggers )were a victim of a scam. Someone called in an order for some food for a big event. My kitchen staff took the order and a credit card payment of $2220. Of course we were all excited as we are a new restaurant and this big order would help us get some much needed items. So of course we rushed to buy product and used the rest of the money to buy some much needed things for the restaurant.
The next day the person who placed the order call back and said they needed a portion of the money western union to a delivery service. Of course this raised a red flag and I immediately went to my bank Wells Fargo and explained the situation. I also filed a report with the Rocklin Police Department. The problem now lied with the fact the we had already spent the money.
So Wells Fargo our merchant services credit card processing company started to withhold all our credit card batches last week. This became very difficult for us, as we operate on a daily basis and need cash flow to operate. I called their customer service and asked them if they could please only withhold a portion of it so we could operate. Of course Well Fargo refused and wanted to withhold all the batches until the debt was paid off.
Tuesday this week we finally sold enough to pay it off. Wednesday morning I woke up with a sigh of relief knowing that we finally had money in the bank .
I was quickly disappointed. I checked our account and we still had not received a dime. So I immediate called customer service ( of course got the run around for about 2 hours) and was informed that it was in their right to withhold the batches for another 5-7 or maybe more days. It’s now Friday, we need the money owed to us. I can't get anywhere on the phone and I juts keep getting the run around.
They have held thousands of dollars, basically an intrest free loan on behalf of Chuggers, and our local branch ( who happens to be in our same parking lot) who of course was so friendly to sign us up for our new business accounts, payroll services and credit card processing, could care less about us and rather see us suffer than release the funds due to us. Not to mention they were so gracious to also hit us with a bunch of fees totaling $365! I guess that’s more important to them, collect fees and lose a customer who processes over $12,000 a month in credit card transactions.
To this I vow! I am making in one of my goals in life to make it as hard as possible on our local branch and warn anyone against banking with Wells Fargo. They love and welcome you the first day you step in and say F$ck you every time after that!
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