Wells Fargo - Don't use for overseas transfers

[beemererik]

I recently sent a magneto over to BMZ in Germany for rebuild. They assessed the condition and quoted a price. They only accept a couple methods of payment from overseas customers. One being money transfer into their bank account. Wells Fargo offers this service but my local Credit Union does not. I went to a Wells Fargo location and had this done. A week later the Wells Fargo call center located somewhere outside the US called me and wanted to know how well I knew who I was sending money to. I conveyed that they were well known in the antique motorcycle world and to send my money to them. Although the lady I was talking to spoke English - I could tell she could not process what I was telling her. However, with no further calls I thought everything was in process. After two more weeks I received a letter saying that they were not going to process my transfer in order to protect me from fraud. After spending 45 minutes on the phone and telling Wells Fargo I did not need to be protected by them and I was willing to take the risk with MY money, I got nowhere.

In the meantime, Wells Fargo has been sitting on my money for three weeks earning interest. There also was not a check in the letter. I asked about it, and they said it would be returned to my account. When I informed them that I paid in cash, they seemed surprised and told me I would have to go to the location I sent it from to retrieve my money.

Poor service, terrible communication, serious big brother action. As a well educated professional, I apparently do not have the common sense on who to send my money to. Also if I decide I am willing to take the risk in being ripped off, I am not smart enough to make that decision either.

-Erik

[beemererik]

This is getting more interesting. I went to the local Wells Fargo office to get my refund. They can't find my money (it has evaporated). So another call into the overseas call center. After 30 minutes one party said I will get a call in the near future (they don't know when) with a new tracking number that will allow me to retrieve my money. I went up the chain and the next person I talked to said the transfer actually went through. This is the first of 6 different people that told me that it went through and I half believe it might be BS and a stall tactic. The are doing an investigation which will take 7 days to confirm if this is the case.

In the meantime I have an email into BMZ to see if they can tell me if they received the money. What a cluster..

Sorry to rant, but this is making me crazy.

-Erik

[sminn560sl]

I don't think the problem is isolated to Wells Fargo. I had the same problem with my local bank.

I bought an airgun on a German auction site. I 'wired' the money to the seller's bank account and was told that it would reach the account in two days. Two weeks later it still wasn't shown as received. The bank was completely unable to track the status of the money except to say that we'd have to wait for the bank to respond. At the three week point I received a note from the seller indicating that the money was received.

I thought in today's electronically connected world that a 'wire' would be an electronic transfer that would be instantaneous with complete tracking ability. Not so.

[scottiesharpe]

Banking computers systems are continually fraught with crime and fraud. They are trying to protect themselves, but they are impeding commerce while doing it. It is terrible service. Soon it will be easier to mail a gold coin via the donkey express.

[jrapose]

I transfer funds using Capitol One ....and their Master Card service... I do it all the time and it works well.. Plus you don't have to pay the extra 3% fee for them to push the one button to convert USD to Euros.... (it really adds up over time)..if you use local or what we think of as common banks they will charge you for every transaction that requires even the slightest amount of their labor....

Check it out, it's a free card (if you pay it off every month) and it is accepted world wide...(that's a winner for me)..
I buy stuff from Europe all the time...never a problem.

Joel
importer of Powerdynamo systems (Berlin)