Wells Fargo

I was sent through a three week training program in my first month of employment with Wells Fargo. Our trainer explained in detail what illegal gaming was and to avoid such activity. In the upcoming weeks/months, I heard complaint after complaint from customers about Bankers selling products to them without their knowledge. These customers would come in to open and a checking and savings account only, but would get home to realize they not only got a checking account, but they got two savings accounts and a debit card/credit card as well. I didn’t know what to say, and I certainly couldn’t give them a good explanation why this was happening. These customers were very upset and wanted to close all of their accounts. I emailed my manager about these issues, and she said she would talk with them, but nothing changed.

Several times I have overheard my co-workers falsify information to gain business from the customers. One of the bankers noticed that my customer left without opening an account. He had the audacity to walk over to my desk and told me, “Sometimes you have to make up ### to get the sale”. This bothered me, so I talked with my manager about it. She said, “I have already talked to him about that”. Again, nothing changed after my conversation with the manager.

I had a college student wanting to apply for a credit card. She did not have steady income at the moment, but she had a part-time job coming up in a few months. I was not sure what to imput on the credit card application, so I went to get clarification from my manager. When I approached her desk, she was talking with another banker. They both told me to put in $1100, otherwise the application will not get approved. I did not feel good about falsifying the application, so I sent the customer away. I soon realized that it was regular practice in that branch to fudge numbers to get a sale.

It was also regular practice for bankers to sell product to one another to get their “sales quota” for the week. Many of the bankers have more than ten checking and savings accounts. They would open them up, and then close them once the quarter was over. This is ludicrous and not right!

I had my co-worker, a Business Banker, approach me about opening up a business account. I told her that I was not interested and have no use for one. She went on to tell me that she needed one more business account or she won’t meet her quota and our boss would not get her bonus. She told me that I could close my account in a month or so. I didn’t know how to respond and I felt pressured to do it. She ended up getting promoted to management in another state.

I had a customer who came in upset because he was told that if he opened a new checking account, he would get $100. He never got his money from Wells Fargo, but his main concern was missing money from his account. After doing some research, I discovered that his banker transferred money from the customer’s account to his account. Not only did he take the customer’s money, he lied to the customer about the $100 offer. When I approach our service manager, she said we have never had an offer like that and was stunned that money was taken from a customer by one of our own bankers! The service manager threatened me not to tell anyone about this. I should have immediately called the Ethic’s Line, but I was afraid I would lose my job. They obviously did not take this incident seriously because the customer never heard back from management about his concern. He came in several days later and said, “What’s going on with my account?” I was surprised he had not been contacted, so I approached the service manager. She said to me, “Oh yea, I’ll take care of that right now”. She immediately credited the missing funds back into the customer’s account, but I highly doubt this got reported to upper management. This kind of activity makes the branch look bad, so I’m sure they kept it under wraps to avoid an audit.

It is sad that management puts extreme pressure on their staff to sell, sell, sell. Staff was hounded with emails from upper management and even threatened that we could not leave until we had appointments scheduled. It is not uncommon to get over 30 one day. I was constantly harassed to have my family and friends open accounts to meet sales goals. It is unfortunate that this kind of pressure drove some of the Bankers to engage in illegal gaming.

I did all I could do by reporting these issues to my manager. I also attempted to make two anonymous calls to the Human Resource office. One of the ladies was and HR Advisor. She was so rude, and demanded that I gave my name or she could not help me. I was not about to jeopardize my position.

Several weeks prior to quitting my job, I confided in two co-workers about the illegal activity going on. These were the only two I trusted, and even though the service manager threatened me not to tell anyone about it.

The service manager had been treating my like trash since the "banker theft" incident. It's almost like she was trying to bet me to quit. It got so bad that I ended up walking out on my job because I was treated so poorly. I was sick of her fowl mouth and the way she treated everyone. I was sick of not getting breaks or feeling like I was inconveniencing everyone if I did. She definitely has a "God complex"!

It's sad that most of the employees are young and don't understand their rights. I almost feel that Wells Fargo prefers it that way, so they can treat people like slaves!

I ended up filing two reports with the Ethics Line in regards illegal gaming and other complaints (such as not allowing breaks and sometimes lunches). I really doubt they will do anything, in fact, the branch manager just got promoted somewhere else. Crazy how they reward people who should be fired or put in jail!

I filed for unemployment, but Wells Fargo is not responding to my comments about illegal gaming, so I got denied. They should be penalized for that! I am appealing it and I may get an attorney.