WESCOM Credit Union lost my CC payment

[Jeffster1]

Just an FYI for anybody holding a Wescom CC:

Early last week, I set up via the Wescom website an $85 transfer from my external BofA account to my Wescom credit card account to pay my balance. According to the Wescom website, and according to the Bank of America website, the transfer was completed 3 days ago. 

I checked yesterday and the $85 had not been credited to my credit card account. I called their credit card department and was told they cannot find the payment. I directed them to look at their own website which shows the transfer as being "paid" as of 7/24. The rep said they have no record of my payment AT ALL in their system. 

The rep told me to send proof. I told her that I am not sending them anything. The proof is in their own system on their website.

Fortunately, the payment is not even due for quite a while but...still. 

The rep then asked me to give her until 5:00 PM PDT today to figure out what happened. To be honest, I've never had a payment "lost" by a credit union or credit card company.

I asked her what would have happened if I had not been paying attention and monitoring my payments. She said, "oh, we would have reversed the interest accrued." Seriously? What about the ding to my credit which I would have then been forced to jump through hoops to fix? 

[Jeffster1]

Update: After several calls...with a cumulative total of over an hour on hold...they found my transfer and applied it. This card is going into the sockdrawer. 

Too much time and effort wasted on what should have been a simple $85 payment. 

[FireMedic1]

Ya never know. gotta stay up on things. Least its done.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Next time, just send them the proof. Having worked in banking and insurance, all you're doing is delaying the process. Plus, they're documenting your refusal to cooperate in case you try to escalate later. You probably could have saved yourself the follow up calls.

[Jeffster1]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Next time, just send them the proof. Having worked in banking and insurance, all you're doing is delaying the process. Plus, they're documenting your refusal to cooperate in case you try to escalate later. You probably could have saved yourself the follow up calls.

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Not really. The proof was on their own website in the Transfers section, which they refused to look at, claiming they were on a "different system." 

Given the level of utter incompetence I encountered, sending them the proof separately from their own website would have further delayed any action. I can pretty much guarantee that, as of this writing, it would still be "lost," if I had simply sent her the proof from their website, and not further pursued it on my own. The feeling I got was that she was just trying to placate and get rid of me. 

The person I initially spoke with yesterday promised to call me back. That never happened. She was also the same person who dismissively told me to "send proof."

The $85 charge on 7/19 was my very first charge on this card which I received in late 2022. I was literally paying it as soon as it posted. To further illustrate the level of incompetence, one of the reps I spoke with yesterday told me it was due on 7/28, and advised me I should have sent the transfer sooner. I had to correct her and advise her that my 7/28 statement balance was ZERO, not $85, and that the purchase was made on 7/19. The $85 would be due 8/28. How could she not see that?

All in all, an inexcusably bad experience. 

[markbeiser]

Did they bring on some ex Truist IT staff or something?🤣

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Jeffster1 wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Next time, just send them the proof. Having worked in banking and insurance, all you're doing is delaying the process. Plus, they're documenting your refusal to cooperate in case you try to escalate later. You probably could have saved yourself the follow up calls.

---

Not really. The proof was on their own website in the Transfers section, which they refused to look at, claiming they were on a "different system." 

Given the level of utter incompetence I encountered, sending them the proof separately from their own website would have further delayed any action. I can pretty much guarantee that, as of this writing, it would still be "lost," if I had simply sent her the proof from their website, and not further pursued it on my own. The feeling I got was that she was just trying to placate and get rid of me. 

The person I initially spoke with yesterday promised to call me back. That never happened. She was also the same person who dismissively told me to "send proof."

The $85 charge on 7/19 was my very first charge on this card which I received in late 2022. I was literally paying it as soon as it posted. To further illustrate the level of incompetence, one of the reps I spoke with yesterday told me it was due on 7/28, and advised me I should have sent the transfer sooner. I had to correct her and advise her that my 7/28 statement balance was ZERO, not $85, and that the purchase was made on 7/19. The $85 would be due 8/28. How could she not see that?

All in all, an inexcusably bad experience. 

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So there was only one bank involved in the transfer? You couldn't get proof from where the payment came from showing it was completed? Believe it or not, businesses, including banks, actually do use multiple interfaces and may not be able to access everything from any single one. Not to mention restricted access based on their position. You were willing to cut off your nose to spite your face because you believed they should have been able to see everything from the get go rather than help the process and obtain hard proof the transaction happened and sending it in.

You can rant all you want, but it seriously didn't have to be the nightmare you're saying it was. A call to your Fi to get proof, email or fax it in, quick phone call to verify they received it. Things like this happen. Chase lost a $10k transfer of mine. Absolutely no record. I called up the Fi I sent it from and got the transaction details. Gave it to chase and they found it in about a minute or two. Another couple of minutes and it was in my account. No arguing, no long phone calls and holds, no rending of garments. Beats them bringing in their investigation/fraud department. That could have taken 2-3 months. But I saved everyone the grief and hassle with a quick phone call and a piece of paper. I still bank with chase 4 years later because of very few issues and despite them also cashing a completely blank check that just said "$1000" on it. That was a 5 minute call to resolve. If you think they're that incompetent, maybe you should just close down the account. 

And I'm not going to even comment about getting the wrong info from a CSR beyond saying anyone that has called customer service enough knows you'll get wrong info every once in a while. It happens.

So, whatever, I was simply making a suggestion based on having worked in banking and similar industries and positions to possibly save you some grief in future situations, but you do you. 

[Anonymalous]

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@Jeffster1 wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Next time, just send them the proof. Having worked in banking and insurance, all you're doing is delaying the process. Plus, they're documenting your refusal to cooperate in case you try to escalate later. You probably could have saved yourself the follow up calls.

---

Not really. The proof was on their own website in the Transfers section, which they refused to look at, claiming they were on a "different system." 

Hetergenous systems are very common. These can be legacy systems co-existing with more modern systems, systems integrated after a a merger, different departments that implemented different technological solutions with different standards, and many many other situations. IT doesn't work with a simple uniform set of technologies. They implement stacks of technologies, which have to integrate with all the other stacks of technologies.

A CSR will have a login to a system designed to provide backend access to the various tools they need to manage accounts. This will typically be developed separately from something like a mobile app or a web application, used by an end user. In an ideal world, both systems would be designed in tandem, closely integrated, be able to access everything they need and nothing else, and all information be the same in both interfaces. In the real world, that never happens.

If the person you were talking to couldn't see the same thing you did, providing external evidence that the fault was in their system can help cut through bureaucracy. You may or may not have slowed down the process, but your refusal certainly didn't speed it up.

[Jeffster1]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@Jeffster1 wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Next time, just send them the proof. Having worked in banking and insurance, all you're doing is delaying the process. Plus, they're documenting your refusal to cooperate in case you try to escalate later. You probably could have saved yourself the follow up calls.

---

Not really. The proof was on their own website in the Transfers section, which they refused to look at, claiming they were on a "different system." 

Given the level of utter incompetence I encountered, sending them the proof separately from their own website would have further delayed any action. I can pretty much guarantee that, as of this writing, it would still be "lost," if I had simply sent her the proof from their website, and not further pursued it on my own. The feeling I got was that she was just trying to placate and get rid of me. 

The person I initially spoke with yesterday promised to call me back. That never happened. She was also the same person who dismissively told me to "send proof."

The $85 charge on 7/19 was my very first charge on this card which I received in late 2022. I was literally paying it as soon as it posted. To further illustrate the level of incompetence, one of the reps I spoke with yesterday told me it was due on 7/28, and advised me I should have sent the transfer sooner. I had to correct her and advise her that my 7/28 statement balance was ZERO, not $85, and that the purchase was made on 7/19. The $85 would be due 8/28. How could she not see that?

All in all, an inexcusably bad experience. 

---

So there was only one bank involved in the transfer? You couldn't get proof from where the payment came from showing it was completed? Believe it or not, businesses, including banks, actually do use multiple interfaces and may not be able to access everything from any single one. Not to mention restricted access based on their position. You were willing to cut off your nose to spite your face because you believed they should have been able to see everything from the get go rather than help the process and obtain hard proof the transaction happened and sending it in.

You can rant all you want, but it seriously didn't have to be the nightmare you're saying it was. A call to your Fi to get proof, email or fax it in, quick phone call to verify they received it. Things like this happen. Chase lost a $10k transfer of mine. Absolutely no record. I called up the Fi I sent it from and got the transaction details. Gave it to chase and they found it in about a minute or two. Another couple of minutes and it was in my account. No arguing, no long phone calls and holds, no rending of garments. Beats them bringing in their investigation/fraud department. That could have taken 2-3 months. But I saved everyone the grief and hassle with a quick phone call and a piece of paper. I still bank with chase 4 years later because of very few issues and despite them also cashing a completely blank check that just said "$1000" on it. That was a 5 minute call to resolve. If you think they're that incompetent, maybe you should just close down the account. 

And I'm not going to even comment about getting the wrong info from a CSR beyond saying anyone that has called customer service enough knows you'll get wrong info every once in a while. It happens.

So, whatever, I was simply making a suggestion based on having worked in banking and similar industries and positions to possibly save you some grief in future situations, but you do you. 

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My way worked. I got it resolved. Period. 🤣

[SouthJamaica]

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@Jeffster1 wrote:

Update: After several calls...with a cumulative total of over an hour on hold...they found my transfer and applied it. This card is going into the sockdrawer. 

Too much time and effort wasted on what should have been a simple $85 payment. 

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Glad it was resolved.