Dick Bove Blasts Wells Fargo In Analyst Note, ‘Does Service Mean Anything?’
Catherine New, Huffington Post
Wells Fargo pissed off the wrong customer.
Earlier this week, Richard X. ‘Dick’ Bove, a well-known banking analyst, blasted the bank in a research note entitled “Does Service Mean Anything?”
According to Bove, 71, Wells Fargo royally botched his personal account, charging him mystery fees, bungling his mortgage refinance application and basically blowing him off on the customer service front.
Bove, who had been a Wachovia customer for around 10 years before Wells Fargo took over, said the changes at the Tampa, Fla., branch where he had been banking were considerable. Gone was the greeter at the door, for example. In place of a friendly ‘Hello’ were sales desks.
He recounts one occasion when he visited his branch to speak with a personal banker but was left waiting in limbo. “The bank officer made me wait a bit; came out of his office and entered a public bathroom; and then left the bank,” Bove recounted in his note. “Nothing was solved for me on that visit.”
Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia in 2008, and former Wachovia locations in Florida were fully rebranded by July 2011, according to Wells Fargo. Bove said all his experiences took place at the same location on North Florida Avenue in Tampa.