Working for Wells Fargo at the phone bank at the Shoreview, MN location has been by far the worst employment experience of my entire life. It was so bad I felt I needed to do the right thing and go online to blog about everything that happened while I worked for Wells Fargo in order to warn people who might be considering a career with this horrible, unethical, morally corrupt company. I am 36 years old and I have worked in quite a few call centers. This was the worst call center position I have ever had (and not just because of the phone banker position itself).
I did not apply for a job at Wells Fargo. After making my resume public on indeed.com, I was contacted by email by a hiring recruiter. She asked me to setup a phone interview later that day. After we had the phone interview, she asked me to come in for an in person interview with a hiring manager the next day. The next day I had an in person interview with a hiring manager. Later that same afternoon the recruiter called and made me a job offer which I accepted (even though it was for very low pay, I thought to myself. . . what could possibly be worse than working at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota?) I wanted out of that role so bad I figured this must be the light at the end of the tunnel and I went for it. Big mistake!
The training was very basic and failed to prepare us for anything that we needed to know in order to do our job efficiently. The training systems were outdated and the VL didn't even match what agents used out in production. The trainer was rude and didn't seem to care about his job. All they seemed to care about during training was how important it was to document customer complaints to prevent more law suits (because apparently everyone was suing Wells Fargo). I'm not just talking about the scandal of 2016. One time after work, after a customer made some remarks about "how much trouble we were in," I went home and did a google search for "Wells Fargo law suits." I was just shocked and blown away at the sheer volume and dollar amount of legal settlements this bank is being required to pay!
The phone banker role itself was excruciatingly stressful (and I am considered a call center veteran with over 11 years of experience on the phones from multiple call center positions). It was beyond brutal. The volume of calls was staggering, with no time ever in between calls. As soon as one call ended, another immediately beeped in every single day. I averaged over 100 calls a day. One day I took over 200 phone calls! (They expect your handle time as a phone banker to be below 265 seconds.) Keep in mind, Wells Fargo has something called a "second chance" program. This program basically allows anyone to bank with them (despite what they may have done in the past). This means phone bankers were required to take calls from customers who were less than reputable. Again, I am trying to be as transparent as possible about this employment experience. (It seemed every call I took was either from someone in a trailer park or a ghetto!) Customers who didn't even know basic math. People who were at the very bottom of society. I remember receiving phone calls from homeless people!!! They straight out told me they were homeless. Just imagine how difficult it is to explain to someone (who doesn't even understand basic math) how posting times work and why they shouldn't look at Wells Fargo's website for their current balance and that not all transactions post immediately.
After several months out of training they announced they would be closing our site down and "displacing" all of us at the Shoreview, MN phone bank. They promised to help us all find outside employment and they would help "retain" top employees. They also claimed they would offer us all a severance package. We would work through the end of November and everyone would have the entire month of December off with pay. Once January first hit, that's when our severance pay would start. Even though I only worked there for less than a year, I was promised eight weeks of severance pay starting in January. We were also told we would have multiple resources at our disposal, including someone who would work with us one on one to help us be "retained" by the company or to find outside employment. This never happened. First they decided to close more locations down. Then they said they were going to extend production through January. Then it was changed to February.
As if the stress of being "displaced" (which is Wells Fargo's Minnesota nice passive aggressive way of saying laid off) wasn't bad enough, we all had plans on what we were going to do which went up in smoke. So I finally caved in and applied for a position which it turned out Wells Fargo was bringing in to replace the phone bank. They were hiring 60 employees for the Executive Office Case Specialist position. The role involved dealing with escalated complaints that mostly came from branch locations. I passed the phone interview and was called in for an in person interview. Several days later I found out they decided my experience didn't match what they were looking for because during the interview I failed to explain how my experience was a good enough match for the position. At this time I also found out that almost the entire phone banker coaching queue had applied and been accepted for the same role. The manager I had my in person interview with was some guy they flew in from North Carolina to help with all the interviews. During the entire interview I had the impression he didn't want to be there and would rather be doing anything else besides talking to me. I remember at the end of the interview I asked him "What is the next step in the interview process from here?" He replied, "Well, we make our recommendations about who should move forward and then upper management decides the rest." Again, we were promised that management would do everything possible to help top employees be retained or find outside employment. Well this never happened. I ended up walking out and quitting out of sheer frustration and disappointment. (I ended up accepting a job with a different company less than one week later. . . for a much higher rate of pay than what I was making working for Wells Fargo.) I'm still not really sure why they didn't bother to take the time to look up my previous stats or at least look and check and see all the things that I already did for the company up to that point before they made a final decision.
WELLS FARGO HAS FAILED THEIR EMPLOYEES IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY. It's almost as if their company culture encourages management to make the worst possible business decisions. This is why this company is in so much trouble. This company is criminal. All Wells Fargo management does is lie, lie, lie, and then lie some more. I'm not sure there will even be a Wells Fargo five years from now. They are closing down call centers and branches EVERYWHERE since they can't afford to pay employees due to all the legal settlements they are being hit with. Also, it has now come to light thanks to the media that Wells Fargo is having problems paying severance to employees from all the locations they have decided to close down. Especially now that all the MULTIPLE lawsuits are starting to be settled (again, as a result of all the poor business decisions management has made in previous years).
This has been an awful, terrible employment experience and I hope this company ends up being shut down!!! I hope this company is held accountable for all the negative things they have done and for all the poor business decisions they have made. If you are offered a job at this wretched excuse for a bank, RUN. . . don't just walk away! You need to do your research and make an educated decision. . . don't buy into this company's B.S. or lower your standards by associating yourself with their irreparably damaged brand. Just remember. . . there are quite a few reasons why this bank is in so much trouble!