Mr***:I want to quickly acknowledge your concerns and to advise you I will begin
looking into the matter first thing on Monday morning. Due to the
complexities and number of parts and players connected to your concerns, I hope
you can respect that this is not a five minute fix.
Yet, I will get to
the bottom of the matter and intend to reach out to you no later than
Wednesday. I apologize for your inconvenience and frustration. I
will be anxious to learn even more from you, as I sense there may be other
breakdowns in service on our part, which I will want to have fixed moving
forward. My guess is that you would not have involved the RevDex.com, without first sharing your concerns with KEMBA
Management. Thus, I will be anxious to remedy that breakdown within our
company as well. Obviously, I am very disappointed in our service
level in this matter. I make no excuses and assure you this is not
our standard of service. Also, I simply want you to have some additional
facts. (Again, I make no excuses.) *** *** is not a KEMBA
employee. He works for the investment services company we have partnered
with to help assist our members. These products are not insured or
regulated by KEMBA's regulators. Yet, they are in fact a highly regulated
industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission has a very strict set of
standards that this company and their representatives adhere to. In the
near future, KEMBA will take on the supervision and hiring of our own
representatives and they and we will be held directly accountable to high
standards of performance. I believe the CFPB only regulates financial
institutions above $billion in assets. KEMBA is only 1/of that
size. No issue there, just letting you know they are not our
regulator. Similarly, we are a credit union and not a bank. Thus,
the FDIC is not involved with our credit union. KEMBA is a state
chartered financial institution, similar to Fifth Third Bank. Thus, our
regulator is the Ohio Dept of Financial Institutions. KEMBA also provides
federal deposit insurance, so we also are regulated by the National Credit
Union Administration. Lastly, we also employ an audit firm to assist in
making sure we adhere to all pertinent regulations. I offer this to
assure you we are a highly regulated and very safe financial institution.
In fact, we were just recently named the healthiest credit union in the United
States. Again, I make no excuses, yet it appears we have had a major
breakdown and I of course want to fix that. I also want to assure you
here and now that we will stand behind any errors we have made and make you
financially whole.I want to personally apologize to you and assure you I will get to the
bottom of this issue and work to remedy the matter as expeditiously as
possible. I am sorry you will be moving your business from KEMBA, yet
want to assure you we will work to make that as seamless as possible.
Please begin giving the matter some thought, in terms of also moving
the investments services to PNC, as I can’t imagine given the situation you
would want to leave those Funds with our affiliate. Again, we will make
you whole and pay any fees caused because of our poor execution and service.My direct dial number is: *** and my e-mail address is ***. Again, I apologize for
this poor service on our part and will begin working to remedy the matter first
thing on Monday
I
apologize that I was not clearer when I responded to your initial concerns on
Sunday. My intention was to merely
advise you that I had received your Revdex.com report and would investigate the matter
further. I was not offering a response
in an attempt to resolve the issue. While
I did point out some technical details, in regards to regulatory oversight,
that was merely to make sure you had accurate information. I attempted to be extremely clear that I was
not hiding behind any of those technicalities.
I was not making any excuses for the actions of those within our
organization or those associated with our organization. Since Sunday, I have looked into the matter
and I attempted to call your contact phone number on Monday, March 23, and left
a message. I then sent you an e-mail and
sought your permission to contact you in the evening. You then responded to my e-mail and said you
would contact me today, Tuesday March 24.
I then received your latest response from the Revdex.com. While it would be much easier to have a phone
conversation about this matter, I am responding via the Revdex.com
response system, as I am left assuming this is the methodology you would prefer
to use.
Again,
and for the record, I am not attempting to make excuses. I want to resolve your issues. Yet, I think it is important to supply you
with some technical corrections to some of your statements. Please, I implore you to not take that as an excuse
or me not wanting to resolve your matter.
I believe that if you understand the technicalities involved that you
will be more capable of understanding why the controls you believe are lacking,
in reality are not.
Your
Roth IRA was handled as a direct transfer, not a rollover. The limitation you speak of and the
corresponding tax consequences are related to rollovers, nor transfers. Consequently, we can direct transfer these
funds to any qualifying entity you desire.
If you will supply me with the necessary information from PNC Bank, we
can have the transfer made to their affiliate.
If you will give me the investment representative’s name and phone number,
we are happy to contact them and get the necessary information.CUSO
Financial Services, or CFS, is not an affiliate of KEMBA Financial CU. We have no ownership or oversight of their company. Their accounting systems, member account statements,
and regulatory bodies are 100% independent from KEMBA. We do refer our members seeking retirement
and investments services to them. Thus,
they are a vendor/partner of ours and we have a responsibility to manage that
partnership. (I am not attempting to say
we have no accountability. I am only
setting the stage to explain why we would not know that your investment had
been made.)A
check for $3,was written to Oppenheimer Funds on January 2015. KEMBA does in fact reconcile outstanding
checks on a monthly, not a daily, basis.
A check outstanding for less than sixty days at February’s month end
would not raise a flag. Therefore, no red
flag was created on KEMBA’s part because of the relatively short time the check
was outstanding.WE
do send our members monthly statements, in part to create audit trails and
allow members to make inquiries. Our
account statements do not reflect information or transactions from CFS.Mr
*** is not an employee of
KEMBA Financial Services. His actions
are monitored and managed by CFS. KEMBA
does advise CFS Management of concerns, in this case about Mr***’s
performance and lack of execution. They then,
by mandate of their regulatory bodies, have a responsibility to investigate
matters.Our
branch manager, or any other KEMBA employee, including *** ***, does not
have access to the information on the CFS system. That is by design and exactly for regulatory
control reasons you cite. As Ms***
advised you early on, she is not a registered investment representative and nor
is the branch manager. For what it is
worth, I think that is the same in the case of both PNC and Chase Bank. I think the investment representatives, for
example, work for Chase Investment Advisers, not Chase Bank. I suspect, but admittedly don’t know, that a
Chase Investment Advisor would not be able to make transaction on a chase
checking account. I believe separation of
duties is required. The same applies to
us.The
$3,withdraw, via check, was made payable to Oppenheimer. That was indeed handled by a KEMBA associate,
as it was deducted from the KEMBA Roth IRA savings account that you established
with *** *** earlier. By the way,
there is in fact paper work for the establishment of that account bearing your
signature. I suspect, but don’t know,
that Ms*** set that account up because your check from Chase was made
payable to KEMBA. Thus, it was
transferred and not rolled over.I
believe Mr*** misplaced the check that was issued to Oppenheimer. A significant mistake for sure. While I don’t understand why, the fact that
he did not send the paperwork or check to Oppenheimer explains why no red flag
was raised there. If they didn’t know of
the account, it would be difficult to monitor it Yet, we are in agreement that CFS has a
responsibility to monitor open issues and are interacting with them about why
this is not being done effectively.Do
I think that should happen? Of course not and I apologize for the fact that Mr
*** made this error. As said earlier,
I am sure CFS will investigate that matterYou
did not receive prompt service from Mr***, after your initial
contact. I don’t disagree with that and
again apologize. (I do, however, believe,
Ms*** was expedient in the setting up of your Roth IRA Savings Account.) I believe, based on what you have shared, we
could have done a much better job explaining the relationship with CFS and the
mechanics behind why the transaction was being handled the way it was. I think we should have given you options,
including transferring your money directly to CFS/Oppenheimer, as opposed to a
KEMBA Roth IRA Savings Account. Again, if the check had already been issued to
KEMBA, then I understand why we handled the transaction the way we did. Otherwise, I think we should have facilitated
an appointment with Mr*** and you to meet and never have deposited the funds
into a KEMBA account. My
only point regarding our asset size was that the CFPB does not regulate our
institution. While we do compete with
the big banks, we certainly don’t attempt to offer every product that they
offer. We do attempt to provide core
products that our members/owners desire.
After all, we exist to serve their needs. We also provide regular and ongoing training,
but I will take your advice and examine whether that needs to be expanded even
further.The
service you received is not to our level of expectation. I truly apologize for that. It is my understanding you want to close your
accounts and move on. While I am disappointed
we failed, I understand your decision. I
also understand your right to not speak highly of our organization, based on
your experience. That will serve as a
reminder to each of us in the management levels of KEMBA, as to just how
important it is to get each and every transaction “right.” I regret that did not happen.In
order to attempt to bring this matter to conclusion, I am proposing the
following. You supply me with the name and
contact number of the person at PNC to move the $10,Roth IRA funds to and
we will work to make that happen. We can
then close your account relationship with KEMBA, which I believe is your stated
desire. In addition, while none of us
knows what investments you might have made or how they would have performed, I
hope we can agree that a ten percent return, especially given the market’s
volatility since January would be exceptional.
$10,X 10% for a year is $1,000.
The money has only been in KEMBA’s hands since January or t two
months. Two twelves of a $1,is
$166. Yet, we will round that up and
issue you a check for $250. This,
however, will not be shown as dividends on your Roth IRA Savings Account, but
instead just as a courtesy credit.
Hopefully
this explanation and offer to pay you an above market return allows us to move
forward and conclude this matter. I will
send a copy of this response to your e-mail address of record and await your
reply and the contact information at PNC.
Once receiving that, we will act expeditiously to send the funds as a
transfer, which will eliminate any adverse tax consequences. I truly apologize for the way your
relationship was handled and wish you nothing but my best moving forward
I am very happy to respond to your inquiry and genuinely regret any inconvenience we have caused you. In looking at your account, I unfortunately find that there are no notes that have been placed about any previous inquires. I will continue to investigate as to where our
processes failed, as I assure you prompt and efficient service to our members in very important to us. This matter is relatively straight forward and easy to explain and I sincerely regret that this was not done previously. In as much as this is a public record, I need to add some details so the record is accurate. I apologize for the added length of response. In reality you have never had a VISA credit card at KEMBA. Instead you had a MasterCard. This is not to be confused with your debit card. Under separate e-mail, I will send you copies of your account statements, although you may already have those. When your account was opened you secured a balance transfer cash advance. I assume that money was utilized to then pay off two other credit card/loan balances that were previously financed elsewhere. If you in fact had balances elsewhere, the interest stopped accruing on those balance upon being paid off via the balance transfer While KEMBA Financial does not charge a balance transfer fee of any kind, interest does begin accruing from the date of the cash advance (balance transfer) and continues until such time as that balance is paid in full. This is different from when you use your credit card for everyday purchases. Every day purchases are not charged any interest if the balance is paid in full before the due date. After securing this cash advance balance transfer, you paid the balance in full days after securing the initial cash advance balance transferIn essence that rolled across two billing cycles. Specifically, days in May and days in June. If you look at your May 31, billing statement you will see that no payments were due, nor were any payments made in May. Yet, interest accrued from May 9, through May 31, or days. That statement clearly shows an interest charge of $38.62. Then on June 16, you paid your account in full. At that time, a total of $was collected from the payment for the total interest due, plus the principle amount due.. That was for the $due for the days in May and the $for the days in June. All of this is reflected on the account statements. Thus, there has been no overpayment and no misapplication of any cash advance charge as you allege in your complaint. Furthermore, there is no ongoing misapplication of interest and cash advance charges of any kind across our multitude of account holders. We have nearly 30,credit card holders and yours is the first allegation of this kind I have ever received. I respectfully submit that your allegations are invalid and that your concern results from the misunderstanding that no interest would be charged on credit card balances that are paid in full each billing cycle on or before the due dates. As I have explained this is only accurate in regards to purchases and not for balance transfer cash advances. Again, I will e-mail you outside of this response and send you copies of your account statements that show the transaction details and interest due. I trust this will allow you to resolve your concerns and believe you should now be able to remedy this matter. Thanks for being a member of KEMBA Financial and allowing us to address your concerns.*** ** ***, President/CEO
We
regret that a significant difference of opinion between Mr*** and KEMBA
exists, as to the actual facts of this matter.
I have listened to the phone call involving Mr*** and our Member Services
representative and have reviewed the charge in question. I wish to go on
record as saying KEMBA
Financial would never refuse to help a member submit information regarding a disputed transaction, when valid reasons
exists that are in compliance with the rules afforded by the VISA and Master
Card networks. In this instance, Mr
*** was not denied the right to submit a dispute. It was explained to him, that the charge must
first be applied to the account, before disputing it. More importantly, in this matter, Mr***
never alleges that his debit card was lost, stolen, or fraudulently
utilized. In fact, he readily admits he
utilized his debit card to make the online purchase now in question. He did so at his own volition. He supplied the card number, the card’s
expiration date and CVV code He admits
to being a willing party to the transaction For whatever reason, which I do not question
his motive or right to do, he changed his mind and no longer wants the product/service
he has already purchased. Yet the
protections afforded consumers, when using their VISA or Master Card, have
similar protections in place for the merchants, which, in good faith, accept
the card for the purchase of their product/service.
In
as much as the card used for this purchase was not fraudulently utilized, Mr
*** was asked by our representative if he had contacted the merchant to seek a
refund or resolution. His response was
that he had not, stating a phone number was not listed for him to call and that
he had not attempted in any way to reach the merchant or to cancel the service
he previously purchased, nor had he already sought a refund that was
subsequently denied. Our representative suggested
to Mr*** that since he was a willing party to the transaction, he should
first seek refund from the merchant, documenting the same, before we could
legitimately, and in adherence with the rules afforded by VISA and Master Card, seek restitution
through the dispute process. Mr*** then
advised her he would file a claim with the Revdex.com and abruptly
ended the call.
For
the record, when personally visiting the web site where his purchase was made
from, I discovered that the company clearly delineates that their fee is $39.95, the exact amount of the charge
that posted to his account on March 16, 2015, which Mr*** now wishes to dispute
They also have what appears to be a
very easy to use section to request cancellation of their service and/or
refund. We suggest Mr*** engage the
merchant to seek his refund and clearly document the same(Screen shots, etc.)
I hope they will refund his money. However, if they refuse to do so, we will be
very happy to make a request of MasterCard to seek intermediation with the company
in question, in an attempt to gain a refund of his purchase. This will require some forms being filled out
by Mr***, along with supplying the needed documentation. What I cannot promise is that a refund will
be made, in as much as no fraud or misuse is alleged in this instance
Mr*** further states this is a recurring
theme. We again disagree with this statement. In a previous instance, Mr*** made a product
purchase from a local retailerWhen that was not delivered to his home within
the hour of the promised time, he sought KEMBA assistance in cancelling the
transaction. He, as is in this case, was
advised to contact the merchant, which he had not previously done. Upon doing so, the merchant cancelled the
purchase and refunded the money. While
we at KEMBA clearly understand the advantages and protections that credit and
debit cards afford a consumer, we would ask Mr*** to consider the following. Let’s say, he chooses to buy a product from
the local grocery store. He withdraws
cash from his KEMBA account to pay for that product. He later, for whatever reason, (for example
he thought it was on sale only to discover it was not) now regrets the purchase
of that product. Would he call KEMBA and
request our assistance in getting his money back? In essence this is what he has requested of
us, because he used his debit card as his payment mechanism, as opposed
to cash. Said differently, he wants us
to take responsibility for his actions and seems to believe he has no need to
be as involved in seeking his refund, as he was in purchasing the product. Again, be clear, if the charge or purchase
was fraudulent in nature, not made knowingly and willingly by Mr***, we,
just as we do countless times every day, would be happy to dispute the charge
on his behalf. Again, should the
merchant refuse to issue a refund, once requested by Mr*** and upon Mr***
supplying us with the needed documentation, we would be happy to file a
dispute. We might also suggest he file a
complaint with the Revdex.com against the merchant in question, if
he believes they entered into an unscrupulous business practice and can
document the same. Thank you for the
opportunity to respond to Mr***’s concern
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. I would like to apologize that we failed previously to act in a timely fashion to conclude this matter. I have researched this issue and while our program is not designed to pay rewards to members that have closed their
account, (which you said you would find logical,) I am in complete agreement that in this instance since we erred in advising you points were available for redemption, we should in fact pay out the funds. I am pleased to advise you a check in the amount of $will be issued today and mailed to your address of record. I truly regret this matter was not resolved previously. You taking the time to voice your concern certainly allows me to delve more into where our breakdown(s) occurred and we will work to fix that. Again, the check will be mailed today and I trust will conclude this matter
Kind Regards,
I don't accept the notion that a consumer should know of a scam prior to falling victim to one any more than I accept that an assault victim is to blame for their assaultI don't accept the a bank representative refusing to mail a dispute form, for investigation, is customer serviceI take every precaution I can, to avoid such mishaps, because history has taught me Kemba personnel aren't willing to assist their customers beyond accepting deposits & issuing loansWhen I can, I add the extra layer of protection with PayPal, in my online purchases, because they are experts at protecting the consumerI expect the service Kemba markets, nothing more nor nothing less
I have reviewed the response made by the business and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I am very satisfied and amazed that the president of the company took the time to review and handle this issue. I am satisfied and if an opportunity arises to join Kemba again, I will definitely do so.
Regrettably
I am unable to open the link you provided.
Yet, I have little doubt that [redacted] has a questionable
business proposition. While not in any
way trying to be difficult, I don’t understand the dilemma Mr. [redacted] is facing,
as referenced in your note. As indicated
previously, we are happy to provide assistance and request a charge back
through the Master Card network, if Mr. [redacted] is willing to advise us that fraud
occurred during his authorization of this transaction. Or, if he will advise us that the service he
paid for was not delivered to him.
Unfortunately, we will have no charge back option if Mr. [redacted] is simply
saying I changed my mind and wish I hadn’t contracted with this firm. Again, we recommend he contact the firm and
request his money back. Perhaps the Revdex.com could assist in this
endeavor? If he is not successful in
having his purchase refunded, we will be very happy to attempt a charge back,
once Mr. [redacted] provides us with the necessary and proper paperwork.
Please let
me know if you can suggest other options?
Perhaps I am missing something. We
are anxious to have no outstanding or unresolved issues in our RevDex.com file. Yet, it would be unfair of
me to have the rest of our membership take on the cost of every purchase one of
their fellow members made, which they in retrospect wish they had not made. Mr. [redacted] never asked us to refund his
money. He asked us to help him enter
into dispute. We are happy to do that,
if a valid reason can be provided for doing so.
Thank you
for your assistance. I look forward to
your response and am happy to discuss this matter by phone. I have provided my number.
We do not deny that our teller made an error in giving you another patron's money and documentation. This is very regrettable for all parties involved and I sincerely apologize that this mishap occurred. We calculated that this particular teller performed over a quarter of a million...
drive through transactions without once mixing the tubes up. I offer this information only to point out this type of error is an abnormality and far from the norm. Regrettably this impacted you and I again apologize. Yet, for the record, since others may read your complaint and our response, I want to state that it is my understanding that when you visited our office you requested a cashier's check. Thus, when you received cash in the drive through tube I would respectfully suggest you should have known this was not your transaction. Further, only after more than two hours had passed and our calls were not returned did we involve the Whitehall Police Dept. I regret if you felt the officer involved did not handle the matter well. Unfortunately, KEMBA has little control over that situation. Again, for the record, it is my understanding the officer involved stated that you were somewhat evasive and not overly forthcoming in admitting you had received the incorrect funds. Further, KEMBA personnel have had no direct contact with you since this error occurred. Thus, it is not our personnel that have mishandled the matter, outside of the original error. You returned the cash and documents given to you in error to your [redacted], [redacted], and they have returned them to us. Further, as you have requested, and prior to your filing the Revdex.com complaint, we returned your personal property to [redacted] upon their request. Thus, you should be able to pick up your personal documents from [redacted]. We believe this remedies the matter. Again, we regret an error was made and genuinely apologize for any inconvenience this mistake has caused you.
Mr***:I want to quickly acknowledge your concerns and to advise you I will begin
looking into the matter first thing on Monday morning. Due to the
complexities and number of parts and players connected to your concerns, I hope
you can respect that this is not a five minute fix.
Yet, I will get to
the bottom of the matter and intend to reach out to you no later than
Wednesday. I apologize for your inconvenience and frustration. I
will be anxious to learn even more from you, as I sense there may be other
breakdowns in service on our part, which I will want to have fixed moving
forward. My guess is that you would not have involved the RevDex.com, without first sharing your concerns with KEMBA
Management. Thus, I will be anxious to remedy that breakdown within our
company as well. Obviously, I am very disappointed in our service
level in this matter. I make no excuses and assure you this is not
our standard of service. Also, I simply want you to have some additional
facts. (Again, I make no excuses.) *** *** is not a KEMBA
employee. He works for the investment services company we have partnered
with to help assist our members. These products are not insured or
regulated by KEMBA's regulators. Yet, they are in fact a highly regulated
industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission has a very strict set of
standards that this company and their representatives adhere to. In the
near future, KEMBA will take on the supervision and hiring of our own
representatives and they and we will be held directly accountable to high
standards of performance. I believe the CFPB only regulates financial
institutions above $billion in assets. KEMBA is only 1/of that
size. No issue there, just letting you know they are not our
regulator. Similarly, we are a credit union and not a bank. Thus,
the FDIC is not involved with our credit union. KEMBA is a state
chartered financial institution, similar to Fifth Third Bank. Thus, our
regulator is the Ohio Dept of Financial Institutions. KEMBA also provides
federal deposit insurance, so we also are regulated by the National Credit
Union Administration. Lastly, we also employ an audit firm to assist in
making sure we adhere to all pertinent regulations. I offer this to
assure you we are a highly regulated and very safe financial institution.
In fact, we were just recently named the healthiest credit union in the United
States. Again, I make no excuses, yet it appears we have had a major
breakdown and I of course want to fix that. I also want to assure you
here and now that we will stand behind any errors we have made and make you
financially whole.I want to personally apologize to you and assure you I will get to the
bottom of this issue and work to remedy the matter as expeditiously as
possible. I am sorry you will be moving your business from KEMBA, yet
want to assure you we will work to make that as seamless as possible.
Please begin giving the matter some thought, in terms of also moving
the investments services to PNC, as I can’t imagine given the situation you
would want to leave those Funds with our affiliate. Again, we will make
you whole and pay any fees caused because of our poor execution and service.My direct dial number is: *** and my e-mail address is ***. Again, I apologize for
this poor service on our part and will begin working to remedy the matter first
thing on Monday
I
apologize that I was not clearer when I responded to your initial concerns on
Sunday. My intention was to merely
advise you that I had received your Revdex.com report and would investigate the matter
further. I was not offering a response
in an attempt to resolve the issue. While
I did point out some technical details, in regards to regulatory oversight,
that was merely to make sure you had accurate information. I attempted to be extremely clear that I was
not hiding behind any of those technicalities.
I was not making any excuses for the actions of those within our
organization or those associated with our organization. Since Sunday, I have looked into the matter
and I attempted to call your contact phone number on Monday, March 23, and left
a message. I then sent you an e-mail and
sought your permission to contact you in the evening. You then responded to my e-mail and said you
would contact me today, Tuesday March 24.
I then received your latest response from the Revdex.com. While it would be much easier to have a phone
conversation about this matter, I am responding via the Revdex.com
response system, as I am left assuming this is the methodology you would prefer
to use.
Again,
and for the record, I am not attempting to make excuses. I want to resolve your issues. Yet, I think it is important to supply you
with some technical corrections to some of your statements. Please, I implore you to not take that as an excuse
or me not wanting to resolve your matter.
I believe that if you understand the technicalities involved that you
will be more capable of understanding why the controls you believe are lacking,
in reality are not.
Your
Roth IRA was handled as a direct transfer, not a rollover. The limitation you speak of and the
corresponding tax consequences are related to rollovers, nor transfers. Consequently, we can direct transfer these
funds to any qualifying entity you desire.
If you will supply me with the necessary information from PNC Bank, we
can have the transfer made to their affiliate.
If you will give me the investment representative’s name and phone number,
we are happy to contact them and get the necessary information.CUSO
Financial Services, or CFS, is not an affiliate of KEMBA Financial CU. We have no ownership or oversight of their company. Their accounting systems, member account statements,
and regulatory bodies are 100% independent from KEMBA. We do refer our members seeking retirement
and investments services to them. Thus,
they are a vendor/partner of ours and we have a responsibility to manage that
partnership. (I am not attempting to say
we have no accountability. I am only
setting the stage to explain why we would not know that your investment had
been made.)A
check for $3,was written to Oppenheimer Funds on January 2015. KEMBA does in fact reconcile outstanding
checks on a monthly, not a daily, basis.
A check outstanding for less than sixty days at February’s month end
would not raise a flag. Therefore, no red
flag was created on KEMBA’s part because of the relatively short time the check
was outstanding.WE
do send our members monthly statements, in part to create audit trails and
allow members to make inquiries. Our
account statements do not reflect information or transactions from CFS.Mr
*** is not an employee of
KEMBA Financial Services. His actions
are monitored and managed by CFS. KEMBA
does advise CFS Management of concerns, in this case about Mr***’s
performance and lack of execution. They then,
by mandate of their regulatory bodies, have a responsibility to investigate
matters.Our
branch manager, or any other KEMBA employee, including *** ***, does not
have access to the information on the CFS system. That is by design and exactly for regulatory
control reasons you cite. As Ms***
advised you early on, she is not a registered investment representative and nor
is the branch manager. For what it is
worth, I think that is the same in the case of both PNC and Chase Bank. I think the investment representatives, for
example, work for Chase Investment Advisers, not Chase Bank. I suspect, but admittedly don’t know, that a
Chase Investment Advisor would not be able to make transaction on a chase
checking account. I believe separation of
duties is required. The same applies to
us.The
$3,withdraw, via check, was made payable to Oppenheimer. That was indeed handled by a KEMBA associate,
as it was deducted from the KEMBA Roth IRA savings account that you established
with *** *** earlier. By the way,
there is in fact paper work for the establishment of that account bearing your
signature. I suspect, but don’t know,
that Ms*** set that account up because your check from Chase was made
payable to KEMBA. Thus, it was
transferred and not rolled over.I
believe Mr*** misplaced the check that was issued to Oppenheimer. A significant mistake for sure. While I don’t understand why, the fact that
he did not send the paperwork or check to Oppenheimer explains why no red flag
was raised there. If they didn’t know of
the account, it would be difficult to monitor it Yet, we are in agreement that CFS has a
responsibility to monitor open issues and are interacting with them about why
this is not being done effectively.Do
I think that should happen? Of course not and I apologize for the fact that Mr
*** made this error. As said earlier,
I am sure CFS will investigate that matterYou
did not receive prompt service from Mr***, after your initial
contact. I don’t disagree with that and
again apologize. (I do, however, believe,
Ms*** was expedient in the setting up of your Roth IRA Savings Account.) I believe, based on what you have shared, we
could have done a much better job explaining the relationship with CFS and the
mechanics behind why the transaction was being handled the way it was. I think we should have given you options,
including transferring your money directly to CFS/Oppenheimer, as opposed to a
KEMBA Roth IRA Savings Account. Again, if the check had already been issued to
KEMBA, then I understand why we handled the transaction the way we did. Otherwise, I think we should have facilitated
an appointment with Mr*** and you to meet and never have deposited the funds
into a KEMBA account. My
only point regarding our asset size was that the CFPB does not regulate our
institution. While we do compete with
the big banks, we certainly don’t attempt to offer every product that they
offer. We do attempt to provide core
products that our members/owners desire.
After all, we exist to serve their needs. We also provide regular and ongoing training,
but I will take your advice and examine whether that needs to be expanded even
further.The
service you received is not to our level of expectation. I truly apologize for that. It is my understanding you want to close your
accounts and move on. While I am disappointed
we failed, I understand your decision. I
also understand your right to not speak highly of our organization, based on
your experience. That will serve as a
reminder to each of us in the management levels of KEMBA, as to just how
important it is to get each and every transaction “right.” I regret that did not happen.In
order to attempt to bring this matter to conclusion, I am proposing the
following. You supply me with the name and
contact number of the person at PNC to move the $10,Roth IRA funds to and
we will work to make that happen. We can
then close your account relationship with KEMBA, which I believe is your stated
desire. In addition, while none of us
knows what investments you might have made or how they would have performed, I
hope we can agree that a ten percent return, especially given the market’s
volatility since January would be exceptional.
$10,X 10% for a year is $1,000.
The money has only been in KEMBA’s hands since January or t two
months. Two twelves of a $1,is
$166. Yet, we will round that up and
issue you a check for $250. This,
however, will not be shown as dividends on your Roth IRA Savings Account, but
instead just as a courtesy credit.
Hopefully
this explanation and offer to pay you an above market return allows us to move
forward and conclude this matter. I will
send a copy of this response to your e-mail address of record and await your
reply and the contact information at PNC.
Once receiving that, we will act expeditiously to send the funds as a
transfer, which will eliminate any adverse tax consequences. I truly apologize for the way your
relationship was handled and wish you nothing but my best moving forward
I am very happy to respond to your inquiry and genuinely regret any inconvenience we have caused you. In looking at your account, I unfortunately find that there are no notes that have been placed about any previous inquires. I will continue to investigate as to where our
processes failed, as I assure you prompt and efficient service to our members in very important to us. This matter is relatively straight forward and easy to explain and I sincerely regret that this was not done previously. In as much as this is a public record, I need to add some details so the record is accurate. I apologize for the added length of response. In reality you have never had a VISA credit card at KEMBA. Instead you had a MasterCard. This is not to be confused with your debit card. Under separate e-mail, I will send you copies of your account statements, although you may already have those. When your account was opened you secured a balance transfer cash advance. I assume that money was utilized to then pay off two other credit card/loan balances that were previously financed elsewhere. If you in fact had balances elsewhere, the interest stopped accruing on those balance upon being paid off via the balance transfer While KEMBA Financial does not charge a balance transfer fee of any kind, interest does begin accruing from the date of the cash advance (balance transfer) and continues until such time as that balance is paid in full. This is different from when you use your credit card for everyday purchases. Every day purchases are not charged any interest if the balance is paid in full before the due date. After securing this cash advance balance transfer, you paid the balance in full days after securing the initial cash advance balance transferIn essence that rolled across two billing cycles. Specifically, days in May and days in June. If you look at your May 31, billing statement you will see that no payments were due, nor were any payments made in May. Yet, interest accrued from May 9, through May 31, or days. That statement clearly shows an interest charge of $38.62. Then on June 16, you paid your account in full. At that time, a total of $was collected from the payment for the total interest due, plus the principle amount due.. That was for the $due for the days in May and the $for the days in June. All of this is reflected on the account statements. Thus, there has been no overpayment and no misapplication of any cash advance charge as you allege in your complaint. Furthermore, there is no ongoing misapplication of interest and cash advance charges of any kind across our multitude of account holders. We have nearly 30,credit card holders and yours is the first allegation of this kind I have ever received. I respectfully submit that your allegations are invalid and that your concern results from the misunderstanding that no interest would be charged on credit card balances that are paid in full each billing cycle on or before the due dates. As I have explained this is only accurate in regards to purchases and not for balance transfer cash advances. Again, I will e-mail you outside of this response and send you copies of your account statements that show the transaction details and interest due. I trust this will allow you to resolve your concerns and believe you should now be able to remedy this matter. Thanks for being a member of KEMBA Financial and allowing us to address your concerns.*** ** ***, President/CEO
We
regret that a significant difference of opinion between Mr*** and KEMBA
exists, as to the actual facts of this matter.
I have listened to the phone call involving Mr*** and our Member Services
representative and have reviewed the charge in question. I wish to go on
record as saying KEMBA
Financial would never refuse to help a member submit information regarding a disputed transaction, when valid reasons
exists that are in compliance with the rules afforded by the VISA and Master
Card networks. In this instance, Mr
*** was not denied the right to submit a dispute. It was explained to him, that the charge must
first be applied to the account, before disputing it. More importantly, in this matter, Mr***
never alleges that his debit card was lost, stolen, or fraudulently
utilized. In fact, he readily admits he
utilized his debit card to make the online purchase now in question. He did so at his own volition. He supplied the card number, the card’s
expiration date and CVV code He admits
to being a willing party to the transaction For whatever reason, which I do not question
his motive or right to do, he changed his mind and no longer wants the product/service
he has already purchased. Yet the
protections afforded consumers, when using their VISA or Master Card, have
similar protections in place for the merchants, which, in good faith, accept
the card for the purchase of their product/service.
In
as much as the card used for this purchase was not fraudulently utilized, Mr
*** was asked by our representative if he had contacted the merchant to seek a
refund or resolution. His response was
that he had not, stating a phone number was not listed for him to call and that
he had not attempted in any way to reach the merchant or to cancel the service
he previously purchased, nor had he already sought a refund that was
subsequently denied. Our representative suggested
to Mr*** that since he was a willing party to the transaction, he should
first seek refund from the merchant, documenting the same, before we could
legitimately, and in adherence with the rules afforded by VISA and Master Card, seek restitution
through the dispute process. Mr*** then
advised her he would file a claim with the Revdex.com and abruptly
ended the call.
For
the record, when personally visiting the web site where his purchase was made
from, I discovered that the company clearly delineates that their fee is $39.95, the exact amount of the charge
that posted to his account on March 16, 2015, which Mr*** now wishes to dispute
They also have what appears to be a
very easy to use section to request cancellation of their service and/or
refund. We suggest Mr*** engage the
merchant to seek his refund and clearly document the same(Screen shots, etc.)
I hope they will refund his money. However, if they refuse to do so, we will be
very happy to make a request of MasterCard to seek intermediation with the company
in question, in an attempt to gain a refund of his purchase. This will require some forms being filled out
by Mr***, along with supplying the needed documentation. What I cannot promise is that a refund will
be made, in as much as no fraud or misuse is alleged in this instance
Mr*** further states this is a recurring
theme. We again disagree with this statement. In a previous instance, Mr*** made a product
purchase from a local retailerWhen that was not delivered to his home within
the hour of the promised time, he sought KEMBA assistance in cancelling the
transaction. He, as is in this case, was
advised to contact the merchant, which he had not previously done. Upon doing so, the merchant cancelled the
purchase and refunded the money. While
we at KEMBA clearly understand the advantages and protections that credit and
debit cards afford a consumer, we would ask Mr*** to consider the following. Let’s say, he chooses to buy a product from
the local grocery store. He withdraws
cash from his KEMBA account to pay for that product. He later, for whatever reason, (for example
he thought it was on sale only to discover it was not) now regrets the purchase
of that product. Would he call KEMBA and
request our assistance in getting his money back? In essence this is what he has requested of
us, because he used his debit card as his payment mechanism, as opposed
to cash. Said differently, he wants us
to take responsibility for his actions and seems to believe he has no need to
be as involved in seeking his refund, as he was in purchasing the product. Again, be clear, if the charge or purchase
was fraudulent in nature, not made knowingly and willingly by Mr***, we,
just as we do countless times every day, would be happy to dispute the charge
on his behalf. Again, should the
merchant refuse to issue a refund, once requested by Mr*** and upon Mr***
supplying us with the needed documentation, we would be happy to file a
dispute. We might also suggest he file a
complaint with the Revdex.com against the merchant in question, if
he believes they entered into an unscrupulous business practice and can
document the same. Thank you for the
opportunity to respond to Mr***’s concern
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. I would like to apologize that we failed previously to act in a timely fashion to conclude this matter. I have researched this issue and while our program is not designed to pay rewards to members that have closed their
account, (which you said you would find logical,) I am in complete agreement that in this instance since we erred in advising you points were available for redemption, we should in fact pay out the funds. I am pleased to advise you a check in the amount of $will be issued today and mailed to your address of record. I truly regret this matter was not resolved previously. You taking the time to voice your concern certainly allows me to delve more into where our breakdown(s) occurred and we will work to fix that. Again, the check will be mailed today and I trust will conclude this matter
Kind Regards,
I don't accept the notion that a consumer should know of a scam prior to falling victim to one any more than I accept that an assault victim is to blame for their assaultI don't accept the a bank representative refusing to mail a dispute form, for investigation, is customer serviceI take every precaution I can, to avoid such mishaps, because history has taught me Kemba personnel aren't willing to assist their customers beyond accepting deposits & issuing loansWhen I can, I add the extra layer of protection with PayPal, in my online purchases, because they are experts at protecting the consumerI expect the service Kemba markets, nothing more nor nothing less
I have reviewed the response made by the business and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I am very satisfied and amazed that the president of the company took the time to review and handle this issue. I am satisfied and if an opportunity arises to join Kemba again, I will definitely do so.
Regrettably
I am unable to open the link you provided.
Yet, I have little doubt that [redacted] has a questionable
business proposition. While not in any
way trying to be difficult, I don’t understand the dilemma Mr. [redacted] is facing,
as referenced in your note. As indicated
previously, we are happy to provide assistance and request a charge back
through the Master Card network, if Mr. [redacted] is willing to advise us that fraud
occurred during his authorization of this transaction. Or, if he will advise us that the service he
paid for was not delivered to him.
Unfortunately, we will have no charge back option if Mr. [redacted] is simply
saying I changed my mind and wish I hadn’t contracted with this firm. Again, we recommend he contact the firm and
request his money back. Perhaps the Revdex.com could assist in this
endeavor? If he is not successful in
having his purchase refunded, we will be very happy to attempt a charge back,
once Mr. [redacted] provides us with the necessary and proper paperwork.
Please let
me know if you can suggest other options?
Perhaps I am missing something. We
are anxious to have no outstanding or unresolved issues in our RevDex.com file. Yet, it would be unfair of
me to have the rest of our membership take on the cost of every purchase one of
their fellow members made, which they in retrospect wish they had not made. Mr. [redacted] never asked us to refund his
money. He asked us to help him enter
into dispute. We are happy to do that,
if a valid reason can be provided for doing so.
Thank you
for your assistance. I look forward to
your response and am happy to discuss this matter by phone. I have provided my number.
We do not deny that our teller made an error in giving you another patron's money and documentation. This is very regrettable for all parties involved and I sincerely apologize that this mishap occurred. We calculated that this particular teller performed over a quarter of a million...
drive through transactions without once mixing the tubes up. I offer this information only to point out this type of error is an abnormality and far from the norm. Regrettably this impacted you and I again apologize. Yet, for the record, since others may read your complaint and our response, I want to state that it is my understanding that when you visited our office you requested a cashier's check. Thus, when you received cash in the drive through tube I would respectfully suggest you should have known this was not your transaction. Further, only after more than two hours had passed and our calls were not returned did we involve the Whitehall Police Dept. I regret if you felt the officer involved did not handle the matter well. Unfortunately, KEMBA has little control over that situation. Again, for the record, it is my understanding the officer involved stated that you were somewhat evasive and not overly forthcoming in admitting you had received the incorrect funds. Further, KEMBA personnel have had no direct contact with you since this error occurred. Thus, it is not our personnel that have mishandled the matter, outside of the original error. You returned the cash and documents given to you in error to your [redacted], [redacted], and they have returned them to us. Further, as you have requested, and prior to your filing the Revdex.com complaint, we returned your personal property to [redacted] upon their request. Thus, you should be able to pick up your personal documents from [redacted]. We believe this remedies the matter. Again, we regret an error was made and genuinely apologize for any inconvenience this mistake has caused you.
I have reviewed the response made by the business and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.