A few months ago, I went through an ordeal with Wells Fargo when I applied for one credit card and received a different card. It was one snafu after another, but finally, the mess got cleaned up and received the intended card. You can read about it here.
Recently, Wells Fargo ran a Special Promotion with Isis Mobile Wallet. Since iPhones are not equipped for Isis Wallet, I purchased a special case from Verizon Wireless to make my iPhone Isis ready.
I set it up and loaded my Wells Fargo card onto it, and all was well for about a week, when the device broke. Verizon Wireless replaced it, and I installed the new Isis device on my iPhone. Good to go, right?
When I tried to add the Wells Fargo credit card to my Isis Wallet, a funny thing happened: it got stuck in the Adding Card mode. I spent hours on the phone on Saturday trying to resolve this issue; tickets were created, but no one could figure this out. I was told the matter would be expedited.
On Monday, I made a number of calls, moved from person to person, at both Isis and Wells Fargo. Finally, someone at Wells Fargo showed me how to remove the card from Isis so we could start again. Voila.
However, from that point on, every time I tried to upload the Wells Fargo card to Isis, it would seemingly go through then disappear from the screen, and I would receive a “failed registration” email from Wells Fargo. I did everything suggested. I cleared caches and cookies. Rebooted. Deleted the Isis app and reinstalled it. Switched from wi-fi to 3G. Changed setting times for locking the device. Nothing worked.
On Tuesday, Isis notified me that the problem was not on their end. That it was on Wells Fargo’s side. I spent most of my afternoon on Tuesday on the phone with Wells Fargo. No one had heard of Isis, some reps were nice others were down right rude. I got transferred repeatedly from Online Services to Technical Support to Credit Card services and back. I gave my address, credit card number and mothers maiden name to no less than 10 Wells Fargo reps: Joyce, Tenetia, Kerry, David, Celia, Ashley and others. Unfortunately, the Twitter customer service rep, although responsive, was not helpful either. The process was beyond frustrating – it was excruciating and ultimately futile.
Out of desperation, I phoned Isis Technical Support once again. At least the representatives there knew what the Isis Mobile Wallet was. Brandon finally made some calls on my behalf to Wells Fargo, and came back to me with this tidbit of news. He said that he was informed by Wells Fargo that the reason the credit card wasn’t uploading to the Isis app was because Wells Fargo had decided to cut-off any more sign ups until May 12th.
Assuming this is true, it was not disclosed anywhere. And certainly not in any of the countless failed registration emails I received from Wells Fargo, which stated only:
Your card was not enrolled in the Isis Mobile Wallet
Your request to add your Wells Fargo Visa credit card was not successfully completed. Please ensure you have good signal strength and try again. If you did not attempt to enroll your card, please contact us immediately at 1-855-771-0167, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Wells Fargo Card Services
So let me get this straight. After days and days of failed attempts to load my Wells Fargo card to my Isis app, and hours and hours of phone calls with Wells Fargo, I now learn that this was all possibly a waste of time – that Wells Fargo cut off new applicants without any notification?
And let me take this a step further: There is a current promotion by Wells Fargo to encourage its credit card holders to sign up for and use Isis Mobile Wallet. This promo only runs until April 30th, and is the primary reason I decided to buy the Isis device for my iPhone.
You can read all the details here and here. This is a summary:
Add your Wells Fargo® Credit Card to the Isis Mobile Wallet®, tap to make payments, and you can receive a one-time $20 statement credit and a 20% statement credit for all qualifying contactless payments—up to $100 per calendar month. Offer valid through April 30, 2014. Other limitations apply. See below for more information.
No where in the terms and limitations does it say that Wells Fargo can choose to limit the number of credit card sign ups for Isis Mobile Wallet or the special promotion. I know I spent over $500 on my Wells Fargo card during the month of April at qualifying stores that are Isis equipped, and that under this special promotion, I would have been entitled to this $100 statement credit.
It seems that if Wells Fargo blocked its customers from signing up for its own Special Promotion, it has, at best, broken a contractual promise to its customers.
Despite good financial products, there is a serious break in communication and effective customer service at Wells Fargo. This was a fail, Wells Fargo. I lost money and hours and hours of my time.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
“No where in the terms and limitations does it say that Wells Fargo can choose to limit the number of credit card sign ups for Isis ”
The T&Cs explicitly say that they will limit the program at 15,000.
https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/jump/mobile/isis-mobile-wallet-terms.pdf
You do know about all of the Serve promos with Isis right? Higher limits, $1 off $1 50x/mo, $50 for direct deposit from AP. Also, free Jamba Juice for another week. Still enough to recoup the $40 case fee. If not just return it.
TJ Thanks for your response and for finding that limit – although I’m not aware that 15,000 has or has not been met.
as for the other promos, I am aware of them, and have even written on them. I have bought one or two Jamba Juices for friends (I’m not a big smoothie fan). I have Bluebird, not Serve. There is also a NYC Taxi promo for use with Amex which you failed to mention. But all of these other promos does not explain Wells Fargo’s disconnect in it’s handling of the matter. It is still a #fail in my opinion.
I was getting the same error for a couple weeks, and finally got in touch with the right person at Isis who identified the problem. Mine was related to having the right kind of special SIM (there are apparently two kinds of the special kind!) in my Android phone, so that’s clearly not your issue, but stick with the Isis folks for help – there are definitely some of them who know what they’re doing and are willing to dig waaaaaay in to figure things out. You might try asking them again, but I got the impression that the second/third tier CS folks are a pretty small team, so the answer you got is probably the right (or, at least the best-researched) one you’re going to get.
Andrew, thanks for your response. Both Isis and Wells Fargo have reached out to me today, and both are looking into the matter further.