This Business
Sucks
September 2021 - Wells Fargo | 1st Runner Up
Wells Fargo is infamous for once opening millions of fraudulent customer accounts—a scandal that started during the early 2000s and ultimately cost the brand $185 million in fines. For an American multinational financial services company, it can’t get much lower than that. Or maybe it can.
The company has a despicably low score on Better Business Bureau, which also happens to detail several government interventions over improper sales practices (particularly those related to an online insurance referral program in 2019) as well as the aforementioned scheme. It turns out impossible-to-meet sales goals will inspire employees to assign products and services to consumers without their consent. Yikes.
More recently, Wells Fargo has been in the news for exploiting its workforce by failing to pay employees for overtime hours and roping staff into working unpaid night shifts to solicit more business. Not only that, but in July 2021, the financial institution made yet another shockingly anti-consumer move by deciding to shut down all personal lines of credit at the bank to “simplify its product offerings.”
In case you’re wondering: no, customers didn’t permit the bank to close their accounts. And yes, this did have a negative impact on their credit scores—but as usual, the brand didn’t seem to care. Because let’s be honest, Wells Fargo sucks.