Wells Fargo customers nationwide are experiencing technical difficulty accessing the San Francisco-based bank’s online and mobile banking services.
As of noon today, Wells Fargo’s home page said only the following under a banner alert announcing technical difficulties: “We’re experiencing a systems issue that is causing intermittent outages, and we’re working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
A tweet by Wells Fargo acknowledging the issues, posted at 9:06 a.m. today, had racked up several hundred comments and retweets by 12:30 p.m.
We apologize to our customers who may be experiencing an issue with our online banking and mobile app. Thanks for your patience while we research this issue. If you are impacted, please check back here for updates.
— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo) February 7, 2019
A second tweet blaming a “systems issue that is causing intermittent outages” that the bank is working on addressing posted an hour later, had about the same amount of engagement by 12:30 p.m. as the previous post.
We’re experiencing a systems issue that is causing intermittent outages, and we’re working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo) February 7, 2019
A third tweet, posted at 12:44 p.m., indicated a power shutdown at one of the bank’s facilities was to blame for the outage.
We’re experiencing system issues due to a power shutdown at one of our facilities, initiated after smoke was detected following routine maintenance. We’re working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo) February 7, 2019
Complaints tweeted by customers in reply to Wells Fargo’s posts ran the gamut. Some said the apology was not accepted. Others accepted the apology but informed the bank they charge a fee for “this type of inconvenience.” Some said such outages are not as “intermittent” as the bank claimed, referencing a Feb. 1 outage.
Customers also said certain functions such as automatic withdrawal payments have not been working properly.
https://twitter.com/sjcoutras/status/1093530262774927361
A small number of customer complaints received direct responses from Wells Fargo, although they weren’t offered opportunities to speak with anyone specific about their banking issues.
We apologize to our customers who may be experiencing an issue with our online banking and mobile app. Thanks for your patience while we research this issue, Dustin. -Cory
— Ask Wells Fargo (@Ask_WellsFargo) February 7, 2019
Other tweets indicated the issues went beyond online and mobile banking services and that their cards with the bank were being declined.
Wells Fargo users looking at other banking customers not getting their cards declined pic.twitter.com/4yFPoDxT6C
— Joel Franco (@OfficialJoelF) February 7, 2019
Wells Fargo is down. All transactions are getting declined. Also phone reps are down. Mobile and web is down. I’m shook because they really have my money 🙃
— Viva (@_vivalatina) February 7, 2019
And, yes, there were memes.
— Jorge (@hip_hip_jorge) February 7, 2019
Downdetector.com, a service that tracks website performance, showed reports for Wells Fargo online and mobile outages began coming in around 6:30 a.m. today, spiking by 9 a.m., but trailing off somewhat by 11 a.m. A map of outage reports showed problems across the country, with the coastal states affected most.
“Recent reports mostly originate from: Houston, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Austin, Charlotte, Washington, Los Angeles, and Saint Paul,” the outage chart said.
Also see: What to Do When Your Banking App Stumbles Out of the Gate
The outages at Wells Fargo come just a couple weeks after Chicago-based BMO Harris Bank’s glitchy rollout of some mobile and online banking enhancements, similarly inspiring customers to air their grievances on social media.
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