Tangerine holding my money hostage! | Tangerine Bank | Discussion forum

What is Tangerine doing at the moment to "look into it"?
If they don't sort it out in a reasonable time, then you ought to escalate it to the next level.

Despite what the website of the Canadian Bankers Association says, Tangerine does not provide any information on its website or in print about their complaints process. This is a serious failing on their part. The Big Five do this, as they should.
For clues on the process, see http://www.cba.ca/en/component.....-your-bank

I suppose, given that this situation involves the relationship between 2 banks, and you can't know for sure where this message is coming from, you might also go through the complaints process at your external bank and see if that gets you anywhere. Perhaps they would provide you with written confirmation of your unblocked status which you could email to Tang.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Tangerine prides itself on its Customer Service, and needs to pull up its socks, outline a complaints process online, and act with all due haste to resolve matters. It is incumbent upon them to do this especially because the only way to get at your money is through these transfers. You can't just walk into a branch and make a withdrawal.

One possible way around this, although it will not work quickly, is to set up a Tangerine chequing account, transfer your money internally to the chequing account, and write a cheque for deposit to external account. You would still have to wait for it to clear even if you had already set up the chequing account.

Another possibility that might work if you have a spouse or other trusted person who also has a Tang account could be to transfer the money to their account and get it out through their external account.

You could also try talking to a flesh-and-bones person at one of Tang's "Cafes" if that is convenient for you. You could show them, in person, your transaction record at external bank.

Let us know how you make out.

iangrey said

... Tangerine has severed my only linked account claiming the account has been "frozen." They did this without contacting me or providing any notice whatsoever. However, I've confirmed with my other bank that this account is not frozen and I continue to use it for multiple transactions, including depositing/withdrawing cash and paying bills, daily. I've contacted Tangerine to clarify this issue and reestablish the link and they've refused to help until my other bank unfreezes the account. They also threatened to immediately stop looking into the issue if I escalated it to customer care (which can only be contacted via. snail mail or fax, a little strange for an online bank...). I'm not sure what to do here, but I recommend everyone be extra careful when dealing with Tangerine, especially if you need quick access to your money.

Are you sure you're not being scammed? Make sure you are really talking to Tangerine Bank and not some scammer.

That's simply not true. In addition to postal mail and fax, Tangerine's Client Response Group and ombudsman can be contacted by phone and e-mail. This is the contact information from Tangerine's complaint process:

Step 1: Contact one of our Associates

Contact one of our Associates at 1-888-464-3232 (English) or 1-866-464-3473 (French) and explain your concerns so we may have the opportunity to resolve the situation. Generally most issues can be resolved immediately over the phone. However, if the Associate is unable to resolve your issue to your satisfaction, you can speak with a Supervisor.

Tangerine can also be emailed at clientservices@tangerine.ca. However, this should be used for general inquires only, as it is not considered a secure form of communication. For our Clients’ protection, we ask that they call our Contact Centre directly to discuss Account specific details.

Step 2: Contact our Client Response Group

If the Supervisor is unable to resolve your issue, you can escalate the matter by writing to our Client Response Group at:

Client Response Group
Tangerine
3389 Steeles Avenue East
Toronto, ON
M2H 3S8
Fax: 416-758-5297 or toll-free 1-877-505-3240
E-mail: theclientresponsegroup@tangerine.ca

Our goal is to resolve your issue within 3-5 business days. If, for any reason, we can’t resolve the issue within that timeframe, we will let you know.

Step 3: Contact Tangerine's Ombudsman

If, after taking the first two steps, you are still dissatisfied, you may contact our Ombudsman in writing.

The Ombudsman will complete an impartial review of all unresolved complaints and will provide you with a written response within 90 days. If the Ombudsman’s Office is unable to resolve your complaint within this timeframe, you will be notified of the reason(s) for the delay.

Office of the Ombudsman
Tangerine
3389 Steeles Avenue East
Toronto, ON
M2H 3S8
Phone: 416-497-4833 or 1-866-677-0547 or
Email: theombudsman@tangerine.ca

Loonie, it's pretty easy - as with most bank sites there's a Search box on the top right, enter "complaint" or something like that, bingo.

Loonie said

That's impressive, Norman! I looked all over that Tangereie site, including Legal, and couldn't find anything about complaints. I still don't know how you found it.
....

Sounds like we both went to the same place.

I clicked on the Legal link at the bottom left of the main Tangerine.ca page.

I started scrolling down the Legal page and eventually saw the Complaints process item on the left sidebar.

It wasn't the Tangerine account that was frozen. For some reason, Tangerine Bank's systems thought that the external linked account had been frozen by the other financial institution.

Since the person had only that one linked external account, money in the Tangerine account could not be transferred out until the issue was sorted out.

The money never disappeared from the Tangerine account. Just couldn't transfer any of it out!