Consumer complaint received 2022-08-17
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I made an on line purchase for a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX' and paid {$59.00} from my Capital One credit card account ( image of order details included as provided via email by merchant ). On XXXX XX/XX/2022, XXXX ( XXXX ) weeks later, I finally received a " shipment '' from the company. The following is copied and pasted from their website XXXX under the heading " Shipping Policy '' : We will ship within XXXX hours after you place the order.It will be shipped from XXXX and it usually takes 10 to 22 days to receive your product. 
Attention! Due to the coronavirus and local logistics services in US, shipments in US may be delayed. Please take care of yourself and ensure your safety. 

The only reason I waited as long as I did was that the merchant provided a tracking number and I was able to see some movement here and there. When the movement seemed to stall, I tried contacting the merchant at least twice during this time, but never received any response. The item I finally received after six weeks was a ***SHOWER CAP*** ( images of unopened item package and all labeling adhered to package included ). I emailed the merchant the same night, but did not anticipate any response, based on my previous experience. This is what I wrote : " More than a month ago ( XXXX XXXX ) I ordered AND PAID FOR the above item. Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I received a shower cap. Description of contents lists the following number : XXXX. At this point I do not anticipate ever receiving the item I ordered and PAID FOR over a month ago and will initiate refund with my credit card company immediately, as previous email inquiries about my order were left unanswered, in the past and I feel I would just be wasting my time waiting for any response or action from you refunding my money. I will be happy to return the shower cap upon receipt of appropriate arrangements for me to do so at your cost. " Please note the last sentence in which I showed my willingness to return falsely shipped item, as this will become a topic with capital one 's customer service/dispute " specialist '' persons. 

After I sent the email to the merchant, I opened a dispute case with Capital One ( XXXX XXXX : XXXX ). I was surprised, however, that the merchant actually did finally respond, although I assume it had something to do with the chargeback, and decided to try and resolve the issue with the merchant, as it seemed quite clear cut to me. This is the response I received : " Dear Customer I'm very sorry hear about that, do you mean you received wrong item, can you take picture let me have a check Thank you XXXX I sent XXXX ( XXXX ) images of the " shower cap '' in its " package ( I did not want to rip it open ), with close ups of labels of sender, recipient, and description of the item. This is the response I received ( XXXX XX/XX/2022 ) : " Hi I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, I have checked, the logistics accidentally sent the wrong product. 
How about we re-send the initial item to you? 
Look forward to your early reply. 
Thank you '' XXXX Here is my response ( XXXX XX/XX/2022 ) : " No thank you. I would just like to get my money back. '' Response from avesay on XXXX XX/XX/2022 : 'Ok, we will cancel it for you. '' XXXX At this point my common sense tells me that it would be fairly safe to assume that with the cancellation would come a refund. But I obviously assumed wrong. NOTHING of any kind happened. So on XXXX XX/XX/2022 I wrote the following email : " I was wondering, does a refund come with this cancellation??? My credit card account does not show one so far ... '' Please keep in mind that all previous correspondence was always included with my latest response, so there would be no confusion as to what matter I am writing about. 

On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I received this : " We will refund you in 7-14 days. the payment will be returned to the original account you paid previously '' XXXX At this point I would like to interject that the amount of the supposed refund is yet unknown and seemed to become an issue at a later point as justification for capital one to not honor my dipute and close the case, meaning, since the merchant did not say HOW MUCH ( I expect no less than the full amount at minimum, since none of this was initiated or caused by my person ) they were going to refund me, their statement saying that they WILL refund me really doesn't mean anything, or show intent, until they define how much they will refund me. XXXX may be my XXXX XXXX, but someone please make sense of this for me. I do believe these conversations are recorded, are they not? 

Again, nothing further happened on the side of the merchant. The following is my final email to the merchant, sent on XXXX XX/XX/2022 ( I wanted to be fair and wait out all timelines ) : " This is to let you know that 17 days have passed since you sent me your last email promising a refund in 7-14 days. I had put any further action with my credit card company on hold, but now see no other way to resolve this issue but to turn it back over to my credit card company, as I am not seeing a final effort on your part to finally put this issue to rest. awaiting your speedy reply. '' Needless to say nothing else happened, and with that my nightmare with capital one begins. Just to be clear, all images of products, emails, original emails are available. I did the copy and paste here to keep things in order as they unfolded. When I dealt with capital one it appeared that every person I spoke with did not look at all I had provided in it's entirety. Every time they said I needed to provide something I let them know that I had already provided it. And after they finally took some time to look at ALL of it, well, there was just one more thing... But everything is available and can be provided as necessary, AND HAS BEEN PROVIDED VIA UPLOAD LINK TO CAPITAL ONE, THE LATEST ON XXXX XX/XX/2022. 



After my last email to the merchant I contacted capital one back via telephone, explained that I had been trying to work things out with the merchant, and explained everything basically as I have done so far in this letter. In my account I have XXXX dispute update letters. The first one dated XXXX XX/XX/2022. The person I spoke with on the phone basically asked me to provide all the info requested in that first letter. I did so via upload link which was emailed to me by capital one : Here 's what was requested : All receipts, contracts, or work orders related to the disputed charge -- -Order verification from merchant provided via email upon ordering and paying for the item, provided as an image to capital one via the first upload link provided by capital one via email on XXXX XX/XX/2022. The payment is apparent in my capital one credit card account. 

A copy of the merchant 's refund or cancellation policy -- -Irrelevant at this point as the issue is neither a cancellation nor a refund of any item I received. 

Any refund notices or refund vouchers issued by the merchant -- -Declaration from the merchant in an email of intent to send refund, provided as an image to capital one via the first upload link provided by capital one via email on XXXX XX/XX/2022. 

A second opinion supporting your position from a similar merchant, on company letterhead and preferably signed by the person who provided the opinion. The letter should state what the original merchant did incorrectly, and include the cost to fix the problem ( if applicable ). -- -Not applicaple to my case. 

The signed and dated proof of return, such as shipment tracking slip -- -There was no return. This case is about not having received what I ordered. The wrong merchandise received is still in my posession, unopened. Image of the email in which I relayed my willingness to the merchant to return this item upon receipt of whatever necessary from the merchant to do so has been provided to capital one as an image via the first upload link provided by capital one via email on XXXX XX/XX/2022. 

So basically everything I had and still have is also in the possession of whichever capital one dipute " specialist ( s ) '' is/are handling my case. As I had attempted to work things out with the merchant, capital one eventually closed the case, which was conveyed in an update letter dated XXXX XX/XX/2022. So everything from here out takes place after I sent my last email to the merchant, which was on XXXX XX/XX/2022. On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I received the second update letter from capital one informing me that the merchant had been contacted etc. etc. On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I received the third of XXXX update letters informing me that " the merchant provided the following information to support the transaction : Notification that goods were as described and received in good condition '' How do I respond to this after I had just provided proof of not having received what I ordered, and of just having provided proof of the merchant 's own admission that a mistake was made and that the merchant promised a refund ... ... ..? 

So my common sense kicks in and asks, who and what would capital one have received in way of notification from the merchant that would VERIFY to the capital one dispute " specialists " that goods were as described and received in good condition '' -- -if not from ME, the alleged recipient. Let 's take a look at what the merchant provided, that capital one dispute " specialists " deemed to be sufficient " Notification that goods were as described and received in good condition ''. 
Page 1. A document with the heading XXXX XXXX, describing what information will be included on the electronic submission to Master Card. 
Page 2. A document with the heading " Dispute Response - R ''. I am assuming this is a document provided to the merchant by capital one, requesting to check all conditions that apply regarding the case. I see one " x '' marking " Other documentation ( Please Describe ) : True ''. Below is an empty box for the merchants ' comments. No description as I can discern, unless the word " True '' after the " ( Please Describe ) : '' means anything. 
Page 3. A letter from a company named XXXX with the heading " Chargeback Evidence '', making reference to the next document. The plot thickens. 
Page 4. Well XXXX XXXX. What do we have here. THE VERY FIRST IMAGE I EVER SENT TO CAPITAL ONE : ORDER DETAILS. But for the first time I realize that this document does not match the one I received from the merchant. Add fraud to the list won't you?. This document shows merchant details, mine does not. Their document says I ordered from a website called " XXXXXXXX XXXX I actually ordered from a website called XXXX XXXX XXXX The heading on my order details document says : " XXXX - XXXX XXXX ''. The product description on their order details describes a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX My order detail says XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which is the correct description. I want to emphasize here that besides the images, the original emails are all available and can be forwarded as proof. 
Page 5. Is a blank page Page 6. The details of this page escape me as the print is very tiny and very blurry as well. It does, however remind me of the page I viewed every time I checked the tracking page. So this may be the tracking details. As a reminder, I never disputed not having received anything from the merchant, I made it known that I had tracking details, etc. My only regard was always, and still is, not having received the item I ordered. 
Page 7. On this LAST page there is an image of the shipping label, also provided to capital one as an image by ME via the first upload link capital one provided me. 

So there you have it. Color me ignorant but for the life of me I fail to see " Notification that goods were as described and received in good condition ''. The capital one dispute " specialist ( s ) '' obviously do, and even expect me to respond to this, if I don't want this to go away, and tell me " At this time, we consider your case closed. '' Below is their response in its " entirety after the merchant provided this so called " Notification that goods were as described and received in good condition ''. 


So for now, we are reapplying the charge to your account, and it will appear on your next one to XXXX billing statements. At this time, we consider your case closed.If you still want to continue with this dispute, please send us a signed and dated letter that includesyour case number, the merchant 's name, the date of the transaction, and the disputed amount byXXXX. Please also provide the following information in your letter : Your response to the documentation sent in by the merchant, as well as : A copy of your sales invoiceor purchase agreement / contract, and information and / or evidence to support how the merchandiseordered differs from what was received. A second opinion on company letterhead from anothermerchant in the same field stating specifically what the original merchant did incorrectly, how theproblem can be corrected, and what that will cost. A statement that includes the number of times themerchant tried to correct the problem, and a description of how you tried to resolve the dispute withthe merchant. If you returned the installed parts, please provide the date and proof of return or thedate they were made available for pick-up. If the merchant gave you a refund voucher, please providethat as well.Please fax the requested information to XXXX, and allow 10 business days for us to respond.If you're unable to respond by fax, please send us the requested information to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and allow 15 business days for us to respond.If you have any questions, please give us a call at XXXX. We're available from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  seven days a week.Sincerely, Capital One Can somebody out there feel my pain by now? So I call capital one, explain my situation, and eventually this call drops before I can finish. So I call back and speak to yet another person in the customer service arena. They pull up my account, try to tell me what I need to provide, and throughout this entire conversation I have to say " You already have this-I already sent this-I have provided this information previously... And each time they put me on hold, and each time they actually confirm that they do have the information they are trying to tell me I need to provide. Finally this nice young lady comes back on the phone and asks me if I have returned the showercap. I said no, but I did tell the merchant in the last email I sent them, that I would be more than willing to return the item erroneously sent to me, once they provide whatever is required for me to do so at their cost. Again I told her that they already do have an image of that email, but that I would be happy to provide it again separately. She sent another upload link and I propvided what they asked for. She told me that my attempt, or willingness to return the showercap would be the only thing needed to finalize the case for capital one. On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I received the following : Dear XXXX XXXX, Here 's an update on your dispute with XXXX billed on XX/XX/2022 for $ XXXX that time we began an investigation into your dispute and requested information from you. While we have received your response to this request, it lacks all of the previously requested information needed to validate your dispute. Unfortunately, based on the information we have, we are unable to assist with your claim.If you still want to dispute the charge, please contact the merchant and work directly with them. At this time, we consider your case closed. We apologize for any inconvenience. ... THIS IS A SLAP IN THE FACE On XXXX XX/XX/2022 I am yet again on the phone with capital one. Same drill, same runaround. After having looked a little closer into my account, she tries to tell me that after " so long '' they can't look at what was sent in before (????? ). I lose it, XXXX XXXX XXXXI want to speak to a supervisor ''. She tells me that a supervisor will tell me the same thing. I insist. She transfers me. She basically tells me the same thing, I challenge that statement, she says something about " Visa guidelines '', I lose it again, and after some more choice words I hang up. 

Am I so XXXX for thinking that this should have been a simple case of customer received wrong item, proofs everything she claims, but gets kicked in the XXXX XXXX XXXX? Please somebody respond! I need to know. 

XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation