Consumer complaint received 2023-06-13
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
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:
I have an ongoing dispute with Capital One for a purchase I made with my Quicksilver card from a business I found to be fraudulent -- I actually never even received the merchandise I purchased. 

I made the complaint to Capital One immediately after the purchase was made, which led Capital One to provide me with a temporary credit and get in touch with the vendor for supporting documentation. According to them, such supporting documentation was provided by the vendor ( which is ironic given this vendor doesn't seem to respond to customer inquiries ), and the charge was put back on my account on XX/XX/XXXX. Capital One stated that if I wished to continue to dispute the charge, I would need to provide them with supporting documentation by XX/XX/XXXX. I got in touch with them to find out how I could provide them with such documentation, and they said they'd send me a link to a website where I could upload all the supporting evidence I had for the dispute. I received such link on XX/XX/XXXX stating I had 14 days to upload the documentation, as seen below : " XXXX XXXX To finish processing your recent request, we need some supporting documents : Additional Information Form Proof of Return/Cancellation Copy of Invoice or Sales receipt Response to the Merchant 's Documentation Any additional information related to your dispute You can upload and submit your documents by using our secure link. Dont reply to this email. 

Youll need digital copies of your documents on your computer or device before you can submit them to us. If you have paper documents, you can scan them or take pictures and save them to your computer or device. 

This link will be valid for 14 days. After that, you can contact us if you need assistance at XXXX, anytime, 7 days a week. '' I tried uploading the documents as instructed but got multiple error messages. I got in touch with their phone support, they asked me to retry some other time. I did so in a couple of days, and again got errors. I reached out to them again and they told me they would send me a new link, which they did on XX/XX/XXXX. Those still didn't work. I got in touch with them again, and they told me the other two options would be to FAX the info to them ( frankly, I'm surprised anyone still has Faxes in XXXX ) or to mail them a detailed letter and all the supporting material for their review. Nothing was said about a deadline throughout this ordeal -- as a matter of fact, by the time they instructed me to mail all of this material to them it was already past the 14 days from when they had sent me the original link ( which in turn also not in compliance with the original deadline of XX/XX/XXXX. 

I wrote the following letter and mailed them all the documentation on XX/XX/XXXX, via registered mail. 

" I am sending this document in reference to case # XXXX in support of my dispute of the charges associated with a purchase I made at XXXX, totaling {$120.00}, with my Capital One Visa Quicksilver card. 

I purchased a soccer jersey at XXXX XXXX CST on XX/XX/XXXX. I regretted completing the transaction almost immediately as I felt there was something wrong with the store I had made the purchase at basically, the soccer jersey I had bought, had been sold out everywhere, but available here in all sizes and with different customization options. It felt almost too good to be true. 

I immediately checked their FAQ section to find what their cancellation policy was and read that you could cancel a purchase if the order hadnt begun being processed. I followed the instructions, which had me go to a page and press the button CANCEL next to the purchase. I did so but received no confirmation it was canceled. Instead, the button disappeared ( I cant even find that page nowadays ), and soon after I received an email stating the order had begun being processed. Remember this is now XX/XX/XXXX, when most businesses are closed. 

I sent their customer service an email citing I had done as instructed to cancel the purchase prior to being notified that my order had been processed but received no answer from them. I then tried to get in touch with them through their website, and again nothing. 

As my fears started getting worse that I had been scammed, I started doing some research on the website. As it turns out, not only had XXXX been previously the target of local news articles about it being a scam website that sells fake soccer jerseys as though they were legitimate, but other online review websites also contained a multitude of customer complaints for trying to cancel orders or get a refund for orders that were never delivered, to no avail. The website will simply not respond to its customers and will essentially steal their money, often with the goods never being delivered at all. 

Finally, while they seemed to be very responsive to your request for supporting material from them on the legitimacy of the purchase, they quickly followed that up with an email letting me know they had rejected my order meaning, not only are they keeping my money but they also have no intention of ever sending me the jersey they are claiming I purchased. 

All of this is supported by the attached documentation of this entire ordeal. I hereby please ask that you reverse your decision and remove the charge from my account immediately, also noting the history on this account of honoring every purchase I make with my credit card. 

Finally, I had repeatedly tried to upload these documents to the link provided to me by email and kept getting an error which was somewhat frustrating considering I always saw Capital One as a leading technology company. It feels unreasonable that, in XXXX, the only other remedy to this is me mailing you all this documentation. '' I heard nothing from them and decided to call them in early XXXX. They acknowledged they had received the documentation but had no updates on the actual resolution. They said they would get back to me in a couple of weeks. That didn't happen, and so I decided to follow up today, XX/XX/XXXX, already frustrated by this whole ordeal. 

Today, when calling them, they decided to let me know there was nothing they could do about the charge because I had missed the original deadline. They said despite them providing me with links that wouldn't work to upload the necessary documentation, it was my responsibility to get it in time to them and that I could have faxed or mailed it to them instead. 

At this point, I am just fed up with the messy customer support they provided and want to break my ties with them. I used that credit card as my primary credit card for a long time, and can't believe they would opt to sever ties with a loyal customer rather than issue a {$120.00} credit for something I bought and never received. I hope people are aware that despite their image as a very customer-friendly company, Capital One is unable to be reasonable and get out of its own way when it matters most to its customers. 

Thanks, XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief