Consumer complaint received 2018-02-07
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY
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:
Dear CFPB, Capital One is unable to resolve my dispute over a {$200.00} credit card charge on my account ( Case # XXXX ). The issue has been going on for months and they keep requesting new documentation every time they review the claim. Once I provide it to them - TIMELY!, they either deny the claim on the basis of insufficient information (?? ) although ALL the requested info has been provided to them and they have acknowledged its receipt, or they request some NEW documentation from me, and yet, deny the claim upon its receipt again, and then AGAIN ask for some additional documentation. It's been quite a circle. 
During my last phone conversation with Customer Service Rep XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, she confirmed that they had received all the info and documentation they ever asked me for : proof of purchase, copy of receipt, multiple pictures of the damaged goods, pictures of the damaged packaging, proof of my attempt to resolve the dispute with the seller directly, proof of the seller 's refusal to reimburse me for the damaged goods, etc. And then she proceeded to asking me for A NEW piece of additional info from me, which was truly ridiculous in nature and made no logical sense from the necessity or execution point, but according to that rep, it " was the most critical piece of evidence for this claim, and without it they couldn't do anything ''. Now, I was required to provide them with a written statement from a local merchant of the same nature of business ( another liquor-making distillery in the same town of XXXX XXXX I purchased my bottles from ) confirming that the bottles I received were IN FACT broken/damaged. The statement must be on the distillery 's letterhead, in English, signed by the owner and preferably notarized!!! PLEASE NOTE : most of locals barely speak English, their written English is even worse. My seller, for example, struggled immensely with both. So, good luck explaining to them what I need them to write and to sign! 
I tried to reason with her and clarify whether she seriously expects me to make a trip to XXXX now to obtain such a piece of paper just to satisfy her request with her. She said YES, and that I would also need to bring all the bottles - including the GLASS PIECES OF THE BROKEN ONES - in the original package - with me to XXXX to present to the person making the statement!! The rep said if I want them to continue with the dispute, I must present that statement, or my claim is going to be rejected, because MY OWN WORD and ALL THE DISPUTE EVIDENCE I had already provided per their prior requests are not as convincing as a letter from some unknown merchant of some other XXXX XXXX distillery they might have never heard of ... .. It is quite an unreasonable request to resolve a {$200.00} dispute, isn't it? I have never heard of such requests made by any other creditor during their dispute resolution process. Forcing their LOYAL customer of many years, who uses their card DAILY and has NEVER been late on a single payment, make a special trip to XXXX, with broken bottles in a leaking carton box, to comply with their outrageous demand to provide proof of the broken goods??!?!? Over {$200.00}? It's a very disappointing and disrespectful way of conducting business, Capital One. Their customer service doesn't seem to follow simple principles of dispute resolution, Customer Care and Customer Satisfaction. 

Shocked with this outrageous request, I immediately escalated the matter to a Customer Service manager ( XXXX, ID XXXX ), and her attention to my complaint was beyond unsatisfactory. She expressed no interest in researching the issue and providing a reasonable resolution to my dispute. She merely read the notes on their file and repeated the same info to me as what I had already heard from the prior rep. I asked for another manager, preferably someone from the Compliance Department, but was transferred to a Disputes Manager - XXXX. She also treated me with the same level of lack of interest and " I-don't-care '' kind of attitude. As soon as I mentioned filing a complaint with you, CFPB, she placed me on an extended hold, and upon return she offered my a courtesy resolution of 50 % - {$100.00}. I felt insulted. I told her I had done nothing wrong as a buyer/credit card user, provided Capital One with EVERYTHING they had ever asked me for, I was wronged by the merchant, they made no effort to resolve my dispute in a customer-friendly manner, the dispute amount was not thousands $ $ , and they should have really come up with a better way of treating their loyal customers. Hence, I politely rejected their UNFAIR and UNREASONABLE offer. 

And here I am, seeking your interference in hopes for a more favorable resolution of my dispute from the Capital One for the FULL amount of {$200.00}, and Capital One 's revision of their Disputes Resolution process. 

BACKGROUND : On XX/XX/XXXX I made a purchase in one of XXXX XXXX, XXXX, local liquor distillery - XXXX XXXX XXXX - of a few bottles of liquor using my Capital One credit card. All of those bottles were meant for gifts to my friends from my honeymoon, so I asked the seller to include gift boxes as well, to which he agreed. For additional charge, the seller offered to ship the bottles in 2 separate boxes to my US home address. He assured me that all the bottles won't fit into 1 box without breaking and convinced me to pay a bit extra, for the 2-boxes shipment, but it'll guarantee that the bottles won't break this way. I agreed. The total price for the purchase with the shipping was {$200.00}. The seller stated the boxes would be mailed out the same day and arrive to my US home within 2 weeks. 
However, five weeks later, when I still didn't receive my packages, I contacted the seller via email inquiring of the status. He ignored. I emailed again, he ignored again. I called his store, in XXXX. Was told in a very poor English not to call as no one speaks good English there, but to email instead. I emailed again. Got my response, in which I was lied to that the boxes were mailed on the agreed upon day, XX/XX/XXXX, but when asked for the tracking number, he provided me with the proof that the shipment pickup from his store didn't in fact occur until over a month after the purchase ( XXXX confirmed the shipment day as XX/XX/XXXX ). 

When I finally received the shipment, it was only 1 box, not 2. Despite our mutual agreement and the extra charges for the 2-boxes shipment, all the bottles were squeezed into 1 box, without any proper separation / cushioning between bottles or the box. When I was picking up the box from the XXXX facility, the box was soaking wet, and liquid was dripping from it. NOTE : XXXX marked it as " damaged shipment ''. One could  easily understand that the box was stuffed too tight, which caused some of the bottles to break. The content spilt all over the other bottles, dissolving their labels, thus, making all the unbroken bottles label-less and damaged for gifting ( which was the whole purpose of the purchase ). Also, the gift boxes were not included in the shipment. 


CONCLUSION : Due to the DAMAGED condition of the purchased goods and the merchant 's refusal to reimburse me for my purchase, I am demanding Capital One to issue me a full refund of both the purchase and the shipping costs - {$200.00}.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief