Consumer complaint received 2023-08-11
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2023, I reported a transaction of the amount {$750.00} in my Chase Freedom Unlimited Card upon noticing it that same night while in XXXX XXXX, XXXX. The transaction had the merchant listed as " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' and the category of the of the transaction was listed as " Bars, taverns, clubs ''. I have tried searching up the merchant to see if I could find any details in order to fix the issue but upon searching, I was not able to find any actual detail of the said merchant except for some social media profiles of people with the name that was listed on the merchant. This happened abroad in XXXX which also happened to be where I was at the time for 1 day. As a result, I had lack of access to my phone number associated with the account since it did not work in XXXX. So I had to find an online service that allowed me to contact the Fraud Department in order to dispute the charge. I did happen to have my card at the time with me so I did confirm that I infact did have my card and this led to my dispute being under investigation. However, to further back this up, I decided to try to get a police report in XXXX and since I couldn't find any actual formal way of doing this, I asked my hotel front desk for advice on how I could get a police report. They had hired a taxi driver to take me to the nearest police station as well as translate for me in XXXX to the police and explain my situation. Upon discussing the situation with police, I have narrowed one potential place where my card may have been used and it was potentially at 2 coffee shops as I was there earlier that same night outside of my hotel eventually narrowing it 1 coffee shop that was not exactly reputable according to police. However, I affirmed that I did not authorize a charge of {$750.00} and being told a lesser amount and I did not have any exact memories of using my Chase card at the coffee shop as I have mostly been using cash in the places I have been to in XXXX given that many places that I have visited didn't accept card. In fact the only XXXX charge that is even listed in this account or in any of the credit cards that I had in my posession is this transaction. The local police were hesistant about writing a police report and said that it would be of no use to me since it would be in XXXX and were more insistent on trying to go to the suspected shop as to where this has happened as it was possible that my card may have been used without my knowledge. The police even followed up with me later that night outside of the hotel to see a printed paper of the transaction and planned to take action though without giving me a police report. Feeling somewhat reassured, I ended up continuing my travel outside of XXXX the next day, letting the dispute go on. 



On XX/XX/2023, I received a letter online from Chase that stated that they determined the charge was valid and that I have benefitted from the transaction. At the time I was in the XXXX region in XXXX where the government has geoblocked all foreign numbers due to political and security reasons. I used the same online service to contact the fraud department regarding this issue as I could not access my US phone number. I was given the reasoning that this transaction was a chip read in person or face-to-face as for why the charge was valid. I tried to remember again about the incident that happened 2 months ago as to where I might have used my Chase card to no avail. This dispute ended up being reopened and " in-review '' by the Fraud Recovery Team as well as having been given an email for the team to send out any supporting documents such as a police report. However, the transaction was still rebilled to my account and is still showing up on my latest statement despite the dispute being " in-review ''. 

For this whole past week I spent time trying to find out how I can file a police report in XXXX and tried to see if I could contact the XXXX XXXX XXXX, the only available contact was a XXXX which I emailed little more than a week ago with no response given. I kept following up with the Fraud Recovery Team to provide more details while also sharing my concerns regarding this dispute as I could not have imagined authorizing what essentially is a quarter of my savings for what appeared to be food and drinks. I have also tried asking Chase for any information as to the merchants contact info which I was not been provided and I even tried to see if there was a receipt by any chance but to no avail could not resolve the issue. As I don't have access to my US phone currently, I was not able to answer any callbacks from the Fraud Recovery Team so I made sure to call the team for any updates incase they needed me to call back which made communication hard. Eventually, it has been agreed that I would be receiving a callback on the XXXX of XXXX. I have however still reached out as recent as today to ask about the fraudalent charge being rebilled in my statement and if I should be concerned with it and was told that not to worry currently as this was still being under financial review and that I could expect a resolution rather than a call back in 4 business days. I was frustrated with the vague and confusing information that has been given to me so I called the corporate office to get in touch with the escalation department about this issue and share my concerns. The escalation department expedited me to the credit customer service to share my concerns where they confirmed the reason for the charge being determined valid was that it was face-to-face. Again trying to remember where this could have happened, I tried to explain my side as well as explain the fact that I would not in anyway have authorized a large amount for what may have been food and drinks. I was told to just wait and to relax for the rest of day instead. 

While this is technically still ongoing and not resolved within the company side, this has been extremely frustrating for me essentially to be treated as if I I would willingly authorize a quarter of my savings in a country where a few nights in a luxury hotels would still be of a lesser charge than what was listed in the transaction with no way to contact. This is in contrast with experiences that I have with other banks where I had a much less stressful time when anything serious popped up. 

If any more information is needed, I am willing to expand further. 


I have attached documents supporting the steps I have personally taken to try to resolve the issue whether it be the contacts I had with my hotel ( XXXX  screenshot ), the various calls I had with the fraud department or any other branch of Chase ( XXXX screenshot ), or emailing the police force in XXXX ( XXXX pdf ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation