Consumer complaint received 2019-05-23
Company: DISCOVER BANK
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:
Per recommendation of a friend, I purchased a Hawaii trip package through a travel agent, ( XXXX XXXX, owner of XXXX, XXXX, ( website XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX. 

The total travel cost was {$7700.00}. My friend told me it was a bargain at that price and we as a group of families ( 4 families in total ) should all sign up with this travel agent that was scheduled to take place in XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX during our kids ' spring break. 

She charged {$4800.00} on this date on my Discover card. I subsequently paid my entire DISCOVER credit card bill for this entire amount as a deposit. 

The remaining BALANCE was due by XX/XX/XXXX. 

In XXXX of XXXX my credit card was charged the remaining balance of {$2900.00} without any prior notifications from the travel agent. I contacted her on XX/XX/XXXX for an explanation and after some back and forth by email, she responded that she would send me a refund by mailing me a check. 

I never received a refund and since my DICOVER credit card bill was due, I emailed her of my intention to dispute the charge because I was not prepared to pay for this charge until some time in XXXX of XXXX as she had mentioned it in her original email on the itinerary. 

Since she was not returning my deposit I started to get suspicious of her having bad intentions in keeping my money. 

Finally, since she never reimbursed the second charged fee, I decided to cancel my entire trip in XXXX of XXXX and asked for a full refund. My cancellation was qualified for a full refund within the cancellation period guidelines of the original reservation which she had emailed me and I was anticipating a full refund. 

On XX/XX/XXXX she sent me an email confirming she had cancelled my Hawaii trip and promised 2-3 weeks for a full refund. I never received a refund for any of the charges initially placed on my DICOVER card. I therefore decided to disputed both charges with Discover totaling {$7700.00}. 

The DICOVER card dispute numbers were # XXXX for {$840.00} and Dispute number # XXXX for XXXX. 

I had very poor assistance from DISCOVER CARD. They had promised each time to respond to my demands within a certain time frame. Every time I was the one who had to call to find out what was happening and it was always past the time I was promised a response. 

The never resolved ANY my disputes. The wait times on the telephone were very long and each time I was the one who had to call to inquire about the status of the disputes and the agents answering the calls seemed very much out of touch and misinformed with what was happening. They were so incompetent that I had to demand to speak to their supervisor who were also very hard to get through to. 

Even they were very much in the dark about the dispute status and put me on long waits to just figure out what was going on! 

On XX/XX/XXXX, after repeated calls and texts and emails to this travel agent ( which she mostly ignored and did not reply to ), I finally managed to have her reverse the last charge of XXXX on my DICOVER Card, with the help of my friend who had recommended her to me.

DISCOVER CARD took credit for this resolution, boasting they had resolved it!!! 

DISCOVER CARD WAS UNABLE TO RESOLVE MY DISPUTES. EVERY TIME THEY WOULD ISSUE TEMPORARY CREDIT PENDING A FINAL INVESTIGATION TO RESOLVE THE DISPUTE. 

THEY NEVER GAVE ME FULL AND FINAL CREDIT FOR THE {$4800.00}. 

DISCOVER CARD KNEW HOW I WAS HOAXED INTO PAYING HER THIS LARGE SUM WITHOUT A FULL REFUND. 

DISCOVER CARD RECEIVED COPIES OF ALL MY EMAILS TO SUPPORT MY CLAIMS THAT SHE WAS NOT RETURNING MY MONEY FOR A CANCELLED TRIP THAT SHE HAD CONFIRMED. 

It is noteworthy that 3 other families who had made reservations with this travel agent and who also were forced to cancel their trips due to her being a con-artist got a full refund from their credit cards ( XXXX XXXX AND ANOTHER CARD ). 

This travel agent has reportedly been sued FOR CLOSE TO {$100000.00} by her mother travel agency for stealing their clients and opening her own agency. This is public information and on XXXX. I had told DISCOVER CARD about this and they still did nothing. THEY DID NOT EVEN CARE TO INVESTIGATE THIS MERCHANT. 

DISCOVER CARD finally told me they could not resolve this last amount at all and withdrew, ABANDONED ME and keeping me responsible to collect the {$4800.00} which to this date still has not been refunded to me by the travel agent, XXXX XXXX. They told me to hire an attorney or go to the attorney general 's office!!!! 

DISCOVER CARD NEVER OFFERED AN EXPLANATION OF HOW THEY TRIED TO RESOLVE THIS DISPUTE. THIS LEADS ME TO CONCLUDE THEY DID NOT DO MUCH AT ALL. 

DISCOVER CARD failed to protect me as a long-term and loyal customer. 

I am extremely disappointed with Discover card in the way they mishandled my case. 

I have tried to talk sense into this lady repeatedly by email, text and group text with my friend who recommended her to me, but up until now she has not returned my deposit of XXXX. I have filed a report with XXXX and IL Attorney General. 

I will have to hire an attorney or go through a small claims court. This is unacceptable to me. I will be losing time from my work and XXXX   since I am a XXXX. 

I am very frustrated with all of this especially since my credit card that I have had since the XXXX 's has completely abandoned me. 

I demand an investigation into the way DISCOVER CARD has failed to protect me as a client.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief