Consumer complaint received 2020-10-08
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 been a customer of Capital One for a decade, and while its marketing is great and app is useful, its customer service is deplorable. Capital One has made thousands and thousands of dollars off of me, with deceptive and predatory practices, high interest rates, fees, and failing to take action on fraudulent charges. If you discover an error on your statement, or even get an instant notification of a charge through the app and attempt to report it as fraudulent, whatever Capital Ones terms of service say about them taking action, in reality, the corporation will try to deter you, stall, and waste your time until you give up.

For example, over the course of 2020, I have spent hours and hours trying to dispute a charge on my Capital One Quicksilver Credit Card.  In XXXX, I paid a software company {$140.00} for a program that did not work as promised and was little more than a script running in the command prompt. Naturally, I attempted to work it out with the company, but after wasting hours, amounting to days, of my time and being unwilling to assist me, fix the software, or refund me, I turned to Capital One to dispute the charge. Capital One made me jump through tons of hoops, e.g. outrageous wait times on the phone just to transfer me around then disconnect me, but eventually, I spoke to a Capital One representative who filed the dispute over the phone. Oddly, she would not give me any way to submit evidence. Even more distressing was that when, I told her that, with the pandemic, I would be unavailable at the address they had on file and requested that Capital One communicate with me through email about my dispute since my account is paperless and always handled through my email, she would not assist me with any alternatives to notifications about the dispute. It was clear that Capital One saw me as the enemy and was using the information I provided it with against me, in a trend of exploiting me as a customer to accrue fees or revenue for Capital One.

That being said, I was pleased when my dispute was approved. I  received a purchase adjustment for the full price on my XXXX statement. I anticipated that Capital One would try to pull something shady, so I made sure I had someone at that address update me regularly in case there was any mail from Capital One in relation to the dispute. Nothing ever came. 

Shockingly, Capital One rebilled me on my XXXX statement for the charge I had already disputed and received a refund. I had to jump through hours and days worth of Capital One hoops again to be told that I hadnt provided sufficient documentation ( in reality, Capital One would not allow me to provide documentation ). After countless hours struggling with Capital One, a representative said they would reopen the dispute and that I could fax documentation. I do not have a fax machine ; the year is XX/XX/XXXX. Multiple representatives refused to provide me with an email or any normal means of sending documentation. They did wind up giving me a link for me to upload documents to. Of course, that link did not work, so I had to jump through hoops to speak to the right person just to have that rude, disrespectful Capital One representative argue and insult me telling me that it does work. Eventually, in early XXXX, I got a different link to upload documents to that only worked if documents were uploaded through XXXX XXXX or something. 

Then when I called back XX/XX/XXXX, I was bounced around three different, completely unhelpful Capital One representatives who kept changing their stories and putting me on hold for 45 minutes just to get me off of the line without resolving the situation. 

Finally, I contacted theXX/XX/XXXX, which put me in contact with Capital Ones complaint department. The complaint department, again, did nothing to resolve the issue. In fact, through the process, it was made clear that the merchant provided no evidence other than having the CVV of my card. Since my whole point was that I made a purchase with my credit card and did not receive the product or service for which I paid, having my CVV number is not proof of anything. Capital One has not just neglected to properly investigate, it has showed a clear bias against me and a contempt for me as its credit consumer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation