Consumer complaint received 2021-09-18
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
This started out fairly simply and became unnecessarily complex. I will create a numbered list below to track the progression of events. To summarize a long story, Capital One misplaced {$14000.00} of mine and refuses to give it back : 1. I started a new job and decided to open an account with Capital One to deposit my money as my previous bank " XXXX '' had left me dissatisfied. This was XX/XX/2021 2. After going through account set up, there was an undefined issue that prevented me from completing enrollment in online banking. So, while the account seemed to exist, I could not access it. We will call this " account A ''. As of the writing of this message I have never had access to " account A ''. 

3. I went through the process once again, and this time was able to create a different account and successfully register for online banking. I registered using identical info, but this account was distinct from the first attempt. We will call this account " Account B ''. I also added my XXXX account as an external bank to this new account. 

4. Over the next few days I moved to transfer {$14000.00} ( all of my money ) from my citizens account to my new capital one account. This transfer was requested a single time from the only account I had access to ( Account B ). 

5. Eventually this transfer request for {$14000.00} appeared in my XXXX account. However, it was duplicated 3x resulting in an overdraft of the account by more than {$28000.00}. This obviously alarmed me and I immediately started calling both banks to get to the bottom of it. 

6. Several hours of conversations with XXXX proved fruitless as did my calls to Capital One as all they did was blame each other. Eventually the transferred funds showed up as pending in the Capital One account briefly before being reverted. 

7. By XX/XX/XXXX I was staring at a XXXX  account with a now reconciled balance of - {$74.00} ( from over draft fees ) and a Capital One account ( account B ) with no additional funds from the transfer. The {$14000.00} was gone. Neither bank had it any longer. 

8. After several hours more of phone calls to both banks I finally realized that the error must be on Capital One 's side. The only indication of this was that while the funds were not in the account ( or even pending ) the balance on the transaction statement showed an amount {$14000.00} higher than it should've been. I want to be clear, this money was not in " account B ''. The transaction history was showing items unrelated to the account itself. 

9. I called Capital One yet again and pleaded with them to find where this money had gone. Finally after more calls than I can even recount, I was able to divine out from one of their representatives that the money had somehow been directed toward " account A ''. I asked how this was possible, since I've never even accessed " account A '' and the request was made via " account B ''. I also asked why Capital One made 3 requests for this single transfer and overdrew my XXXX account. To this date I never have gotten answers to either of these questions. But, I was happy to have at least found the money. I figured I could deal with the immensely concerning side-issues like the multiple charges once I recovered my money. Little did I know the trouble was just starting. 

10. I now needed to get the money out of " account A '' and into an account that I could access. I thought this would be simple since I was the owner of both accounts, and they both were opened with my information. I could not have been more wrong. The first thing the Capital One reps had me try was setting up access to " account A ''. Every time I spoke to a new rep, whether a manager or otherwise, they walked me through that same set-up process. It never worked a single time. I must've done it to appease them 20+ times. It always ended with an error at the final step just like the first time I tried to set it up on XX/XX/XXXX. They gave a myriad of excuses for this. Ranging from standard delays in verification to phone number issues to even blaming my telecom carrier. Anything they could say to get me off the phone and go back to waiting they tried. 

11. Most of the reps gave up after the set up failed. All the while refusing or unable to answer questions about how this could have happened in the first place. After many more attempts to reach someone willing to help me at Capital One, I landed on a rep that actually seemed to have a solution. She explained that once the deposit was cleared for " account A '' in 1 day, she should be able to transfer the money and close the bugged account. She said there was work around for the supposed verification issues I'd been facing in trying to set-up " account A '' and requested a copy my drivers license. With this I was able to get as far as transferring the debit card info from " account A '' to " account B '' ( I didn't even know I had a debit card on this account since I never had access to it ). She told me to call back on the XXXX of XXXX to finish the last steps for the transfer and solve to problem for good. 

12. I ended up calling back on the XXXX as I was busy with work on the XXXX and hoped this would be my last call. However, I wouldn't be so lucky. I was greeted by a very different story from Capital One this time around. They told me that they would not transfer the money from " account A '' and there is no way I would be allowed to access it unless I set up online banking. I explained again that their system wouldn't allow me to complete the set-up, that I had a functioning account ( " account B '' ) and that the funds never should've gone to " account A '' to begin with. I told them I had talked to another rep and she had told us it was a simple fix once the funds had cleared. To my genuine shock they told us this rep had lied to us, and there was nothing more they would do for us. Of course I tried explaining that this was an error on Capital One 's end and I didn't understand why they couldn't perform a simple transfer. Why couldn't they allow me to access my own money from an unrestricted account? '' They never answered any of these questions. They simply got more and more nasty and repeated that they can't do it until eventually they simple remained quiet on the line stating that I should hang up if I don't have any more " real '' questions. I pleaded with them to transfer the funds, told them I could give them any documents or information necessary and any proof of identity. They said no and that and told me to move on. It had clearly become personal for this rep at this point, so after some words I hung up and tried again. 

13. It so happens that it matters very much who you speak to at these banks. Some reps don't like the tone of your voice and decide to hold your money ransom, while some try to help the people that call in. This is a scary truth of remote customer service. I called several more times and finally got a rep that was willing to look at the problem again. This rep said that he could open a case to close the bugged account and perform the transfer. I'd would've been happy if I hadn't heard it before. But at least he was trying. He told me it might take a few days ... and at this point all I could do was cross my fingers that next time I called, I wouldn't be told by his colleagues that he too was a liar. 

14. This brings us to the current day. I still don't have the money. I still can't access " account A ''. I still don't know how this transfer ever ended up in " account A ''. I still don't know why capital one duplicated this request 3 times and overdrew my account. All I know is what the Capital One reps had definitively told me across hours of phone calls- they do not care and can't help me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation