Consumer complaint received 2020-01-23
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
I signed up for the venture credit card by capital one. For some reason I was given the capital one venture one card and that was the card that was sent to me in the mail. Having done my research ahead of time I knew that the Capital one venture one card card came with a 0 % APR for the first 12 months in addition to a bonus for spending {$1000.00} in the first three months. Even though I had been expecting to receive the venture card and not the venture one card I decided to keep the venture one card because I still thought it was a good card and I like the benefit of the 0 % on purchases for the first year and although the bonus wasnt as enticing as the venture card I still felt it was fair. Based on that I decided to keep the card. Fast forward to a few months later I noticed I was receiving interest charges of 19   % and that I hadnt received the advertised and not the venture one card I decided to keep the venture one card because I still thought it was a good card and I like the benefit of the 0 % on purchases for the first year. Fast forward If you months later I find that Im getting charged an interest rate of 19 % on purchases, and that I hadnt received the advertise bonus. Once this information became clear to me I called capital one and spoke to numerous supervisors. The first supervisor  who said her name is XXXX and her employee number is XXXX was unhelpful. After almost an hour on the phone with XXXX  I was given zero information about why I had not received any of the advertise perks and benefits attached to this card. I would not have wanted this card under these terms and conditions and feel that capital one is false advertising the promotions on their website and I was flabbergasted that they didnt immediately rectify the situation with me over the phone. I explained that I wouldve been happy had they just reverse the interest charges and giving me the advertise promotional rate of 0 % for the first year in addition to my XXXX bonus miles. I also during this time was wondering what happened during the process of my applying for the venture card and why I hadnt received the venture card but I had been given the venture one card. I  was told by XXXX that sometimes when youre not eligible for one card youre automatically given a secondary card or an alternative card. That didnt make sense to me if I apply for a credit card I shouldnt be given an alternative card without being prompted as to whether Im interested in that alternative card. In addition to this since I had been researching both cards I had been preapproved for the capital one venture one card with the terms and conditions listed on the website, but later decided that Id rather have the venture card. However when I ended up receiving the venture one card I decided I was fine with that too. I feel that something happened during my process of applying for the venture card that created this problem. Nobody at capital one was able to see if I had indeed signed up for the venture card and been given this alternative card except for XXXX # XXXX. They said on their end it looks as though I only applied for the venture one card. If that is true there should be no reason why I was not given The 0 % purchase advertised and the bonus. Regardless of whether or not I signed up for the venture card or the venture one card as someone with pristine credit history, and the ability to sign up for any credit card I want - I feel as a consumer it should be my decision in advance whether or not I agree to terms before a card is opened under my name. I feel that capital one has denied me transparency and the ability to understand why they advertise one rate yet I was offered something completely different and not given the opportunity to say no thank you. Ive now spent over three hours disputing this and have nothing tangible to show for it. I was told this information is being passed to some kind of underwriting team. Ive also noticed that capital one no longer allows consumers to utilize a chat window so that they can have some kind of reference to refer to when calling for a dispute. Rather than continuing on you have to call and start an entirely new conversation with an entirely new associate and asked to speak to a supervisor and start back at square one. Ive been a capital one customer for many years and Im disappointed in the current practices. I hope my situation gets resolved in a fair and timely manner. And I hope that for the sake of other consumers that capital one takes responsibility for these unfair business practices and creates better transparency for their clients.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation