Consumer complaint received 2019-04-10
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I recently filed a dispute against XXXX with Barclay Arrival Mastercard for {$94.00} on a transaction that totaled {$310.00}. I provided the agent with the two transactions ( {$48.00} from XXXX and {$46.00} from XXXX ) where I received counterfeit merchandise not as described. The rest of the merchandise from that order was received as describedm or the merchant already credited me for the other items which were not. I then received a letter in the mail notifying me of the {$310.00} dispute filed on my behalf. I filed no such dispute. Barclay now intends to make me a thief by failing to file my dispute for {$94.00} and instead attempting to defraud the merchant an additional {$210.00}, making me an accomplice. 

I contacted customer service where I waited 31 minutes for an agent. This seems pretty standard at Barclay where I wait 30-45 minutes before being connected to a live person. UNLIKE modern banks, when I am on hold with Barclay I have no indicator of how long I will be on hold, how many people are waiting in front of me, nor do I have the option to request a callback to hold my place in line without sitting on hold. Instead I get a recording telling me how sorry they are as a bank for their inadequacy and untimeliness in how they deal with customers. 

I then spoke to XXXX in disputes who informed me she lacks the intellectual know-how to file a dispute for a partial amount of the payment ( something every other bank I do business with has had zero problems doing in the past ). When I asked for a manager/supervisor she put me on hold for several more minutes and then told me none were available and requested my number for a call back. I told her I would wait and she refused to allow me this option. She refused to connect me to a manager or allow me to wait for one and insisted I opt for a callback. The problem with this is that any time I have provided my number for a callback in the past to Barclay, no one from their company ever contacts me. Instead I am forced to call them back, wait another 30-45 minutes on hold to be given the run-around by another incompetent member of their lack of customer service team. 

Prior to this event I had filed a chargeback against XXXX for about {$530.00}, and yet Barclay sought {$1700.00} from them ( another fraudulent chargeback attempt committed by Barclay ). Then when XXXX sent a response which did not prove via  any third-party documentation that they ever delivered me what I paid for, it took Barclay over 21 days to send me these documents via mail and they refused to use tracking numbers to know when the item was delivered. I immediately sent in my response with full, un-disputable evidence from XXXX 's own reporting software, that XXXX had stolen funds from me, and Barclay bank refused to do a thing about it. I wasnt able to upload my documents online ( a function EVERY other bank offers ), nor was I able to email them to a dispute specialist ( something that had been offered to me in the past, but this time their employees refused ) and instead I was forced to fax them or mail them to Barclay. I chose mail to keep image quality legible and had proof that the response was received by Barclay company only 3 days after I received your packet for XXXX response. Despite getting my documents submitted on time, Barclay allowed XXXX to steal funds from me and did nothing to remedy the problem. 

Twice now Barclay has filed fraudulent disputes in my name totaling amounts I never asked for. They have failed to provide me modern means of customer service or the ability to respond to said disputes via online form submissions. They have failed to protect me as a consumer, have allowed merchants like XXXX to steal funds from me, and in doing so are an accomplice in the crime of grand theft ( a felony ). It's time someone from the government does a formal review of this bank.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief