Consumer complaint received 2019-04-23
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
Received XXXX statement from company that showed payment processed on XX/XX/XXXX ( Tuesday ). Due date was XXXX and was made online, but due to online bill pay, did not process until XX/XX/XXXX. 
Bill showed a {$27.00} late fee. 
This statement had a payment due date of XXXX. 
Called to have late fee removed and they said they would waive the fee and it would reflect on next bill. ( XXXX statement ) Payment was made on XXXX with the expectation that the late fee would be removed when the next statement arrived. 

FLASH FORWARD : Received next statement from the company that showed late fee not had not been removed. 
Instead it showed a larger late fee of {$38.00} as well as an " Adjustment-Payment '' in the amount of {$50.00} under the purchases category along with an {$0.00} interest fee. 
Called the company to investigate and was told that the {$50.00} was due to the fact that our {$50.00} payment on XX/XX/XXXX had actually been refunded back into our bank account. 
I explained that, in a review of my bank statement, I did show a payment processed by the company ( posted in my bank acct. of XX/XX/XXXX ) but was not seeing a refund or deposit from the company into my bank account .... So therefore, needed that {$50.00} fee removed from my XXXX statement. 
Was told she could not waive the fee b/c their records indicated they HAD refunded the money. 
I asked why they would have done such a thing and was told that there was not a note on the account to explain why this would have happened ... but that it was a matter of my word against theirs at this point. 
The representative said a " case '' would be opened for a " supervisory team '' to look into the matter. 
I said that was fine, but that in the meantime, I would like to have her waive the previous late fee and the new late fee from my statement and issue a revised statement for each month for my records. 
She told me that in order to waive the late fees, I would be required to either pay my minimum payment ( that is due on XXXX ) now or schedule a payment ... and ONLY after my payment is received, will they waive the fees and credit them back to my account. 
I was told that it would take 24 hours to appear back as a credit to my account. 
I told her I was not comfortable making a payment until the matter was cleared up, since they had already been so irresponsible with records of my payments. 
I simply did not trust that if I made the payment, they would, in fact, waive the fees. 
She said that she could not waive those fees unless I paid and until I paid, the fees would remain as part of my balance. 
She told me that because they " refunded '' me the {$50.00} payment I made ( again ... I never saw a refund ) that this meant I had technically never paid my XXXX statement at all and therefore was still in poor standing with the company. 
I tried to explain that not only had I made the XXXX payment, but had also made a payment on XXXX and should be totally up to date. The statement mailed to me by her company reflected that this was the case. 
She said that they applied my XXXX payment to the XXXX bill ( that I show as having been paid on XX/XX/XXXX, but they claim to have refunded ) so the XXXX bill had yet to be paid ... which meant I was responsible for late fees. 
I explained once again - I made both payments and both payments were showing on my statement from her company. Therefore, they must have been received and therefore, I must not be late - meaning I could expect the late fees to be waived. 
She continued to refuse. 
I asked for a supervisor and was told one was not available. 
I told her I would hold, but she refused to transfer my call. 
She made an appointment for me to have a supervisor telephone me later in the day, but in order to have her use my phone number ( which had been mysteriously labeled as a " do not call '' number in her records - I was not responsible for that either ) I had to receive a text from her and click open a link that would allow her to permit calls to my cell phone. 
I told her that ALL of these things sounded very shady to me and that I would be consulting my lawyer and filing an FTC claim. 
She then said she would tell the President of her company about my concerns via email.

I told her to by all means do so because he or she may want to be made aware of such shady practices. 
I told her that you can not hold a late fee waiver XXXX until a bill is paid ... it makes no sense at all. Particularly when the late fees are not justified. 
Again, I told her to waive the late fees - all of them - because I was not late witheither of my payments or any previously. In return I would be happy to schedule a payment ... .but repeated my distrust in her company and told her I would refuse to make the payment until the fees were waived and I had written verification of the matter. 
The call ended b/c she claimed she could do no more. 

I am not entirely certain that this company is breaking the law, but it seems as if some unfair practices are at play.

1. Claiming ( falsely ) to refund a payment so that they can charge a late fee on the next billing cycle.

2. Claiming they can not waive bogus late fees until a payment is made.

3. Charging late fees when the statement clearly shows record of a payment and the customer 's bank records also reflect the same payment information.

4. Refusing access to a decision maker/supervisor when a subordinate employee is unable to assist a customer.

5. Requiring a customer to click an unknown text link in order to " unlock '' their phone number in the " system ''.

I am willing to speak to anyone who would like further information regarding this claim and would be very curious to know whether other customers of this company have had similar experiences.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation