Consumer complaint received 2022-06-13
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: CO
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:
This is a detailed recounting of the events that have transpired over the course of the last 9 months, and a reporting of the serious malpractice by the Barclays fraud department. 

PRECURSOR : I signed up for the BarclaysUS card back in late XXXX because they had a special promotion with XXXX where you didnt have to pay interest for a full 12 months. I purchased a XXXX and payed it off over the next year. Thats the only transaction I ever made with the card, and the account was unused from late XXXX until XXXX of XXXX. I kept it open because apparently thats better for your credit score. 

On XX/XX/XXXX two withdrawals were made at a XXXX XXXX XXXX  in XXXX, Colorado. One withdrawal for {$300.00}, and a second one a few minutes later for {$500.00}. These withdrawals were not made by me, and I didnt find out about them until a month later when I received a notice from my credit score app letting me know that my score had dropped due to a late payment. 

Upon finding out, I immediately reported the fraud to the fraud support team, they credited my account, and an investigation ensued. In XXXX I received a letter stating that the investigation had closed and NOT been resolved in my favor, with the reasons being unclear. I called to get more details on the case and investigation, which they couldnt provide. They advised me to submit a formal statement of fraud along with a police report if I wanted to dispute their decision. 

I did some of my own investigating and was able to pry the zip code of the ATM in question from one representative ( after multiple told me that either no info existed or that they were not allowed to give me that info ). Theres only one XXXXXXXX XXXX in that zip code, which I called and they were able to confirm that they had record of the withdrawal in question. They also confirmed that they had security footage of the ATM, but that they were only able to disclose it to the police or other official party such as Barclays. With all this info I filed a police report, and nothing was done. They didnt care enough to do anything. Nonetheless, a report was filed. 

MAIN INCIDENT : With the police report and info about definitive security cam footage, I sent BarclaysUS a formal statement of fraud in XXXX. After faxing this I called to make sure they received it, to which they said they had and that my account would be flagged for review by a supervisor to look into it again. This never happened. I called in about two weeks later and they said they had no record of me sending anything in, but once I gave them the exact date that I had sent it in they were indeed able to locate it. 

In early XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter stating that the case had been closed in my favor, and that the money would be returned to my account. I was initially quite relieved, but a week or so later, the money had not been returned and I was still being charged late fees. I called in to see why, and they said that the letter was sent in error, and that the case had actually been closed not in my favor ( again ). 

When I asked if my additional documents had been reviewed, they said they had not received any documents. I had to again point to the exact date for them to locate it. They reopened the case again, saying that they would again flag the documents for review by a supervisor. This cycle repeated, with them closing the case due to not being able to find my documents. Each time the case was closed I called and they told me they had received no documents. Each time I gave them the date and they were able to find them, and they said they would flag the documents once again. 

Theyve now reopened my case about 5 or 6 times from XXXX until XXXX, each time somehow still being oblivious to the documents, and closing it. They still, after 7 months of investigation, have not reviewed my documents or looked into the security footage. To me this seems like a massive violation of my previous trust in this company with my finances. It also seems like serious malpractice in my opinion. 

MORE INCIDENTS : In between all of this there have been numerous other problems. For one, I have not been able to speak to a supervisor or manager, despite asking on at least 15 separate phone calls. Apparently there isnt ever one available, and the only way to talk to one is by scheduling a callback. The problem is I started requesting them months ago and Ive never gotten one. At first I was told manager callbacks happen within a few hours ( a complete and utter lie which I was told many times ). Lately theyve been saying manager callbacks happen within 10 business days. I work from home, and have my phone on ring always. I also check my missed calls. Nothing. 

The fraud support team is also for some reason the only department at Barclays that seems to not care at all about this issue. All the other departments Ive been on the phone with regarding this issue have been have been very empathetic and helpful. Even though theres nothing they can really do since its not their department theyve filed complaints for me and tried to come up with alternate solutions. Quite a few of them expressed shock upon hearing my situation and my dealings with the fraud department. In complete contrast, the fraud team could not care less, repeats scripts, consistently lie, and essentially stonewall me until I give up for the day. 

At this point I tell them Im upset because 6 months later my documents or footage havent been looked into because of an apparent error with their file system, they say theres nothing to do other than flag it for review by a supervisor again. Then I tell them that theyve already done that many times and it doesnt seem to be working, and they say theres nothing else to be done. Their reply to all of my qualms is mmmm, Im sorry Mr. XXXX, there is nothing I can do for you. Over and over until I give up and accept the review by a supervisor option. 

UPDATE XX/XX/XXXX : Today I finally got a supervisor call back. He was very deceptive. At first he told me that the specialty team ( the people in charge of actually investigating ) had reviewed the documents in XXXX and still ruled not in my favor. I told him I didnt think that was the case since I had recently spoken to multiple people saying they hadnt been reviewed. After a lot of pushing he admitted that he didnt actually know, he was just assuming. He finally went to look at the documents himself and couldnt find them. He then changed tone and told me that my documents actually hadnt been reviewed because they hadnt been faxed to the right department ( it was faxed to collections, apparently ). The specialty team cant see those documents. The thing is, I faxed the documents to the number that a fraud support representative gave me. So they gave me the wrong number. I also dont understand how after 5 months and dozens of reps looking at those documents ( but struggling to locate them at first ), no one mentioned that. Ive had them re-flag the files so many times. There have been so many problems locating them. This should have been noticed a long time ago. Just goes to show how little anyone in that department cares. 

CONCLUSION : That about wraps it up. Because of this incident my credit score is down over 200 points from 790 to about 580. This is my first ever negative mark. I've re-faxed the documents to the new fax number and am still awaiting an update. This whole situation has been unbelievable. They've denied my case so many times without actually reviewing my documents. The reason they haven't reviewed the documents is because of an error on their end that went unnoticed for 6 months despite constant calling. They have continually lied straight to my face on most calls just to get me off the phone. This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed.

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 explanation