Consumer complaint received 2022-03-23
Company: DISCOVER BANK
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:
Dear Sir or Madam : I am writing to dispute the charges as they appear on my statement : TRAVEL AGENCY FEE XXXX VA {$480.00} and TRAVEL AGENCY FEE XXXX, VA {$1700.00}. 
These items of XXXX and XXXX from an unidentified Travel Agency in XXXX, VA are in dispute because they inaccurate and or incomplete due to services not being rendered. We are not questioning the legitimacy of the charges, but rather making this a cut and dry non-receipt of services which were clearly not rendered. The tickets were booked, unknown by me and my party, through a third party travel agency who never identified themselves as such when we spoke on the phone. When we called to ask about our tickets through XXXX, with whom we thought wed booked, we were only told we could choose a re-book time for the tickets. However, as you may know, it became implausible and nearly impossible to rebook because the country my party and I were planning to traveling to had closed their borders to U.S. citizens. 
We brought the tickets as a group on different cards and spoke to the company on several occasions in order to sort out the charges and work with them on getting a refund, but ended up starting a dispute because we were no longer sure whether the company had actually sold us real tickets. They were neither friendly nor helpful and NEVER personally sent me the information I requested on the breakdown of the charges. We, as a group, talked with a person named XXXX several times about the charges and possibly receiving a refund. A refund we would have likely received if we had actually booked directly through the airline as we had been led to believe. A compensation I wonder if they, themselves may have received from the airline. 
Yes, there was confusion about the charges when we first talked ( because nothing was clearly labeled on my card statement ) and that was cleared up slightly, but questions still remained. The other person we purchased tickets through was named XXXX and no one in my party was ever able to speak with him. We were always told he was on vacation or away from his desk. We ended up never talking to XXXX or being able to ask about the charges. 
I would like to make it known that they also would not acknowledge that the Airline themselves canceled our flight. It was not canceled by us, the purchaser of the tickets. Nor was it within our power to accept a rebooking of the flight not knowing when we could fly again. The circumstances did not allow it. 
I will be posting copies of the emails we did receive after booking the ticket. I never received an email directly although the charges were on my card. They emailed another person in our party and I received the emails through them. 
Also, I would like to point out that according to the rules posted in the U.S. Department of transportation website we are entitled to a refund of even non-refundable tickets if : Passengers who purchase non-refundable tickets are not entitled to a refund unless the airline makes a promise to provide a refund OR the airline cancels a flight or makes a significant schedule change. XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX That latter case has happened. So, if this company operates out of the U.S. as their multiple U.S. addresses imply, we are truly entitled to a refund. Their former address of XXXX VA claims has ( it would seem ) recently changed to recently changed to XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MD XXXX, XXXX ( still a U.S. address ) Please re-investigate this these matters and correct the disputed items as soon as possible. I will also be posting other items supporting my position. 


The above was the exact letter I sent to my credit card company about the dispute. This was two years ago. They ruled in the favor of the travel agency without realizing they were dealing with two different companies that we were sent to by XXXX XXXX themselves! The two companies are named XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX ( and yes that's spelled with XXXX XXXX ' ) XXXX XXXX  only sells tickets in bulk to travel agencies and XXXX sells tickets to individuals. I still don't know if they are separately owned companies, but they certainly work together to confuse the consumer. I called both of these company numerous times. I was told by XXXX XXXX that they had refunded the ticket amount to XXXX  minus fees and I should be able to get a refund with XXXX XXXX XXXX When I called XXXX I was initially promised a refund on a phone call which is ( recorded ) only to have them take back that promise after they found out about the chargeback. They vindictively withheld the refund because they were upset about the chargeback! Two of my traveling companions received a full refund for their tickets because their credit card company dealt directly with XXXX XXXX! I felt and continue to feel cheated by my credit card company who failed to recognize what was happening. They failed to see how I and my traveling companions were cheated by three travel agencies and an airline company!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation