Consumer complaint received 2017-04-28
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: PA
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 applied fo r Barclaycard Ring Mastercard o n  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   via the  XXXX  web site (   XXXX   ), which at  the time has advertised the 0 % interest-free offer for 15 months for balance transfers made within 45 days of account opening. However, a month later (  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   ) when I was making my payment to the credit card, I noticed that I was being charged 8.75 % APR of interest. I spoke to a customer service representative ( at  XXXX  ) at the time, provided the website info where I saw the 0 % interest-free offer, and was told that it will be reviewed by a different department and that I should expect to hear a response within 30 days. I called the customer service representativ es two more times within the 30-day period and was told each time that I should wait as 30 days have not elapsed.   Most recently, I spoke to another customer service representative on  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   and was told that I needed to send over the copy of the website advertisement to  XXXX  for review. I faxed over an image of a copy of the advertisement to the customer service ( on  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   ) of the advertisement I saw at the time of application ( taken with a cell phone camera ). I called the customer service on  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   and had the matter escalated to  the manager. The manager ch anged his story to say that there was not an active 0 % interest-free offer at the time of my application but that promotion is available only now to new credit card applicants. He refused to offer the 0 % interest rate for 15 months that was advertised. So far, I have been charged an interest since opening the account, in the amount of {$120.0 0}. The manager refused my r efund request and said those were valid charges. I mentioned to him that I will file a complaint with the BBB an d Customer Protection Bureau and hi s response was " go right ahead. '' I recently researched other customer review and found that the exactly the same thing happened to other customer as well. Please refer to the comment at the following website ( https :  XXXX  by user  XXXX  ) : " I had wanted this card primarily  for two reasons : The 15 month 0 % APR balance transfer offer and the no balance transfer fee. I went onto Barclay 's web site, double check to ensure the offer is still there, then applied and was approved immediately. When the card arrived, I went to apply the balance transfer only to discover it did n't exist. I contacted customer service who insisted that I misread the  offer until I pointed out that the offer is still visible on their website. They tell me they will create a support case for me. Anyone can probably guess what happens next. I contacted them back after one week asking for an update and they tell me they 're still researching, but they 'll make a note I called. I asked how long will researching take and they state 7-10 days. So I contacted them back after two weeks asking for an updated and, liter ally, the same line is repeated. When I pressed asking why the length and utter lack of any updates, the representative can only respond that they 're researching. I ask to close the case figuring it 's not worth pursuing anymore ... and I 'm actually told they need to put in a request and have the department contact me back just to close the case. So whether I 'm opening a support case or wanting to end it, it seems I need to wait an indeterminable amount of time fo r Barclay 's department to contact me to do either one. What awful  customer service. Honestly, nothing else about the card is particular notable. It has benefits that are more or less the same as every other credit card, it has its gimmicks that are mostly useless, and it has the same bonus offers ( well, when it honors the m anyway ).   Had I known this issue would pop up, I would not have bothered to sign up for the card so I 'm rather annoyed at taking the credit hit for something which I now have little use for. "

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