Consumer complaint received 2021-01-19
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: OH
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:
I am writing to submit a complaint about the dispute process on my Uber Credit card with Barclays. The initial charge concerned was for {$430.00} on XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX. This was for the purchase of a plane ticket, which was canceled on XX/XX/XXXX because of the coronavirus. Initially, the company promised a refund of the ticket, but it never sent my refund despite my efforts to request one. 

After a few months of trying to pursue a refund with XXXX, I decided to escalate the situation by disputing the charge on my credit card. I sent my dispute letter in XXXX of XXXX. Since XX/XX/XXXX, Barclays has failed to investigate my case properly and issue a refund for the purchase. Each time I have called or received written communication from Barclays, the representative has given me information that contradicts what was previously said. Each time, the representative has told me that the previous agent at Barclays was incorrect. 

I have made a good faith effort to resolve this issue, first by communicating with the merchant and then by calling and writing to Barclays. I believe Barclays and its agents/representatives have been intentionally deceptive by providing me contradictory and/or inaccurate information. They continue to delay my case and have failed to resolve the issue, and I believe Barclays simply intends to wait it out until I stop pursuing my dispute.

To provide context for my complaint, I am providing a detailed timeline of my correspondence with Barclays. This timeline is based on the notes I took during/after each phone call and the written letters I have received. I can also provide copies of the letters received from Barclays. 

( approximately ) XX/XX/XXXX : I sent a letter to Barclays to open my dispute case. 

Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter from Barclays indicating they received my dispute letter and that it would follow up if additional information was required. 

Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter from Barclays identical to the one sent on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter stating my dispute case was closed because Barclays did not receive enough documentation. The previous letter ( XX/XX/XXXX ) indicated Barclays would ask for any documents necessary, yet I never received this request. 

Call around late XX/XX/XXXX or early XX/XX/XXXX : I called Barclays to follow up on the letter from XX/XX/XXXX. I explained that my case was incorrectly closed because I never received a request for additional documents. The representative instructed me to send another letter with copies of my correspondences from the merchant. I sent this letter around XX/XX/XXXX. 

Call on XX/XX/XXXX : Since I had not heard back about my letter from XX/XX/XXXX, I called Barclays to follow up. The representative told me that the case was re-opened based on the information in my letter sent around XX/XX/XXXX. The representative said that Barclays would contact the merchant, and the merchant would have 90 days to respond. The representative said that if the merchant did not respond by XX/XX/XXXX ( the end of the 90-day period ), then I would receive a refund to my account. The agent assured me I would receive this refund by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Letter dated XX/XX/XXXX : I received a letter stating my case was closed because it was outside the timeframes to continue this claim. 

Call on XX/XX/XXXX : I called Barclays to follow up on the letter from XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke to 4 representatives because my call kept being dropped. I informed the representative about the promise to receive a refund by XX/XX/XXXX ( See call on XX/XX/XXXX ). 
The first two calls were dropped. 
Representative 3 ( call 3 ) : Told me that the case was closed due to the time frame for the case having elapsed. This representative said that the previous representative ( from XX/XX/XXXX ) was incorrect about promising the refund. 
Representative 4 : This person told me that the case had been wrongly classified. It was classified as a lack of refund/credit, and the case needed to be re-classified as a no services/product received. The representative said she was escalating the case and I would hear back within 8-10 business days. 

Call on XX/XX/XXXX : I called Barclays since it was the end of the 8-10 business day time frame and I had not been contacted. The representative told me more time was needed, and I should call back on or after Friday ( XX/XX/XXXX ). 

Call on XX/XX/XXXX : I called Barclays to follow up about my case as directed by the previous phone call. I spoke to three representatives. This phone call lasted 53 minutes.

Representative 1 : Put me on hold while reviewing the case. When the hold ended, I was suddenly speaking to Representative 2.

Representative 2 : He said that he saw my case was escalated and he would make a note that I called. He said I needed to wait for the case to be reviewed and he would forward me to someone else to speak to. 
Representative 3 : He completely contradicted Representative 2. He said the case had been closed on XX/XX/XXXX and I needed to send a letter in order to reopen the case. This was the opposite of Representative 2, who said the case was in the process of being escalated. Representative 2 also said that the information I was provided by other representatives at Barclays was incorrect. On several occasions, representatives have contradicted previous representatives and indicated other Barclays agents were incorrect.

Summary I am submitting this complaint because Barclays has offered several competing and contradictory explanations for my situation : the refund will be issued XX/XX/XXXX, the case is being escalated, the case is being closed, etc. At each step, I have followed the directions of the Barclays representative with whom I spoke, and when Ive followed up on those directions, the new representatives says the previous one was incorrect. The representatives/agents at Barclays appear ill equipped or inadequately trained to review my case and provide me the correct information for how I can proceed.

I have spent approximately 4 hours on the phone with Barclays trying to resolve my dispute case. I believe these practices are deceptive and an effort to make me, the customer, drop my case. This is a clear breach of the dispute process laid out in the terms and conditions of my Barclays credit card.

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