Consumer complaint received 2024-02-07
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (CA)

This complaint relates to Capital One Offers, a cashback shopping portal owned and run by Capital One. Customers make a purchase from a third-party merchant after logging into their Capital One account and clicking out from Capital One Offers, and then receive a statement credit from Capital One on their Capital One credit, debit, or bank account statement. 

On XX/XX/2024, I made a purchase in the amount of {$570.00} from XXXX after logging into my Capital One account and clicking out from Capital One Offers. The cashback rate offered at the time by Capital One Offers was 3 %. My trip ID on Capital One Offers was XXXX, and my order number on XXXX was XXXX. I paid for my purchase with a XXXX credit card. 

The terms and conditions on Capital One Offers do not state that one must pay with a Capital One credit card when making a purchase after clicking out from Capital One Offers. This is an intentional change that was recently made by Capital One in order to encourage more customers to use the portal ; until a few months ago, use of a Capital One credit card to pay was required. Nothing in the terms indicates that any adverse consequences will flow to the customer for choosing to pay with a non-Capital One credit card. 

My purchase did not track on Capital One Offers, and, after about a week and a half, I reached out to Capital One Offers customer service on XX/XX/XXXX. 2024 for assistance. At this time, I was told for the first time that Capital One Offers has a secret policy -- which is nowhere stated in the terms -- that if a customer chooses to pay with a non-Capital One credit card ( something that the terms expressly permit ), they will be treated differently from a customer who pays with a Capital One card, and, if their purchase does not track, Capital One will make no investigation and offer no remedy. Customers who paid with a Capital One credit card, on the hand, will immediately receive a statement credit for the missing cashback. 

This is a dramatic departure from how shopping portals normally operate. It is common for purchases made after clicking through a portal not to track, and portals routinely open so-called " missing cashback investigations '' when this happens, and either reach out to the third-party merchant through the affiliate network to confirm the purchase or, if the amount at issue is small, simply offer a courtesy credit. Some merchants ( e.g. XXXX, XXXX ) do not permit " missing cashback claims, '' but, if this is the case, portals always have a clear warning in the terms applicable to that merchant. Against this background for how the industry operates, to have a secret policy that a broad swath of customers will have no remedy in the event of an untracked purchase from any merchant is deceptive, and something that no reasonable customer who is familiar with how shopping portals work would expect. 

My request is therefore as follows : ( 1 ) I should be allowed to submit proof that I made the purchase in question ( i.e., copies of my order e-mail and credit card statement ) ; ( 2 ) Capital One should either credit my account in the amount of {$17.00} ( {$570.00} x 3 % ) or, at a minimum, initiate a " missing cashback claim '' through the affiliate network so that XXXX can confirm my purchase.