Consumer complaint received 2023-02-08
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with customer service
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE (NY)

On XX/XX/23 I was contacted by the Fraud department at Barclays stating there was fraudulent activity on my card resulting in many XXXX XXXX charges. I didn't make any of these charges, I live in XXXX NY and was in a blizzard, with no electricity at the time. So, I was happy they called me regarding the charges. They canceled my card, sent me a new one and turned over charges to their fraud department. I was very happy initially. 

The first week of XXXX I received a letter that 2 of the charges were being deemed valid. When I checked my account there were actually 3 charges on the account that the Fraud department stated were valid. All from restaurants I'd never heard of and it was stated I had history with the merchant, XXXX XXXX. I found out the 3 restaurants are in northern California, thousands of miles from me. I've never purchased anything from these establishments. Coincidentally these are the highest charges I'm aware of, that were charged during the XXXX XXXX  XXXX, totally {$200.00}. Over the course of the next 2-3 weeks I attempted on several occasions to get someone to listen to me, that I didn't make these charges. I was told I had to prove I was in XXXX and not in California ordering Chinese food. So I got a letter notarized by neighbor confirming we as a family were in fact home, in XXXX, in a blizzard and that no one was driving or ordering food from California. Sent pictures and wrote a 2 page hand written letter, as I was told it couldn't be typed. Someone could fake that. Faxed it all over to the fraud department. I did all of these things and received a notice today, XXXX that the charges were reinstated and were determined to be valid, despite all that I sent in. It is absolutely mind boggling. 

I canceled my card today. I am loosing money that was earned towards my daughter 's college fund. I was a customer with Barclays for over 10 years and averaged {$4000.00} - {$5000.00} a month in charges, and I paid pretty much at 30 days. If I made these charges, I would have paid them. I wouldn't haggle over {$200.00}. But NO ONE would listen to me or be reasonable. Barclay 's fraud department picked 3 of the highest charges ( more were on the original list ) and said you have to pay these. No reasoning as to why other cheaper charges were determined to be fraudulent and these 3 were reinstated. Other than the very incorrect statement of " I had history with the merchants ''. I've NEVER heard of these restaurants or ordered from them. The fraud department apparently gets to make ridiculous determinations and stick to them. I asked for a manager to call me and was told a manager wasn't available. I could only leave a message and someone would call me back in 7-10 days. Ridiculous. And I never heard from anyone! 

There is {$330.00} left to pay on my account. Of that, {$120.00} are charges we made and we will pay that amount. I refuse to pay the {$200.00}, the total of the fraudulent charges. Barclay 's will no doubt put me into collections and lower my credit score. But I will not pay for something I didn't charge. Their fraud department is over-reaching to say the least. No accountability or reasonable actions were taken by them. I was called a liar, treated terribly and am very frustrated to say the least. Others should beware.