Consumer complaint received 2022-08-21
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: DISCOVER BANK (CA)

I paid for an expensive website design and build with the Discover card. The company concerned, initially refused to build the website, claiming it was outside their area of expertise, after I had already paid with the Discover card. They relented and claimed that they had assigned a senior manager to manage the build. The manager proceeded to ignore my instructions and did not use the photos and videos that I carefully provided in their portal. After some weeks had gone by, I received the link to look at the draft website. It had not used any of my photos or my videos, and was very amateurish. The manager refused to meet with me in a reasonable time to find a resolution. It was clear that the company would be unable to create a professional website. I asked for the project to be terminated, and that a full refund would be placed to the credit card. The company refused to refund the money. I contacted Discover Card and a dispute was opened. Discover Card found in my favor, and refunded all the money to my card that had been paid out to the company concerned. The company concerned then submitted their documentation to support the charge. They claimed that they had built the final website, which was not true. They claimed this despite the fact that there is no website available at the URL that they were supposed to use, or any other website URL for that matter. They claimed that I had signed an agreement, which I had not. I paid over the phone, and then they must have created an agreement when I submitted the documents for the website. I contacted Discover Card and provided many pages of documentation to prove my case. The company refused to provide me with the recording of the initial call to order the website, which would have further proven my case. Discover refused to believe me, despite the fact that no final website was ever built, and the draft website was not what I ordered. 

I then closed the Discover Card account to prevent Discover Card from charging interest and late fees. This occurred last XX/XX/2021, and Discover has been charging late fees and interest since that time. I have never paid Discover Card late fees and interest in all the 10 or more years I was a customer. My bill has always been paid in full at the end of the month. I have called them numerous times, and they refuse to consider my case. I urgently need help to resolve this matter. They are ruining my business credit. I had not been aware of how they operate, never having been in this type of situation before. Consumers need to be protected from these underhand business practices. 

The company concerned offered a partial refund, which DIscover Card could have accepted to cover their expenses if they wanted to find in the merchant 's favor. They have not accepted the offer, and are still expecting me to pay the year 's worth of late fees and interest, as well as the original charge. The credit card was used to purchase this high value item, because of the fact that a credit card is supposed to have effective dispute resolution processes. In this case, the dispute resolution has been used to ruin my business credit in the attempt to make me pay for a service that was not delivered.