Consumer complaint received 2022-08-01
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: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE (OK)

XX/XX/2022 there was a charge on my account in the amount of {$99.00} with a company called XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/2022 there were XXXX charges on my account for a company called XXXX XXXX. The charges were in the amount of {$47.00} and XXXX. I did not make these purchases. Both of these companies sell adult novelty items and films- I would remember if I had made these purchases. These charges are also inconsistent with other charges on my account, as all of the legitimate charges I made in that time period were for less than {$10.00} each. I began the month of XXXX with a conscious decision to decrease my spending. These XXXX fraudulent charges occurred during the time period of when my XXXX XXXX XXXX card was being transitioned from XXXX XXXX to an XXXX XXXX XXXX managed through Barclays. I called Barclays as soon as I noticed these charges to report my card as stolen and request a new one within a few days of these fraudulent charges. Im sorry I didnt write down the dates that I called Barclays , but the first call I made was around XX/XX/2022. It was very close to the dates those charges were made. Barclays did send me a new credit card and took my report that the charges would be investigated as fraudulent. I checked my account regularly and the charges were still appearing under my transactions. I also called at least once a week to ask if the charges were still being investigated. After about 6 weeks, the first fraudulent charge ( XXXX XXXX  for {$99.00} ) was marked as a credit, but the other XXXX charges ( XXXX XXXX {$47.00} and {$9.00} ) are still showing on my account, despite these being reported as fraudulent at the same time. The only reason I can see that would cause this delay is that because it took so long for the fraudulent charges to be addressed, my husband called XXXX XXXX in the first part of XXXX and asked them to refund those charges. However, I never saw a refund come through so I told Barclays to continue to process the charges as fraudulent. I communicated all of this to Barclays. I did not have to make a payment in XXXX because of the account being transferred between banks, but now I am due to make a payment on XX/XX/2022 and the XXXX remaining fraudulent charges are still showing on my account. The minimum payment is {$30.00} however the legitimate charges Ive made on this account are less than {$30.00}. I suspect that Barclays is intentionally taking too long to investigate charges to continue to charge me interest. I also am hesitant to make an overpayment on my bill because I dont think they will credit me back the over payment when the fraudulent charges are finally removed. But I also dont want to make a payment less than the minimum amount due because I strongly suspect they will issue a late payment fee. Again, Im sorry I didnt keep track of how many times Ive called a Barclays to address this XXXX  it its been in the realm of 12 times since I first reported the fraudulent charges. I suspect they are intentionally dragging it out because of the ineffective customer service I get at every call. Twice ( on different days, several days apart ) I have been told that I couldnt talk to the investigations department because their systems were being updated and that they would be unavailable for several hours. Two other times I was told that I would be transferred to the investigations department but the line disconnected. Another time an agent placed me on hold and when she returned to the line she spoke as if she couldnt hear me and eventually disconnect the call. On all the other calls Ive been told that the charges are still under investigation and that there was nothing else they could do. On another call an agent told me that it takes two billing cycles for fraudulent charges to come off the account, but didnt have a good answer for me when I asked why one of the charges I reported was showing as a credit but the othered werent. Finally, I called again on Wednesday XXXX XXXX and requested that the charges be marked as a credit while they are still supposedly under investigation and the agent said that could do that but it would take several days for that to reflect on my account. I checked it again today ( 5 days later ) and they are still showing. I called again today and requested that these charges be marked as a credit so I could make payment on my account based on a correct balance. This agent told me that fraudulent charges are usually resolved in 7-10 business days. When I pointed out that it has been well beyond 10 days and asked to be transferred to the investigations department, once again the line was disconnected while transferring my call. Im making this complaint with the understanding that it can take several days to address fraudulent charges but I have never had a credit card company take this long and treat a customer this poorly.