Consumer complaint received 2021-11-08
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Overcharged for something you did purchase with the card
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE

Complaint:
We rented a XXXX  in XXXX via XXXX this past XXXX. The XXXX  advertised it to have a swimming pool and a brick and mortar built in grill, with a long cutting counter. We invited six XXXX  friends to come and have BBQs with us. When we arrived to the property, the unit had no swimming pool or grill. The unit was also an apartment, and not a villa, as advertised. The nice built in grill had been removed, and there was never a pool. Bathrooms were missing toilet paper, lots of burned light bulbs and dirty lamp covers. Quite a bit of broken tile floors which were hazardous to walk. Mold in bathroom ceilings, and the likes. When we questioned the owner on being no pool, he said to use the hot-tub for swimming!, and dropped a cheap metal grill in a box, expecting us to assemble it during our vacation. I tried to resolve with XXXX and they dragged me for 20 days via messages, but never called me back, as I requested multiple times. Eventually, XXXX sent me a message saying they closed the case, and they shut off the communication link to write. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I disputed two of the three {$850.00} charges made on to my XXXX Mastercard on XX/XX/XXXX. Days later I received a letter confirming the disputes under case numbers XXXX and XXXX XXXX, explains that it would take unto 45 days to hear back from them. To play safe, last Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I called to check the status of the disputes. They left me on hold for over 45 minutes and I had to eventually give up the line. I called them today, XX/XX/XXXX, and the employee that answered told me the disputes were closed last week because they needed more info on the cases. When I asked her if they sent me a request for more documentation, she said no. I then asked if they heard back from the merchant, and she confirmed the merchant did not respond. When I questioned how would they close a case without fully investigating it, she did not know how to respond. I followed up with another call, after holding 25 minutes for it, and same answer from another lady. All calls are routed to XXXX and some of the communications are of very poor quality with static noise. I do not understand how they can just close a case and not follow FCRA guidelines giving me the chance to provide any necessary documents, or respond to questions, or not even wait for a merchants response. 

I should note that when I called them while we were in XXXX, at least 4 different days their autoresponder said they were having system issues and could not provide any answers related to the accounts. Lately, when you call XXXX XXXX credit cards they take well over 20/30 minutes to answer calls. These are signs that they may have been cyber hacked. I work in the mortgage lending environment and know from the courses we take at work, that these are signs of a system having been cyber attacked.

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 monetary relief