Consumer complaint received 2025-12-22 00:00:00
Product: Credit 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
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Previous to XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX was hired via contract to design and build a website for my company that functioned properly. They charged me for the website as well as other charges for maintenance fees, hosting fees, SSL fees, and other charges. Paid for via Discover Card, XXXXXXXX XXXX and XXXX. 

On or about XX/XX/XXXX I initiated disputes with Discover Bank regarding payments made to a merchant operating as XXXX XXXX XXXX for a fully functional business website that was never delivered as promise and under contract. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX I contacted Discover repeatedly to report ongoing beta ( testing ) website failures, non-delivery of services, and merchant misrepresentations. During this period, the beta website suffered from recurring errors, outages, and non-functional features and remained in beta/testing status. I have all correspondence through email, and text messaging. Calls were also placed as well as meetings on XXXX with audio only. 

XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( approximate ) I placed numerous calls to Discover customer service, often lasting hours at a time, to seek assistance and escalation. Every call was different as far as what could be done, information I received from each custom service representative. I was told several times what information needed to be submitted, which I sent to them via certified mail. 

During this period : I was repeatedly told my case would be escalated and heard nothing from Discover regarding the escalations. No written notices were ever mailed. 

I was denied access to a supervisor on multiple occasions stating there was no one available to discuss this action. 

Promised return calls from supervisors did not occur During active disputes ( earlymid XXXX ) The merchant contacted me and threatened to take down my website and stop all work unless I withdrew the disputes. These threats were communicated by phone. 
Text messages from the merchant during this period show demands for dispute reversal and requests for additional wired funds. At no point was I ever advised by a Discover Card customer service team member that withdrawing disputes would permanently eliminate my rights or stop the investigation. 

On or about XXXX Under pressure from the merchant and without being informed by Discover of the consequences, I withdrew the disputes in order to prevent the merchant from taking down my business website that was being created and to preserve access via XXXX XXXX hosting. 

After dispute withdrawal ( XXXX onward ) The merchant failed to complete the contracted services and retained all funds. Website issues persisted, and the website was never delivered in a functional state. I had no way to save information. I requested on XXXX occasions that XXXXXXXX XXXX  send me my files, and they did not complete this. I have documentation that everything was deleted. 

By approximately XX/XX/XXXX The merchant became unreachable. Emails and phone numbers associated with XXXX XXXX XXXX stopped functioning and were deleted, I have documentation of this as well. This occurred after the disputes were withdrawn. The company website is also no longer existing. This company also scammed other individuals and businesses as well as stated in reviews on their own website. XXXX XXXX XXXX I contacted XXXX regarding hosting issues. XXXX confirmed : The merchant-controlled hosting credentials Contact and payment information had been removed by the merchant Hosting expired and website data was deleted and unrecoverable The merchant previously hosted over XXXX brands under their account XX/XX/XXXX On a recorded call with Discover ( with disclosure ), I was informed for the first time that a recent merger prevented supervisors from calling customers back. I was also told Discover could take no action because I had withdrawn the disputes and that relief would only be possible if the merchant voluntarily provided a refund letter. 

To date XX/XX/XXXX I have made over XXXX calls to Discover card and exhausted every option to get this resolved. I was scammed and the people mispresented themselves. That is fraud. I have also submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission as well. 
I tried to download all the invoices, and they have all been deleted however I do have them in my email I can print.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation