Consumer complaint received 2025-06-21 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
Capital One advertises a Price Match Guarantee before you place a hotel reservation. They state that if a customer finds a lower price within 24 hours after booking, they'll match it.

The qualifications listed are simple and publicly stated. Ive attached the full policy as it appeared on the site when I viewed it below, but here is a relevant excerpt : To qualify for Capital One Travels price match guarantee, you must keep your original itinerary and the cheaper itinerary found must be : An exact match to the original itinerary that was made within the last 24 hours ( including the cancellation policy, i.e. refundable or non-refundable ) ; Priced in USD, including any taxes and fees ; Available to the general public. For example, this means that the rate doesnt require the customer to log into a site or have a special membership ; Available at the time the customer contacts us. Our agent must be able to verify that the lower price exists.

My booking ( also attached ) meets all of those criteria. I found a matching rate on XXXX with the same room type, I am not signed in, it's priced in USD, and it's booked for the exact same dates. It also matches the refundability policy from Capital One.

I called Capital One to claim the credit, and the agent refused. He cited the reputation of XXXX, saying that site did not qualify because it was not reliable and because the price was unreasonably or unrealistically low.

But thats the point of the guarantee. Many hotel sites have similar prices, but sometimes a competitor will price below margin to compete. Capital Ones guarantee indicates theyll match even those prices to earn and retain your business. That if a competitor offers a blitz deal youll get that deal too.

When a customer books with them, they trust they dont need to shop around because theyve been assured Capital One will give them the best price. A customer may stop comparing prices because they believe Capital One has their back.

The guarantee tells a customer even if we dont like it in the future, youll get the best rate : you have our word. Thats why theyre offering it upfront as a promise a protective tool. Its enshrined in writing so you know this is the rule rain or shine and its reliable and enforceable. 

The point : peace of mind that Capital One will honor even very low prices, even if they dont like it.

But if Capital One has carte blanche to refuse cases where the price is undesirable to them, that defeats the purpose of the guarantee. Capital One has already set their prices to meet their ideal margins. So any better deal from a competitor could be viewed as undesirable. Capital One implies through their guarantee theyll eat that loss to retain your business.

If they gain business they would have otherwise lost because of this especially at a higher price and then refuse to honor the guarantee, they are being broadly unethical.

Nevertheless, if such was clearly published, Id understand and abide by it. But there is no indication of any of this in the policy, and no way to understand this before booking. The agent I spoke to acknowledged they are still updating their website.

If they are going to post a promotion and list terms, I feel they must honor those terms. It is misleading to publish an incomplete list of criteria as customers will use those criteria assuming they will indicate if their bookings qualify. One must be able to understand the terms of purchase before purchasing, and they can not change them after a purchase is made.

I talked to a supervisor, who said they do not provide the list of the " banned websites '' for security purposes. I asked what the security risk is, and the agent said managements policy is : " Once Capital One provided all the necessary website that's banned here in Capital One for a price match, they may think that the customer would take advantage of that.

That to me demonstrates intent to mislead -- that they understand if they were to publish the information -- customers could use that information to avoid making purchases which are not covered under the guarantee. By not publishing this information, it sounds like they are aware customers may make purchases believing they are covered when they are not.

The only way someone could take advantage of that is to avoid situations where they are mislead, by having accurate information. 

As such, this is black and white false inducement and deceptive marketing.

I asked for future purchases if I could receive a list of the banned sites. It's against management policy to send this list. So in the future, I cant avoid this issue either.

The agent told me its not only you -- other customers [ are ] complaining. So this is a broad issue which affects more than one customer.

While the agent did extend a one-time courtesy to me and waived the {$20.00} fee difference -- he said this issue will likely happen again in the future should I book with Capital One. Thus, the price match guarantee isnt much of a guarantee- its a gamble. The absolute wording of the advertisements indicate strong adherence to policy, but the policy provided to customers is not followed. And this is not a one-time fluke, its a policy of management which is not communicated to customers.

I recommend Capital One publish the full, accurate policy on their website.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation