Consumer complaint received 2024-07-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I booked XXXX flights through CapitalOne Travel ( Capital One, N.A., d.b.a. " Capital One Travel '' with offices at XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ), with the ultimate itinerary of XXXX to XXXX XXXX, transferring through XXXX. I also paid for a service known as " flight disruption assistance ''. This service promised I could easily rebook on ANY airline, to get to my destination, up to a total flight cost of {$6000.00}, or I could alternatively choose to get a full refund if my flight was disrupted. A hurricane hit XXXX the day of my flight, so I was unable to transfer through XXXX. The service told me that because I had booked my itinerary on XXXX different airlines, transferring in XXXX, they could not offer me the rebooking service unless I transferred through XXXX, which was impossible because of the hurricane. However, I could get the refund. I informed them that rebooking last minute was likely to cost twice as much money ( which it did ) and what I really just wanted was to get to XXXX XXXX. They refused to rebook from XXXX to XXXX XXXX with a different transfer city or with any different departure or arrival airport ( upon read of fine print, I believe this is in line with their terms and conditions and this is not what I dispute ). 

Here is the problem : to make me feel better for the cost I was going to have to incur and the fact that I couldn't get the service I had paid for and expected to receive, their representative told me in that conversation in which he also told me he couldn't rebook me, that in addition to the refund from CapitalOne, I was also entitled to whatever remedy the airline offered, including a full refund from the airline, if they offered it. I believed what he told me- why would I not have? I contacted the airline- they offered me a rebooking, a travel credit, or a refund. They also could only rebook through XXXX and not for another day and a half, so I accordingly requested a refund from the airline, because I believed that refund would go to me. 

I discovered later that even though I booked through my credit card, unbeknownst to me they had put my itinerary on their own credit card, and so the refund went to them and not to me. As you will see in the attached screenshots, XXXX had a typo in their communications with me and accidentally didn't tell me where that refund would be sent ; and so I missed this at the time. Since I requested a refund, Capital One Travel received the refund and refused to pass the refund on to me. However, I would have been entitled to a travel credit that I could keep if I had requested that from the airline instead. I have found that evidence buried at the bottom in their terms and conditions. https : //travel.capitalone.com/terms-of-service/ " However, if you exercise the service satisfaction guarantee and receive a full refund for your booking through Capital One Travel, you will still be eligible to receive any future travel credits or other non-cash equivalents that the airline may provide as compensation for the disrupted flight. '' The only reason I requested a refund instead of a travel credit is because I was fraudulently misled by their representative to believe I could keep the refund if I requested it, and it would go some way towards covering the cost I would incur to book a new flight. There is no logical reason I would have spent an hour on the phone with XXXX to request a refund that would go to CapitalOne instead of me. I requested from CapitalOne Travel the transcript of my conversations with their customer service on Friday XX/XX/year> to prove my case, and was refused. I was told that it was against their policy to provide any remedy, and that they weren't going to send the refund back to XXXX so I could get a travel credit. They also refused to provide any remedy to make the situation right and refused to admit any wrongdoing on their end. They even refused to admit what is clearly stated in the language in their terms and conditions above - that I could have gotten the travel credit from the airline and also gotten the partial refund from CapitalOne. 

Additionally, although the travel disruption assistance advertises a full refund, I discovered I only got a partial refund, because they still charge for the travel disruption insurance ( a cost of over {$100.00} ) even if they refund the flight. Accordingly, I'm actually in a worse situation having booked through their service than I would have been if I had just booked directly with the airline. The airline would have given me a full refund, no funny business. Capital One Travel charged me over {$50.00} to lie to me and do nothing to actually help me. 

I can only conclude they deliberately lied to me to fool me into requesting a remedy from the airline that they knew would only benefit them and not me. I have provided a screenshot of the record of the time and length of the phone conversation I had with them since they refused to provide the transcript or recording of that conversation unless I pursued legal action to demand it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation