Consumer complaint received 2025-05-20 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: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint due to Capital Ones repeated and unlawful mishandling of a credit card billing dispute under the Fair Credit Billing Act ( Regulation Z ), and its unlawful retention of a credit balance under 12 CFR 1026.21. 
In XX/XX/XXXX, I made four charges of {$3800.00} USD each to a XXXX seller using two XXXX accounts , all linked to my Capital One credit card. I paid a total of approximately

{$15000.00}. On JXXXX XXXX XXXX, I initiated a dispute with Capital One for all four charges, clearly stating that I never received the item. Despite submitting extensive documentation including conversations with the seller confirming non-shipment and discussions about a refund Capital One denied one of the four disputes.

Capital One justified its denial by citing an incorrect dispute reason ( item not as described ) submitted on XXXX a week after I filed the Capital One dispute. This retroactive use of a XXXX case categorization, which was later closed by XXXX due to the active Capital One dispute, should have had no bearing on Capital Ones investigation. They also improperly demanded a return shipping tracking number even though I never received the item. 
In an effort to correct the categorization, I submitted multiple letters and documents and was told on XX/XX/XXXX that a recategorization might be possible. I submitted a letter and the same supporting documents 23 more times. After follow-ups on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, I received denials with no acknowledgment of the recategorization request, even though Capital One reps had told me they would re-review it. 
Then, on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that my dispute could no longer be reconsidered as it was outside the 90-day window even though delays were caused entirely by Capital One 's inaction and they had repeatedly asked for more evidence during that 90-day period. This is clearly unjust and outside the intent of Regulation Z. 
Additionally, in XX/XX/XXXX, after realizing I was approaching my credit limit, I paid Capital One {$11000.00}, creating a credit balance. Capital One misrepresented that I could access those funds while my dispute was pending. However, I was later told that I would not be able to use any of the {$11000.00} until the dispute was resolved, which could take 90 days. After repeated conflicting information and being told I would maybe get a response by mail, I had to research and cite federal law to Capital One before they finally agreed to return the funds which they were required to do under 12 CFR 1026.21.

I believe this situation represents multiple violations of federal consumer protecti

on law, deceptive practices, and unfair denial of dispute resolution rights. FOR MORE IN DEPTH DETAILS OF WHAT OCCURRED PLEASE SEE BELOW : I made 4 payments of {$3800.00} usd to a XXXX seller from 2 different XXXX accounts linked to the same capital one card number. There were 3 charges on one XXXX account and 1 charge on another. For all 4 charges, I called my credit card company to dispute the charges on XX/XX/XXXX on the grounds that I had never received the order. By XX/XX/XXXX after contacting capital one several times, they said they reached out to XXXX but XXXX had not responded. I called XXXXl several times between XXXX XXXX XXXX asking them to respond to capital one 's dispute but they claimed that they never received any dispute claim from capital one. Wanting my money back expeditiously, I then filed a dispute on XXXX for the same single charge of {$3800.00}. However, I incorrectly categorized the dispute as " the item looks different/defective '', when in reality I didn't receive the item at all and it was never shipped by the seller. On XX/XX/XXXX I escalated the dispute to a claim and was told by XXXX that the seller had 10 days to respond and if the seller did not, they would decide in my favor as the buyer. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received 2 emails from XXXX One was a request for more information for the following information and I was given three days to respond : " Please provide the following details so we can complete our investigation : The URL of the website where the purchase was made The URL of the item purchased by you Letr us know the intension of purchase whether for personal use or for reselling Any other details that you feel may be helpful regarding the description and purchase agreement with your seller '' Then 9 hours later I was informed that they could no longer investigate my case because " We received notice that you disputed the following transaction with your financial institution or credit card company. '' After that, all 3 of the charges paid on my other XXXX dispute were returned to me, but the single charge on the other card was denied and capital one responded to me stating " The merchant provided the following information to support the transaction : Confirmation showing no return per policy was received '' Capital one proceeded to ask me for return tracking information on an item that I never received. They requested the following information " A copy of your sales invoice or purchase agreement with the date and proof of cancellation/return. '' The cancellation/return policy of the merchant, if available, and whether you were advised of the policy at the time of the sale. 
A description of how you tried to resolve the dispute with the merchant. 
A refund voucher or other documentation ( if you received any ) supporting your claim that a credit is due to your Capital One account. '' I provided them screenshots between myself and the seller speaking in the carousell.com chat window that I needed the item by XXXX. I also included screenshots of us trying to figure out the best method of payment as the amount was too large to be paid via XXXX Conversations about delay in payment due to XXXX  holding funds. Conversations with me saying i want a refund because it will not arrive on time. as well as conversations with the seller saying that they were trying to issue me a refund but they were having difficulties transferring funds from their XXXX wallet. Capital one denied my claim with the aforementioned evidences provided. After about a month of me providing screenshots, I was told by capital one that the reason the one charge was rebilled while the others were returned to me was because I miscategorized the reason for the dispute. They said it was filed as a damaged/not as described item. However, I never told capital one that I received the item and it was damaged. I explained in full detail at the time of filing of the dispute with them that I had never received the item and I'd never finished paying for it. In filling out the form incorrectly on XXXX, a week after I had already filed a claim on capital one, that's where I checked the incorrect reason for the claim and then my claim on capital one was denied for an incorrect reason input on XXXX days after I initiated a claim with capital one. 
I gave the same evidence for all 4 payment disputes but on XX/XX/XXXX for the first time, I was told by Capital One after 2 or 3 submissions of evidence ( the conversations between me and the seller discussing the expected delivery date, XXXX, the issues with paying on XXXX, the decision to pay in installments via XXXX, holds on the XXXX payments causing delays, and another discussion where I explicitly stated to the seller that if I couldn't pay in full soon that I would cancel and remaining payments and request a refund for the payments already made to the seller, and screenshots of the conversation between me and the seller with the seller agreeing to refund the partial payments, as well as evidence of them trying to refund the payments via XXXX but they cited issues with transferring money from their bank account to their XXXX wallet ) that I had incorrectly filed the dispute even though that was on the XXXX platform a week later and not with Capital one on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, Capital one told me that they could try to get the categorized correctly if I wrote a letter explaining the situation ( they refused to give me the specific talking points that would get the case categorized correctly the continuously only advised that I explain the situation and also provided evidence of when me and the seller discussed an estimated delivery. I drafted and sent the following letter and submit the same files I'd previously submit 2 or 3 times before. The letter stated the following : " Dear Capital One Disputes, I am writing to clarify the situation regarding the item in question. The total value of the item is XXXX  XXXX, of which I have paid approximately XXXX XXXX to date. However, I have not received the item and do not expect to, as I never completed the full payment. I have initiated several disputes with your company under the following case numbers : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. In these disputes, I clearly stated that I never received the item, yet my claim was denied based on evidence provided by XXXX regarding the non-return of the item. I find this decision puzzling, as I am unable to return an item that I never received. The product listing explicitly states that I am eligible for a refund, and I have provided correspondence between myself and the seller via XXXX messenger, email, and XXXX, where the seller agreed to issue a refund. However, the seller expressed reluctance to proceed, citing concerns about XXXX fees. Despite my efforts to research and share step-by-step instructions on how to process a refund without incurring these fees, the seller consistently refused to follow the necessary steps to complete the transaction. Instead, the seller sent screenshots of an empty XXXX wallet, claiming an inability to transfer funds to her account. While up until that point, I researched issues surrounding this transaction for both the buyer and seller and provided my findings to the seller, I am not a XXXX representative, and I could not provide further support when it came to XXXX wallet transfers beyond the website links I had already shared. I repeatedly urged the seller to contact XXXX directly, providing her with the appropriate contact details. Despite this, the seller continued to offer various excuses, the final one being that she was on vacation and could not contact XXXX, despite having access to XXXX, email, and XXXX messaging during this time. At this point, I informed the seller that if she refused to resolve the issue by contacting XXXX, I would be forced to initiate a chargeback. The seller essentially dismissed my concerns, telling me to proceed with the chargeback if I wished, as she did not want to be bothered while on vacation. I agreed to cease further communication and have since refrained from any further contact. Given the circumstances, I believe I am entitled to a refund and would appreciate your assistance in resolving this matter promptly. Thank you for your attention to this issue. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, '' After submitting that letter, I did not hear back from capital one for a week. On XX/XX/XXXX, during this time, I reached back out to them to find out about the recategorization of the dispute. On the same day they hastily got back to me stating that my claim was denied once again. I didn't notice the denial until XX/XX/XXXX. I called them again because while i understood they denied the claim again, there was no mention of the recategorization of the case. I spent hours being transferred and re explaining the situation and they said they would follow up with their staff about the re categorization but once again they hastily responded to me on the same day stating that the claim was denied. But I didn't notice it until XX/XX/XXXX, ( when I spoke to them on XX/XX/XXXX I in no way expected such a swift response as the capital one rep told me it would take days to deliberate ) I checked my capital one account and thats when I saw they responded the same day XX/XX/XXXX with another denial but no update on the recategorization of the case. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted capital one again. Once again, spending hours explaining the situation, submitting evidence for the case to be recategorized correctly, and at the end of the call I noticed that XX/XX/XXXX was now outside of the 90 day dispute window and I asked the representative if that would be a problem and she told me that they would still consider my case. On XX/XX/XXXX the same day after the call, I received a correspondence from capital one stating that because the case was 90 days or more old that they would be closing it for good and that there was nothing more to help me further. I also forgot to mention another major issue. In XXXX after I made the 4 charges of {$3800.00}, and I was still going back and forth with the seller about the payments on XXXX and were dealing with the holds from them, I realized that I was hitting my credit limit so I paid capital one {$11000.00} to cover the charges Id made. The limit was {$14000.00}. By XX/XX/XXXX when I filed the claim, i was told incorrectly that the amount i was disputing would be temporarily credited to my account and that I would have access to those funds. So when I received an email from capital one stating, " Your card is over its {$14000.00} credit limit, but we went ahead and approved your {$7.00} purchase at XXXX * XXXX XXXX on XXXX. XXXX. '' I was confused and called into capital one because I believed I had access to $ XXXX XXXX temporarily refunded payments of {$3800.00}. The rep assured me that they saw my payment of {$11000.00} and that I must have received that email in error. They advised me to use the card like normal so on XX/XX/XXXX when I had to pay a bill for {$5600.00}, I thought I had access to the {$11000.00} i paid, plus the 4 charges of {$3800.00}. Instead the charge was declined and I received another email stating that they had let another lesser charge be charged to my account as a courtesy. At this time I was very upset, I was told by a capital one supervisor that because the amount I was disputing surpassed my credit limit that not only did I not have access to the disputed funds, I also didn't have access to the {$11000.00} XXXX paid back in XXXX and that I wouldn't have access to those funds for up to 90 days. I hung up angrily and called back. I requested my {$11000.00} back and they said they could put in a request but nothing was guaranteed and said that they would " MAYBE '' respond to me via postal mail in a week. That " maybe '' didn't sit right with me. I hung up and called back and explained the situation to another agent 's supervisor and she told me that the previous rep was wrong and that I should maybe get a response in 3 weeks. I lost it. After much research I finally found that the United States federal law was not on capital one 's side and I found a law/regulation that stated that in cases of overpayment of a credit card ( which I had done ) the credit card company must make the funds available or issue me a check for the amount overpaid. It was only after I called back with the knowledge of the us law/regulation, that they sent me correspondence agreeing to send me a check for the {$11000.00}. This case has been thoroughly mishandled by capital one since week one of me filing a dispute with them about the charges and this is what led me to attempt to file a dispute through paypal a week later. My trust was completely eroded with their company after only one week into the initial dispute on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Summary of Events : XXXX charges of {$3800.00} each made via XXXX XXXX accounts linked to the same Capital One credit card. 
Dispute filed with Capital One on XX/XX/XXXX for all XXXX charges reason : item never received. 
Capital One attempted to contact XXXX, but XXXX said they had no record of the inquiry. 
I also filed a dispute via XXXX for XXXX charge, but accidentally chose the wrong reason ( " item defective '' instead of " item not received '' ). 
That XXXX dispute was later closed by XXXX because they were informed of a credit card dispute and it is their policy to close all disputes once the credit card company gets involved.

Capital One refunded 3 charges, but denied the 4th, allegedly due to the dispute reason on XXXX ( even though that reason was selected after the Capital One claim ).

Capital One requested return tracking for an item never received, and denied the claim even after being given chat evidence showing I never received the item.

Im now being charged interest on the {$3800.00} balance for an item never received, late fees, and have had 3 reports to the credit bureau stating I have not paid Capital One.

Under Regulation Z ( Truth in Lending Act ), credit card issuers must : Allow cardholders to dispute charges for undelivered goods/services within 60 days of the statement date. 
Conduct a reasonable investigation when a dispute is filed. 
Not require proof of a return if no item was received. 
Problems with Capital Ones handling : They asked for a return tracking number, despite my clear and consistent assertion that the item was never received. This violates Regulation Z.
Capital One denied my claim based on an irrelevant XXXX dispute reason ( especially one filed after the credit card dispute ), they have failed to conduct a reasonable investigation, as required by law. 
Capital Ones denial reason contradicts my evidence and statements, which illustrates a failure to consider the context properly.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation