I realize that Capital One is supposed to be the credit card of choice for low overseas transaction fees, but I am wondering if you just get what you pay for.
I got double-billed by a hotel near Termini called Hotel Cambridge. I disputed the charge. capital one removed the charge from my bill for 2 weeks and now it's back. They say that I need to fill out more paperwork becaseu the hotel is disputing that I was double-billed. The charges appeared minutes apart on my bill on one day. I am getting the feeling that If I hadn't called, waited 15 minutes to talk to a representative, I would have been expected to pay the disputed amount.
When I have disputed charges like this with other credit card companies, the charges either disappeared forever, or I was sent paperwork right awy and then the charge diappeared.
When I complained about how this treatment is not like other credit card companies, the reprentative says that"We are Capital One and this is how we work", then she put me back on hold for another 5 minutes. maybe my other credt card issuers have cahnged also, but I think that Capital one card sins't going to see a lot of use anymore feel that I don't have protections against double-billing like I did on my other cards.
Posts: 3627 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
I had an issue with Capital One twice when I ordered something online that was never delivered, but I was charged for it. In both cases, Capital One did eventually credit my account, but in both of those cases I was unable to get the merchant to respond to me either by phone or email.
There was another time more recently when my newspaper double-billed me for my monthly subscription, and for that I had to get the newspaper to issue me a credit; Capital One would not do it. I think the only reason Cap One did it directly for the others was that I kept insisting that I could not get through to the merchant. So I wonder if their policy now is that they want to make the customer get the refund from the merchant, rather than Capital One doing a chargeback to the merchant and issuing the credit to the customer. If so, I agree that it is not good service.
Did you send Capital One your complaint in writing? I believe the law says that you have to file something in writing within a certain amount of time after a disputed charge.
Did you send Capital One your complaint in writing? I believe the law says that you have to file something in writing within a certain amount of time after a disputed charge
I did it by email, and I got a response by email saying they received my dispute and that they were investigating it; I did not have to pay in the mean time. I never got another email, but I checked my account yestereday and there the charge was again "readded". That is when I called Capital One. If they had sent me the forms the first time, I woud have filled them out and sent them in already. I had paid the rest of my vacation charges off except for that one. American Express and RBS Visa in the past jsut took care of such a double billing without my haivng to do anthibng else but notify them.
When I used my RBS Mastercard and bought an item on ebay that I never received, I called them, and they sent me paperwork which I filled out and sent in with documentation. I was credited for that charge in less than a week after that.
I am going to fill the forms out when I get them and send them back to Capital One, but The extra hassle, and maybe not getting an extra night of lodging that I was gyped out of, maybe make it noty worth the 3% savings on overseas purchases?
Posts: 3627 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
Here is the page on Capital One's web site about how they handle disputed charges. It does appear that they want the customer to try to work it out with the merchant before they get involved. But that is certainly very difficult to do when the merchant is in another country! And, as you say, it is not the standard practice, as far as I know, with most credit card companies.
Incidentally, the Billing Rights Summary, which is in a popup from the "How It Works" tab, seems to give a slightly different story on what you are supposed to do. That popup says you have to send them a signed letter with certain specific information to preserve your rights, whereas the other page says you can dispute the charge by phone, fax, online, or mail.
If you were cynical about this, you might say that these instructions are perhaps deliberately confusing. I think the law does say, like the Billing Rights statement, that you are protected if you contact the credit card company in writing within 60 days. But suppose you just keep doing everything by phone, as they imply you can on the other page, and then 60 days goes by with no resolution. You might have no recourse under the law.
This is not the first time that I have been double billed for an item while on a trip. Salesclerksm, I think, count on how diffcult it is to contact the merchant and how you might not notice it when on a trip becaseu there might be a lot of charges.
Thanks, Roz, for looking into this. I don't like it. That Capitol One card will probably be the emergency card for now on. That is why you have a credit card to provide some of these protections when you travel. What bunk contacting the merchant in Rome myself.
Posts: 3627 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
This is not the first time that I have been double billed for an item while on a trip.
This happened to us recently while staying in Paso Robles, CA. It might have been an honest mistake, because it was actually on the bill we were given at checkout, and they did correct it on the spot, but it just points out that you have to check your statements very carefully.
We also just got a statement from Hertz for a car we had rented in California a few weeks ago. It was a quick dropoff, where you don't get to see the bill right away and then they send it to you in the mail. They had billed us $129 for gas (a full tank at $7.99!! a gallon), although we had filled up the tank just a few miles from the airport and the check-in person had noted that the tank was full.
We called Hertz, and they reversed it on the spot (or at least said they would). But I can't help wondering if a lot of these charges get added on to bills like this in the hopes that people won't pay attention (especially if they are business-type charges), and they will just go through without question.
If your card is a Visa or MasterCard through Capital One, then you have rights under the scheme rules for the particular scheme. One of them is to have a double-entry charged back to the Merchant. You have a contract with Capital One and it has to abide by its side of the deal, and part of that will be to take up any chargeback rights that you may have against the merchant.
I'd press on with Capital One. Mumble the words "my lawyer" quite often.
Posts: 61 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 17 December 2007
This is not a good experience but I need to tell of a positive experience we just had with Capital One that gave me confidence. Last week we made a quite costly purchase in Florence--a hand designed ceramic table. A few days later we were contacted by Capital One's fraud department to confirm that this was a legitimate transaction. I had previously notified them that we would be in Italy but with such a large charge they wanted to make sure it was legitimate. I was pleased with their surveillance and response.
Jane, it's not altruistic of a credit card company to advise you of "suspect charges." If the credit card company can identify false charges, then it cuts down on the amount it has to write off due to fraud. I have had a number of problems with BofA/VISA when travelling internationally. Most trips cost me not only the forex charges, but an international phone call or two to advise them of what I had already advised them before I left: I will be in Italy and using the credit card.
Brad
Posts: 32 | Location: Palm Desert, CA | Registered: 18 April 2008
I have had no problems with credit cards when abroad (yet), but ATM cards have been a different story. I travel with both B of A and WAMU atm cards just in case and advise them both more than once when we'll be gone and to where. Last fall I was in Paris and in spite of all that WAMU blocked my ATM card. Fortunately they called my home and my husband was there to give them the "ok" but if we'd been together, which we usually are, it would have been a different matter. As it was I was unable to get cash on that card for 3 days. Guess it's hard to get good help these days.
Posts: 155 | Location: Cool, CA | Registered: 17 February 2003
If your card is a Visa or MasterCard through Capital One, then you have rights under the scheme rules for the particular scheme. One of them is to have a double-entry charged back to the Merchant. You have a contract with Capital One and it has to abide by its side of the deal, and part of that will be to take up any chargeback rights that you may have against the merchant.
It's a VISA. I'll have to remember this in the next step. I have been emailing the hotel with copies of my credit card bill. They deny double-charging me. But now I have documentation that I contacted the merchant repeatedly. I am sure that the paperwork that is alledgedly on it's way from Capital One is going to require that.
Posts: 3627 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
Yes, when you next write to Capital One, specifically request them to issue a chargeback to the merchant. As Jill said, I believe you have the right to that under the law, although the companies don't like to do it if they can get around it.
ane, it's not altruistic of a credit card company to advise you of "suspect charges." I
Brad, I understand this but it also works to our advantage when they do this as if they did not do it and simply blocked our card or whatever, the inconvenience to us would be a royal pain plus needing to go through the hassle of proving a fraud charge is eliminated. By using SKYPE, calling from here to there is relatively painless.
Originally posted by Jane: This is not a good experience but I need to tell of a positive experience we just had with Capital One that gave me confidence. Last week we made a quite costly purchase in Florence--a hand designed ceramic table. A few days later we were contacted by Capital One's fraud department to confirm that this was a legitimate transaction. I had previously notified them that we would be in Italy but with such a large charge they wanted to make sure it was legitimate. I was pleased with their surveillance and response.
OTOH, back in April just before we left for the states, our Capital One credit card suddently stopped working. We had no idea what was wrong, and since it was the day before our flight we didn't have time to contact anyone until we arrived in the states. Once I contacted them they told me that my card had been blocked because there had been activity in Italy. I asked shy we hadn't been contacted via email or phone, but the rep had no idea. I then asked if anyone had bothered to notice that for the last several months, and for the last several years in general, most of our charges had been in Italy!
Of course I have no idea what really happened, but it seems that someone saw one charge from Italy and blocked the card without looking at our history.
I just got a letter today from Capital one stating that my case has been investigated, found without merit and closed.
I called them again and they told me that I now have to write a letter telling them how I dispute the SECOND charge. The letter enclosed a receipt from the hotle with a 90 euro charge in it. It didn 't even touch on the fact that there are TWO 90 euro charges for that day.
Posts: 3627 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
I had just gotten the Capital One card info and thought I might apply for this as my back-up card. Not now! I had a very positive experience with B of A when Maxjet went belly up on Christmas. I had charged the ticket on Mastercard. I called them (B of A) on Dec. 26 and they removed the charges. Paper work was sent to a secondary address...my fault since I hadn't let them know I was elsewhere and the 60 days passed by. In a panic I called customer service when I realized this, and they "reopened" the file and this time I got the paperwork in and three days later the problem solved. In this case, I was in the wrong but the credit card company came thru. I now use it as my main card. However, I need a back up...any suggestions besides Captial One. I only need a card for backup for travel as I am using the B of A Mastercard for everything to get my World Wide points. Thanks, Beth
I had read previous posts re poor service with Capital One so instead went with Commerce Bank and have been VERY pleased. After reading this, I am so glad that we did.
Originally posted by dragonpat: I just got a letter today from Capital one stating that my case has been investigated, found without merit and closed.
I called them again and they told me that I now have to write a letter telling them how I dispute the SECOND charge. The letter enclosed a receipt from the hotle with a 90 euro charge in it. It didn 't even touch on the fact that there are TWO 90 euro charges for that day.
Duplicate transactions are Reason code 82 under the visa chargeback rules. Visa Rules for USA Tell Capital One you want it to raise a chargeback on the second transaction as it is a duplicate. Tell them also that you have read your rights under the Visa Chargeback rules and quote Code 82 at them. Tell them that if the merchant disputes the chargeback, that you want to see the authorisation that you supposedly gave AND the itemised bill supporting the second debit. If the merchant still denies liablity and Capital One accepts this, tell Capital One that you want the case to go to arbitration by Visa.
The way Visa works is this.
Your card is issued by Captial One (the issuer). The merchant has an account with a bank (the merchant bank) which may, or may not be Capital One. If a cardholder disputes a charge on his or her Visa card, the issuing bank raises a chargeback query with the merchant's bank. The merchant's bank then has to provide documentation to show that the disputed charge is valid. In the absence of that sort of documentation, Captial One should proceed to charge back the transaction.
Here in Australia you could take a dispute with Capital One (if it doesn't assist you in charging the transaction back) to the relevant Ombudsman. Do you have an equivalent service in the US?
Posts: 61 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 17 December 2007
