Capital One mess and nightmare

bap98189

In November last year I took out a new credit card from Capital One, the only reason being the 6 month 0% offer. We just bought a new car and as it will be paid off in the next few months, I figured a 0% card was the best place to borrow from. I originally paid for the car with my Goldfish card and so a balance transfer went through with the new application taking £3000 off my Goldfish card. A couple of weeks later I then received a phone call from Capital One asking if I wished to transfer any more funds to the new card. I had a £500 bill I was about to pay off in full from Goldfish, but decided to transfer it over anyway. As it was 0% until April I figured the money may as well sit in my bank account earning interest.

So imagine my surprise when about 3 weeks later I received a statement from Goldfish showing the account significantly in credit. It showed a series of payments from Capital One to my Goldfish account. One for £500 as expected, then two further £500 payments, followed by one for £400. I contacted Goldfish first of all who told me that they had received payments, which looked like balance transfers, and confirmed they had come from Capital One.

So I contacted Capital one, who have a really annoying call centre somewhere in India, but that whilst annoying is not really relevant. The person I spoke to took about 15 minutes to comprehend the problem, then informed me that the transfer for £500 had been requested as a weekly transfer. The final payment was only for £400 was because I had reached the limit on the card. He was insistent that I must have requested this, which I am absolutely certain I did not. However, I kept calm and asked them to stop these transfers immediately and return the excess money to Goldfish. He informed me that he had put a hold on any further transfers but was unable to return the money as that had to be done by another department who were mysteriously on the phone but would call me back at a time of my choosing. I said fine and was told they would call me at 9am the next day.

Needless to say I received no phone call the next day, nor the day after that. On day three I phoned Capital One and got put through to someone else in the call centre who took about 10 minutes to understand the problem and then as there were apparently no notes on my account regarding the refund or requesting anyone to call me. After much explaining I was put through to someone else who assured me they would write to Goldfish requesting the funds be returned.

So anyway, Christmas came and went and I have to confess I didn’t chase anything up over the festive period. I did receive a letter from Goldfish requesting my permission to return some funds to Capital One, which I duly signed and put in the post thinking this would be the end of the matter.

In mid-January I received a statement from Goldfish confirming that £1900 had been paid out of my account by BACS transfer. Great I though, everything is now resolved. So I logged into my Capital One account online and there was no sign of any incoming payment. A phone call to Capital One and I was told these transfers can take up to 6 days. OK so I waited 6 days before trying again and low and behold there is no incoming money.

So I just phoned them up on Monday and the person I spoke to could find no record of any recall of funds. After being passed from one department to another, I am told they have recalled £900. No I said, I have a Goldfish statement in front of me, and it confirms £1900 was sent. Well you will have to ring Goldfish I was told.

So I did and they could only confirm that they had received a request for £1900 from Capital One, which they transferred as requested.

So back to Capital One and I have just been fobbed off for the best part of an hour, the end result of which is I have been promised someone is looking into it. And no I can’t talk to them, nor will they call me, they will write to me with the results of the investigation.
I am now rather worried that the money is going to disappear and I am going to end up £1900 down. The money left my Goldfish account nearly 2 weeks ago and there is no sign of it in the Capital One account. Phoning Capital One is frankly useless, their call centre staff have no clue what to do about this and I have been passed from department to department, none of which seem able to give me a straight answer.

I’m looking for suggestions where to turn to get this resolved. I can’t fault Goldfish, they have been nothing but, helpful but there is frankly little they can do about it. Phoning Capital One’s call centre is frankly a waste of time. I need to speak to someone who can actually a) understand the problem, and b) sort it out.

Can anyone help?

YorkshireBoy

bap98189 wrote: »

I need to speak to someone...

I think the time for talking has passed.

Invoke the Capital One complaints procedure in writing...

http://www.capitalone.co.uk/creditcards/faqs.jsf#4

Zebedee69

I would give them a week from the phonecall. After this look here:

http://www.capitalone.co.uk/creditcards/faqs.jsf#4

Think there is something about making a complaint. I would also cancel the card and claim any bank charges from it when you have sorted it all out.

Zebedee69

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I think the time for talking has passed.

Invoke the Capital One complaints procedure in writing...

http://www.capitalone.co.uk/creditcards/faqs.jsf#4

Looks like great minds think alike!

wysiwyg78

Have you tried any of the following numbers?

0800 9525150 - from the Onesource company database
0115 9938002 - (card services) from 'say no to 0870'
0115 8433710 - (card services) from 'say no to 0870'
0115 8435113 (complaints line) from 'say no to 0870'

The complaints line might be your best bet. Often the only way to get any action from financial services companies it to write a strongly worded letter of coplain. Demand a resolution to the matter within 7 days.

Good luck.

bap98189

Thanks for the advice folks. I am fed up waiting on hold on the telephone lines so have written a strongly worded letter to the complaints department demanding an explanation and the return of the missing funds. I will be calling them next week to ensure the damn thing has been received and is being investigated

Needless to say as soon as it is sorted, I am cancelling the card and having nothing more to do with Capital One and their useless call centres.