Capital One is the worst card ever

[hemablr]

Name of Card: Capital One
Issuer: Capital One
Overall Rating (out of 10):
Benefit Rating (out of 10):
Value Rating (out of 10):
Most Attractive Feature:
Least Attractive Feature:
Remarks: Just look at my experience to ACTIVATE the card... This is the letter I sent them with my request to cancel the card....

August 11, 2008

To
Capital One
Attn: General Correspondence
PO Box 30285
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0289

SUB: Cancellation / closure of Credit Card No.xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx

Dear Sir / Madam

Request you to cancel and close the above mentioned credit card. I have had a really bad experience with CapitalOne so far and I do not want to continue the association.

Just to place all the facts on record:

I am a resident of Atlanta, USA for the last 26 months. I am an IT Professional and I received my EAD and SSN in November 2007. My husband, who has been in the US since 2001, owns the house we live in and is an IT Professional too.

For the purpose of establishing credit in this country since we plan to buy a bigger house next year, I decided to apply for a couple of credit cards in July 2008. (Please note, I am currently an authorized user on my husband’s cards with limits exceeding USD 25000. This can be verified in a credit report that I requested from TransUnion).

I applied in American Express – which gave me an instant approval. I applied to Citibank – which sent me an email 2 days later saying that they needed some additional documents – bank statements, utility bill and residential phone bill. I mailed these documents and I received an approval email in a week’s time and the card in another 2 days. And I received very decent limits on both these cards.

Now starts my story with CapitalOne. On July 27th, I looked online for cards being offered to people with “little or no credit history”. CapitalOne turned up along with the offer of No Annual Fees and INSTANT APPROVAL. I applied, since I was of the impression that with good tracks on 3 credit cards, my credit score would be better. I received a confirmation saying that my card was APPROVED but that the limit would be decided later.

On August 1st, I received the card with a really low limit, and I called up Customer Service to activate it. To my surprise, I am informed that I need to fax in certain documents – my drivers license, bank statements and a copy of my SSN. That really upset me. Why claim Instant Approvals if all this documentation is required post-approval? Doesn’t approval mean that you get to use the card once you receive it? Well, anyway, an “Account Specialist” spoke to me and told me that since I did not have a credit history, they needed this for verification. At this point, I asked her to cancel the card, since I did not want to go through the trouble of faxing documents and I already had 2 approved cards. I was informed that the card could not be cancelled since it had not been activated, and would stay dormant. Finally, I took down the fax number and told her I would consider it.

I finally decided to fax the documents since I did not want any issues with inactive / dormant cards on my credit history. On August 4th morning, I faxed the documents across. I then called Customer Service to confirm that I had sent it. I was informed that it would take 48 hours to process after which they would call me.

I waited 48 hours but since I did not receive any call, I called on August 6th to check on the status. I was handed over to 2-3 different people and then finally this lady tells me that they had probably not received the fax and if they had, they had no idea of where it currently was. In my opinion, that was a highly irresponsible statement since these involved very personal and confidential documents. I was really upset and finally she said that if I had faxed the documents they would call me once they find and update it. She REFUSED to give me any kind of a timeframe within which I could expect resolution. I finally told her that I would call the next day and I expected some kind of a status at the least.

I called on August 7th and I was informed by Mr.John that the status of the driver’s license and the bank statements was listed as Valid in the system, but the SSN had not been clear and I would need to fax it again. He also mentioned that since all the other documents had been received, they would take a maximum of 24 hours to process and approve it. Well, since it was an improvement on yesterday’s position, I agreed to fax it again and I did so immediately.

I called on August 8th, and again, after speaking to 4-5 people, an account specialist called Britney came online. She said that they my SSN had been received but had not been processed / updated in the system. It would take upto 48 hours for the same. I was really upset with the time this was taking.

Finally, I called today. The first time I call, the lady informs me that they have not received the documents yet and could I please go to a nearby bank and then call them to verify my credentials. I lost my temper at this point and when I told her it was absolutely unacceptable, she disconnected the phone. I called back again and his time I was put onto another account specialist called JJ. He repeated the same thing – they had no record of my SSN having been received and if I wanted to activate the card I had to go to a bank location. I am a working professional and I am supposed to take time off just because CapitalOne has not done a good job of processing my application? I lost my temper again (and I am ashamed to say that I used an expletive, which I should not have. I apologize to Mr. JJ for my language.) and asked him to cancel the card. He kept repeating that I should wait for the phone call from CapitalOne.

But after this kind of aggravation and pathetic level of customer service, I am unwilling to take the effort to activate the card or continue the relationship. I asked him to confirm that there would be no charges in my a/c – Service charges, late fees or whatever else you could think of and he confirmed that there were currently no charges.

So at this stage, I would like to CANCEL my card. I do not want any Annual Fee (this is a No Annual Fee card, anyway) or any other charges appearing on my account and me having to dispute it at a later point of time. I would rather not have CapitalOne on my credit history than spend my time in pointless discussions with its Customer Service. At this point, I also checked the reviews of CapitalOne and realized that it is rated the worst card ever. (I know, I should have checked the reviews before I applied.)

So, again, please cancel the card and send me WRITTEN CONFIRMATION that the card has been cancelled. Do not send me a notice that since the card has not been activated, it cannot be cancelled or any such nonsense. I have already destroyed the card as well.

Regards,

P.S: Oh yes, I tried sending repeated emails asking for resolution initially and then later, for an address and I only received some kind of standard email. Why have an email address if you cannot use it to resolve issues?

[vindemure]

GM is second worst !
My parents have had a GM Mastercard for years. They have always purchased GM vehicles. They have used their points to purchase vehicles. My father passed away on Thursday. We thought the right thing to do was contact GM Cardservices to change the name. The representative told me that because my mom was a card holder, my father would be removed and my mom placed as primary. This was exactly our understanding when the card was taken out. When the rep. returned from having me on hold, she informed me that the account was now closed. We were on our way to the funeral home with no credit card to pay. The representative did not care. I spoke to a manager who expalined that was the policy. He also told me my parents accrued points would be lost. This is just so wrong. Where is the 'heart' of GM ? No wonder GM is failing as they fail in customer satifaction. I did not have to report my father's death at all. My mom has paid the bills for years, always in full. She could have continued to use the card. We were honest and they're 'policy' was not. She is without a credit card in a very trying time. She must wait 7-10 days for forms to re-apply and then 7-10 days for approval, and then looses her points anyway. On top of that the representative was a robot with poor communication skills. The representative also did not talk to my mother. How did she know who I really was ? She closed an account based on a call from me without confirmation. I will continue to post this information for others education on GM's products and services, or lack there of.

[unfortunatemove]

Yes, in total agreement! I Have Had The Same Experience! But I've even gone further with them and have attempted to do the I.D. verification at a local bank branch. And not just one, but two different branches (BofA & WellsFargo). Both of which said the same thing, that they're not affiliated with CapitalOne and that it's not their responsibility to do CapitalOne's work. And this is coming from banks that I regularly deal with and they refused to help me activate CapitalOne's card. I even spoke to the branch managers as well as managers at CapitalOne trying to resolve this matter. I've been trying to activate the card for 3 months now and am still baffled as to how one of their cards does get activated.

[NightStar]

Usually when you get a card for the first time, it has a sticker stuck across the front of the card, with instruction to not peal off until you call the number and activate the card. If you lost that sticker, then it might be a matter of asking them to re-issue a new card to be activated.