Complaint Review: Capital One

In October, I spent two weeks in Italy on vacation. At one clothing store, I paid for two shirts that were EUR 124 (about US$175) with my Capital One credit card. Upon returning to the US, I see a charge for US$644.

At first I thought this was a currency conversion problem, so I wrote a letter and attached my copy of the receipt. Capital One responded in writing with a copy of the receipt that clearly showed my credit card charged for EUR 424 but with someone else's signature.

What I believed happened was that the Italian merchant had mixed up our credit card. Someone else's purchase was charged to my account and someone else signed for it. Examining the receipt in my hand from the merchant, it read EUR 124, but I saw that it had the wrong credit card number on it.

Every time I called customer service (based in a foreign country), I was told to write a letter. So I wrote back explaining this card mix up and received a letter from Joel Amey, Capital One Financial Services saying that there is no procedure for what has occurred and basically there is nothing they can do.

I had called customer service several times and this time around pointed out that I did not authorize this charge. Again, I was told to write another letter.

This time an anonymous letter comes back from Capital One saying they have no recourse and consider the case closed (i.e., they want me to pay the charge which I stupidly already paid), forwarded this information to credit agencies to reflect my continuing dispute (why?) and enclosed a copy of two receipts from the store in Italy. Moreover, further correspondence will not affect the outcome.

Here is the strangest part. One receipt is the one with my credit card number that is not signed by me. It was charged EUR 424. The other is the signed receipt for a EUR 124 charge on a credit card that is not mine but matches the one I provided (because the merchant switched cards gave me the wrong receipt back). I'm not an expert at handwriting analysis, but the signatures look far more similar to each other than either does to mine.

Someone had had looked at the receipts because the amounts and date/time were highlighted. Both transactions occurred within a minute of each other. And this seems to confirm what I thought: the merchant mixed up the charges. He probably charged my amount to the other guy's card and the other guy's charge to my card.

It doesn't help that this occurred in a foreign country for which I have no access to the shop's phone number. But in any country, it should be evident that the signature on any receipt they have shown me so far is not mine. If Capital One accepted a charge that I did not authorize, then it's not my problem, it's theirs.

So what do I do? I think I've exhausted diplomatic channels, so do I turn to the Federal Reserve, AG and BBB? Thoughts, please!

Polyr
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.