Oh How We Hate Capital One

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We have alluded in past blog entries to our frustration with Capital One. We obtained a Capital One credit card before leaving for our trip because it is the only credit card company in America that does not currently charge a fee for international transactions. The other credit card we travel with charges a 3% fee but we still periodically wrestle with cutting up Capital One. It is that bad.

Our other credit card companies allowed us to give them a list of countries that we would be visiting before we left the United States. We can also communicate with them by secured email if any issues arise. Dealing with our other credit card companies while traveling has been a breeze (MBNA, for those keeping score at home, is delightful). Capital One on the other hand requires us to call them every 28 days to let them know that we are still traveling even though we told them up front that we would be gone for at least one year. As you can imagine calling internationally once a month is expensive and inconvenient. They allegedly have international toll free numbers but, even with the help of friendly, English speaking international operators we were never able to get them to work in New Zealand or Australia. And in Southeast Asia we have to use phones at internet cafes so you pay a per minute charge regardless of the whether the call is collect. So every month we incur a charge to call Capital One and have lengthy discussions with them (even though we always tell them we are calling from abroad and the cost is high). The highest charge so far has been a $27 charge from Vietnam. Capital One offered to give us a credit of $25 but when we received our bill we discovered they actually charged us $25. So the “credit” required another long phone call and more money. We’ve also had experiences where we make our monthly call and the card still doesn’t work because they never noted our call in their computer. On top of all of this they periodically decline larger purchases like airplane tickets or hotel rooms as “spending outside of our routine” in an effort to protect us from fraud. Why would you need those when you are traveling?

We have never experienced such an inflexible credit card company and they definitely give you the feeling that they don’t really care if they have your business. If anyone is thinking about obtaining a Capital One credit card because of the “no fee” benefit, please realize it comes with a very large cost. We would suggest that you save yourself the heartache and find a more customer friendly credit card with a 1% fee.

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Comments

[SEASANDSAND]

You could just send them a letter when you need to communicate- Cheaper and easier than calling!

[nomad]

Perhaps they've improved slightly?
Perhaps CapitalOne has improved slightly. I've been living outside the US for the past 3 months now and have not had problems yet---I told them once when I left and my card still works! Their customer service is not great, I'll agree, and they are quite inflexible. The last couple times I've called CapitalOne, I have spoken with people at a call center in India. But the benefits of the card are great. No annual fee, ~1% cash back (on my card), and no fees on foreign currency transactions.

[Erric]

They are not improving in my book.
I stopped using their credit card after it took me 3 months to fix a fraud charge. The merchant charged my twice! A simple mistake, but Capital One made it a nightmare. I had to make many calls to fix the issue and their Direct Banking is no walk in the park either. This company has bad bad customer service policies. They take "customer no service" to the extreme. They try to get you with low CC rates and high banking rates then hold your cash forever! For the HASSLE (get it) I would stay away!

[Anyone]

agree
as a friend of a former Capital one employee on the collection end, I can tell you things that will scare the pants off ya

[anonymous]

I wish I would have known about this company before accepting their cc offer. I hate capital one!