Capital One Financial Corporation Cut Rewards by 50% without Notification ripoff McLean Virginia

Introduction

I have been a Capital One credit card holder since 2001. The reason I chose Capital One as my primary credit card was due to their rewards program. With the Capital One Rewards Program you receive 1% cash back for every dollar spent using the credit card. There is also an airline mileage reward in which you can alternatively receive one airline mile for every dollar spent using the card. I have been accumulating rewards for several years with the goal of receiving cash back once I got to a sizeable reward amount.

All the literature I received from Capital One since 2001 stated that the rewards do not expire until five years from the end of the quarter in which they are earned, giving you ample time to redeem them. I even have documented a conversation I had with a customer service representative on 11/21/04 when I was planning out when I would redeem the rewards. She told me the exact same rule regarding when the miles expire, five years from the end of the quarter in which they were earned. She assured me that my rewards would not start to expire until June 30, 2006. I was planning to wait until the Fall of 2005 to cash in my rewards to pay for Christmas presents.

Tuesday, 11/22/05 (Tried to Cash in Capital One Rewards for Cash)

On Tuesday, 11/22/05 I called Capital One to redeem my rewards for cash so I would have the money in time for Christmas. I had accumulated 97,245 reward dollars that would have yielded $900 cash since it was 1% of the total dollars spent and redeemable in increments of 10,000. I used the automated system and it said that I was only eligible to receive half of my rewards, $450. I did not understand why the amount was cut in half so I called to talk directly to an agent. The agent said I should have received the full $900 and forwarded me to the Rewards Department.

When I talked to the customer service representative in the Rewards Department, she told me that I would only receive $450 dollars instead of $900 because the rules about redemptions had changed. I told them I was not aware of any rule changes and I asked them if they had notified their customers of the change. She said a letter was sent out in September notifying customers of the change. She said the new rule went into effect November 1.

I told them I read all my mail and save all my mail related to credit card changes and I did not receive anything regarding the change. The agent insisted that customers were notified by mail. They said other people were calling in and finding out that they too had lost their rewards and were not aware of the new rules.

Not being too happy about losing $450, especially when I was not aware that I would do so, I called back the same day and talked to another agent. The agent said there were quite a few people in the same situation that were not aware of the change. People would call in, like myself, to redeem their rewards and find out they had half of what they thought they had. The agent said that some people were canceling their Capital One credit cards as a result.

Wednesday, 11/23/05 (Day after I Tried to Obtain Cash for Capital One Rewards)

On Wednesday, 11/23/05 I called Capital One headquarters and asked to talk to a senior level executive regarding the rewards program changes of which I was never notified. I ended up talking to Kay Smith. She said she was the senior most person at Capital One to handle customer complaints. She said she was sorry but there was nothing she could do since I was notified of the rule changes. She said she would send me a copy of the letter stating the Reward Program changes. She said I should receive it within 5 7 business days.

Wednesday, 11/30/05 (Week after I Tried to Obtain Cash for Capital One Rewards)

On Wednesday, 11/30/05, one week after I tried to get cash for my Capital One Rewards, I called Kay Smith to tell her that I had not received a copy of the letter sent to me stating the Capital One Rewards Program changes. She said I should have received it and that she would submit a second request for me to receive the original Rewards Program changes letter.

Wednesday, 12/14/05 (Three Weeks after I Tried to Obtain Cash for Capital One Rewards)

Having not received a copy of the original letter from Capital One stating the Rewards Program rules changed, I called Capital One once again. I talked to Kay Smith three weeks after trying to obtain cash for my Capital One rewards. I told her I had not received a copy of the letter that I had supposedly received stating that the Capital One Rewards Program rules had changed. She apologized that I had not received the letter and said she would request again that I get a copy of the letter. I asked her to call me back and let me know when I should receive it. She said, instead, she would call me if there was going to be any additional delay.

Monday, 1/2/05 (Six Weeks after I Tried to Obtain Cash for Capital One Rewards)

It has now been six weeks since I tried to cash in my Capital One rewards for cash and found out that my rewards were reduced by half. I still have not received a copy of the letter that was supposedly sent to me stating that the rewards redemption rules have changed as of 11/1/05.

I feel ripped off by Capital One. I never received notification that my rewards redemption through Capital One changed. I am not the only one that believes they have been steam-rolled by Capital One. On Rippedoff.com is another story of someone who believes they have also been unjustly ripped off by Capital One. Since I save every piece of information from credit card companies that is not a solicitation to use the supplied checks (which I can prove), I can honestly say I did not receive any notification that they changed their redemption rules for the Rewards Program.

With repeated calls to the company they have not been able to show me evidence of the letter that was supposedly sent to me. Capital One owes me $450 and I am willing to spend the time to get it from them no matter what it takes.

Kathleen
Great Falls, Virginia
U.S.A.

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