What's in YOUR wallet?

If you have Capital One, a bunch of headache. That's for damn sure.

I am so fed up with Capital One. I have had nothing but issues with them since Gary deployed. A bit of background:

Gary lost his Capital One card back in January while in Iraq. I receive a frantic call from him at 3am one morning telling me he lost the card, to call and report it stolen. I am an authorized user as well as the Power of Attorney on this account. I call and get the India call center. I explain to the representative that my husband has lost his card and I need to have it cancelled and reissued. He tells me in heavily-accented English that as the authorized user I can’t do that. I tell him I have Power of Attorney. I know this as I received a letter from Capital One confirming this. He tells me that yes he sees the POA but I’m just not allowed to do anything. WHAT! I ask him to speak to an American. I receive a new card in the mail. All is settled.

Or is it?

Last weekend I accidentally locked myself out of the online account. I called to ask them to re-set the password. This is where the real fun begins. Again, I’m told that I can’t do that. The lady asks to speak with Gary. I tell her she can’t. Can she please just talk to me being as I have the POA. Oh no. For security reasons we simply can’t do that. I ask to talk to someone else. I don’t even ask for an American. I get some dude named Steven. Good ole Steve tells me that I’m “only” the POA and can’t make changes. I ask him if he knows what a Power of Attorney is? He scrolls frantically through his scripts and then reads to me the legal definition of the Power of Attorney. I said, “So you see. As POA, I can make changes.” Getting ever more ticked. Nope. Stephen says I can’t. I lose it. I scream at Steven to transfer me to an American. Yeah, I know, not the best way to make us Americans look good.

I get an American. Well this chick claims she doesn’t see the POA! WHAT!!! I just had two previous representatives tell me they saw it. So I try reasoning with her. I say, “Do you see where back in January a new card was issued?” She says yes. That I did that because I was the authorized user. I tell her that no, no this isn’t why. I’m the POA. She goes back and forth with me.

Then she tells me she sees the POA on the OTHER CARD. I say, “The card that was cancelled and reissued because my husband in Iraq lost it?” She says yes. But that POA is only good for that card. OH DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE. I take a few deep breaths and say to her, “You mean you can see the Power of Attorney but won’t talk to me because it’s on another card number, which is this same account?” She says yes. I told her my POA is for all things, not just account XXXX. She disagrees. I admit, I was rude then. I said, “You disagree? Tell me, Jane, what law school did you attend?” Needless to say the call went downhill from there.

Then I call back and get a Nina. Nina tells me that yeah, she sees my husband’s orders but not the POA! That she can’t transfer the military pricing (4%) interest to the new card because it was for the old card which is.. THE SAME ACCOUNT! I have to send in the orders, my POA, everything. I say to her, “You know, I could have had some homeless guy call and pretend to be my husband and you wouldn’t have known. I try to do the right thing and look how this ends.” She’s apologetic but can’t do anything. I try explaining to her how frustrated I am. Nina says she understands how I feel.

OH REALLY? I ask her if she really knows what it’s like to have a husband in Iraq while she tries to deal with everything back home – including credit card companies who won’t help.

I was in tears. Nina admits that no, no she doesn’t have that but she understands. Uhm, ok. I try politeness. I appeal to her sense of good and fairness.

“Nina,” I say, “ Nina… I know you could help me. You see the documents. Why can’t you escalate this to the higher person and have them get it done? Surely this can be done?” Nope.

I hang up. Pissed. In tears. Disgusted.

I fax everything, as well as a letter that I’m sure no one in Capital One will bother to read, the next day. Orders. Power of Attorney. Gary’s re-enlistment contract.

I wait a week.

I call. Get “Mac” on the phone. Mac says he sees that my Power of Attorney is on file. I want to reset my password. Mac puts me on hold. Then transfers me to Renny.

Renny … oh Renny.. she SEES MY POWER OF ATTORNEY but asks to talk to Gary. I ask her why. I try very hard to remain calm. She says I don’t have the authority to make changes. Oh… ohhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhh. I hold it together and ask her just what a POA is. She reads the legal definition. Still doesn’t get it. I ask to talk to an American. She puts me on hold. Comes back on and offers to assist me. I asked her to admit she didn’t understand what she was doing before. I mean c’mon. I’ve had enough. She says that wasn’t the case. I guess I’m hard-headed now. I ask to be transferred to an American.

So, here I sit. Waiting for an American. I’ve been on hold 25 minutes.

I swear to God when Gary gets back in November with the card, we’re canceling it.

And now.. my call was just disconnected. OH MY GOD. I am going to lose it. Lose it. LOSE IT.

After calling back. Another 25 minutes on the phone. A lot of crying. My blood pressure probably hitting stroke level, I was able to finally get the account unlocked. All of this was because no one bothered to look in the proper section of the notes.