Capital One... buh-bye!

This is a reproduction of a letter I just sent to Capital One after an AWFUL experience trying to redeem my "No Hassle" Rewards Miles. Please read between the lines: save your sanity! If you want to get free airfare from a credit card company, look into the Rapid Rewards credit card available through Southwest Airlines (Chase is the creditor).

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Justin D. Cracroft
xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx
Salt Lake City, UT 841xx


August 1, 2008


Capital One
Attn: Customer Retention
P.O. Box 30285
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0289

To whomever it might concern, even a little bit,

As a professional who places immense importance upon my own delivery of customer service and satisfaction, I am taking the time to write you today to explain why I have recently removed $xx,xxx of savings from Capital One Bank, cut up my “No Hassle Miles Rewards” card (evidence attached), and plan to cease from doing business with Capital One in the future. Do I have your attention?

I became a credit card customer of Capital One in October 2003. After using my card regularly for a portion of my family’s monthly expenses for over 3 ½ years, I decided to change to the Miles Rewards card and run all possible expenses through it, with a goal of using those Rewards Miles for airfare to visit family across the country.

From April 2007 until this past month, I managed to accrue over 96,000 Reward Miles. On July 24th, I logged into the Rewards website, reviewed all of the rules once more, and proceeded to book two roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines in one single transaction using my Miles Rewards card. While I appreciated the convenience of choosing the airline and the travel dates, I did not realize that such would be the end of the “No Hassle” experience for me.

After allowing approximately one week for the transaction to post to my statement, I called the Rewards Center to request the credit back to my account for the charge from Southwest. I was told by the customer service agent that the cost of only one ticket could be reimbursed using 60,000 of my miles. I kindly objected, explaining that I had booked the tickets in one transaction totaling $718 and that I wished to use 71,800 miles to credit back the full cost, as per the table on the Rewards website.

The agent responded that the tickets showed up on my statement as two separate transactions and that “most airlines run transactions that way.” Being patient, I asked what solutions he might suggest. He told me I could try calling Southwest to have them reverse the charges and re-run the cost as one charge or cancel the tickets and go through a travel agency to re-book the travel. No hassle? My ass!

Feeling that the agent would not be able to assist me further, I called Southwest. Their agent listened to my plight, expressed understanding of the situation, pulled up my transaction on her computer, and confirmed that they ran just one transaction for $718 and not two for $359, as Capital One had suggested. She explained to me further, “You received one confirmation number, right? Not two?” I confirmed that for her. She continued, “That is because we only ran your card once.”

Frustrated and not knowing who was telling me the truth and who was not, I called the Rewards Center back, hoping for better luck. To my disappointment, the buck was passed again when the agent said, “Southwest told you wrong.” Upon hearing that, I expressed my concern that nowhere in the rules does it warn me that booked airfare would show up individually, even if purchased in one transaction from the airline.

Wanting to offer a solution, he kindly explained to me that I could use my “Anytime Rewards” and pay 50 bucks for every 10,000 more miles needed to “earn” enough points and get the 2nd ticket reimbursed too. I kindly expressed my frustration, told the agent that “I’m not paying more to make this work the way it already should” and I asked him to kindly send my feedback up the chain.

Thanks in part to that brilliant suggestion and my sudden realization that booking future airfare would likely be a similar aggravation, I decided I was done. Since then, I have used 60,000 of those precious miles to reimburse the cost of one ticket, applied 35,000 of the remaining miles for a separate one-way ticket recently booked separately from its return trip ticket (now that’s a hassle), and promptly zeroed out my money market accounts at Capital One Bank.

Look, as a banker by profession, I realize that losing $xx,xxx in deposits and a credit card that is always paid off each month is not going to faze you. But I know from experience that one unhappy customer has the ability (and tendency) to lead a whole herd of potential and existing customers away from businesses who fail to deliver clear and honest service.

My hope is that you will use this candid, unsolicited feedback to better your system with more accurate disclosure of how Rewards Miles can and cannot be redeemed. Please send this inter-company to whomever necessary to improve this business process!

Sincerely,
Your former customer,



Justin D. Cracroft