Courtesy of Bart, comes some excellent advice when trying to reach a human to resolve your problem: just threaten to cancel. They’ll be happy to resolve your complaints then!
In this case, it was a malfunctioning Capitol One credit card. Bart found that despite only having a $50 balance, it had suddenly stopped working. He tried calling Capitol One to resolve the issue, but no dice — in fact, they wanted to chare him $10 just to let him speak to a human. So he just pounded the cancel key and immediately found himself whisked away to a very helpful customer service agent who was pleased to immediately resolve his problem as long as he pretty-please-didn’t-take-his-business-elsewhere.
Naturally, this is going to work on more companies than just Capitol One, because everyone wants to “retain” you! Bart’s email, after the jump.
I have a Capitol One credit card that I wasn’t using, and after getting promoted recently at work, I found myself taking frequent business trips. I just found it easy to use the Capitol One card for business transactions to keep everything on a separate statement. Things have been working fine until this last month.
I tried to charge a rental car and another airline flight, and both were rejected. I decide I need to call Capitol One because my statement online shows I’m up to date, and I only have just over $50 balance on the card and that payment has already been sent.
It’s then that I found that calling Capitol One and actually speaking to a human being is impossible. Go ahead, call them if you have an account with them, and try to find a way to just talk with a customer service rep about a problem like mine. I finally just decide to fake out the system and act like I wanted to make a payment. Come to find out they charge $10 freaking dollars if you want to talk to someone to make a payment. Damn!!
So I just get tired of pushing buttons on the phone and decide to cancel the card. If I can’t use it, and they won’t provide a way to fix it, then I’ll just cancel the damn thing (I’m reading that’s easier said than done…but what the hell).
I actually get someone on the phone then. She confirms my identity and then asks why I want to cancel my card. I tell her I can’t get it to work, so I want to cancel it. She then quickly looks at my account and says “We sent you another card, and your current card was deactivated.” I say I don’t understand why that was because the current card didn’t expire until 2010, and I never saw the other card. She says that she sees that the other card was never activated, and she’s not sure why another one was sent my way. So I tell her either get the one in my hand to work or cancel my account. Two seconds later I have a working card again.
So if you want to talk to someone, just act like you want to cancel the card. But the lady was very nice and quick when I did get her on the phone, but you shouldn’t have to fake out the system just to talk to a real live human being.
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Yes, it’s unfortunate that you have to go to these lengths to talk to a human being. Consider it a sign that you shouldn’t be doing business with this company.
“Capitol One?” “..chare him $10?”
Did you mean:
“Capital One” and “…charge him $10…”
Actually, they charge you $10 to make a payment using the automated phone system. To have an actual human being take your payment, it’s something like $14.95. It’s free to pay your bill online and they encourage that; however, if you are having problems with the website, it’s possible to get them to waive the phone payment fee. Doesn’t hurt to ask!
Also, the retention department for Capital One does have a direct line. Just ask them for it next time you get a human on the phone.
Another tip: it doesn’t hurt to call up the retention department and ask for a lower APR or annual fee waiver. These are bargaining chips they use to keep your account, and if your account is eligible, they’ll do it.
I’ve never had a problem getting to a human at Capital One.
But the phenomena of charging huge fees to make a payment by phone seems to be cropping up more and more. So, I’m to pay $15 for the privilege of saving you the expense of processing a physical check?
So, the GetHuman database http://www.gethuman.com/us/ in no longer valid for Captial One?
Maybe try the tips from http://www.gethuman.com/tips.html
I worked for a large cable company in the retention or cancellation department. I have no idea why companies are set up this way. It was very frustrating to us that other departments could/would not do the simplest of helpful things, because they knew that our department could take care of everything. We had no magic buttons. No special promotions. We just got marked down, if we cancelled customers. That’s it. It was also the only way for our customers to get someone in the US guaranteed. It’s not fun for anyone involved. Except for the execs who are getting more from outsourcing. That’s it.
I can help with this. The most likely reason for the credit card rejection is oddly enough, designed to help protect you–against stolen credit card charges. This happened to me twice when I was traveling. I was told by the CC company they do that in case the card is stolen. Both times I was out of my home state so it made sense.
He said all I needed to do the next time is call them in advance of my travels to alert them I will be traveling and when/where. Worked like a charm and I’ve never had that happen again.