As much as we complain about customer service reps, it’s wise to remember that they hold the advantage when it comes to your account. We don’t know whether our reader Chris was too rude to his outsourced call-center buddy or whether the CSR was just having a really bad day, but apparently things got out of hand when Chris called in to find out what was going on with his credit card account.

When I asked for more details, the representative (who sounded like he was from India), took vengeance on my account and told me he was closing the account and that there was nothing I could do. When I asked for his manager, he said “There is nothing he can do, the account is closed.” —CLICK— And that was the sound of him hanging up the telephone.

Chris says the CSR didn’t even read him any account closure notice first.

All Chris was trying to do was find out why his account still showed $0.00 available credit when he’d recently paid off his balance in full—and why he can’t get a credit line increase when he’s had an excellent history of repayment.

I waited until about 8:40 AM to check the online account status and noticed that the available credit was still $0.00, despite what the representatives have told me. Frustrated with the vitriolic representative and the available credit still $0.00, I called the Capital One corporate offices and spoke with the executive resolution team and had them remove the account closure notice. I was also informed that the reason that I still had an available credit of $0.00 was that there was a “ten-day hold on the funds.” Angered that the funds had already been withdrawn from my bank account and not disbursed into my account, the executive team was able to override the hold and disburse the funds into the account, but only after calling the executive team a second time as the first person would not do it.

Chris points out that he’s been an “excellent” customer for Capital One, particularly because he pays off his balance in full every month. We hate to dampen your spirits, Chris, but that may not put you in the prime customer category—credit card companies love people who carry high balances and generate lots of revenue in interest rates and assorted late/overlimit/cash advance fees. You might be better off just looking for another offer elsewhere that promises you a greater limit up front.

(Photo: Getty)

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