Has anyone had issues with credit card companies whiffing on their responsibility to properly process claims of fraud? My wallet and phone were stolen on a trip a little more than two months ago and the bandit(s) rang up more than $8K across four credit cards (two Amex, one Barclays and one Capital One) and one Chase debit card. They also tried to spend thousands more but were denied. The crime spree happened during a 10-hour period overnight. Part of the irony is it took so long for me to get my claims filed with each bank that the bad guy(s) were charging more fraud on my cards while I was on the phone with each bank trying to shut down my cards.
But here's where it gets interesting: Amex was the only one of the four banks to thoroughly investigate what happened. I learned a lot from talking to the Amex claims investigators, including how the perpetrator(s) went online and used the Amex chat service to set up a PIN. Amex credited the money back to me, quickly processed the claim and ruled in my favor. Their customer service was excellent. The other banks did not do the same amount of investigating. Chase is by far the worst. The bad guy(s) withdrew cash from a Chase ATM and even though I provided the exact time and location of the transactions to the Chase claims department, they refuse to look at their own video surveillance. The video surveillance is managed by JPM Chase's security department, which is separate from the claims department. I spoke to numerous reps and supervisors in both departments and they admitted they don't communicate with one another. I have had to have the police subpoena Chase in an attempt to get the video. Chase also refuses to call the police detective working the case. The detective is about to make an arrest by the way. Chase immediately credited the stolen funds to my account but after spending about a month "investigating," Chase denied my claim and without any notice, withdrew the stolen funds back out of my account. This caused me to overdraft my account. They later fixed this. Chase has reopened the case but still hasn't come to a final conclusion 70 days after the incident. I continue to beg them to review the video surveillance and to see if any other suspicious activity occurred on my account. They claimed there was no other suspicious activity but I eventually found emails from Chase in my Secure Messaging Center (which I never check) that showed there were attempted wire transfers through Chase's QuickPay feature (which I've never used) to the name of the suspect the police are getting ready to arrest. Really, Chase's claims department could not be more incompetent. They say that since it was a chip-on-chip transaction at a Chase ATM and that the PIN was successfully entered, that no more investigation is needed. Ha!
Barclays wasn't much better. They sent me notices saying they were trying to contact me about the case. I would call after each notice and Barclays would tell me they had everything they needed and there was no need for my call. Then a couple of weeks ago, a Barclays investigator phoned me, took up about an hour of my time, and literally lied to me about a number of aspects of my case. What she said didn't make sense so I called back the next day and spoke to a supervisor who fortunately reviewed the phone conversation with the lying Barclays representative and had her reprimanded. The supervisor also contacted the police detective and quickly closed the claim.
Capital One is still working on it, 70 days later, but at least they haven't been a pain like Chase and, to a lesser degree, Barclays. Luckily, there is so much evidence — including video footage from retailers — that I know I'll prevail in the end but my dealings with Chase and Barclays have been a nightmare. They re-victimize the victim. I'd be interested to learn whether other people have had other experiences like this and to warn everyone of this cautionary tale. Even if the banks say they will cover fraud and talk a good game at first, be sure to take careful notes and prepare for there to be some extreme stupidity excercised by some of the banking reps/supervisors involved.
Amex Gold, Amex Bonvoy, Amex Hilton Honors Surpass, Amex Every Day, Amex Hilton Biz, Amex Delta Biz, Barclays Arrival+, Barclays Rewards, Capital One VentureOne, Capital One Quicksilver, Chase Freedom, Chase IHG Rewards, Chase United Explorer, Chase Sapphire
