Advice needed for Capital One dispute

[anewleafagain]

Backstory: I've had a basic checking account with Capital One since 2017. Lately I've been downsizing my belongings by selling on CraigsList for cash only. So once or twice a month I make cash deposits to that account. I live in San Francisco, where we have a brick & mortar Capital One Cafe with ATMs and a couple of Cap One reps on the floor, but no traditional tellers. All 3 ATMs get pretty heavy use, and sometimes 1 or even all 3 are out of order. For many months, the reps have been telling customers that new ATMs are in the offing, but problems persist. 

Last year I had to file a claim when one of those ATMs ate my cash and displayed an error message before I could complete my full deposit. $260 was stuck somewhere inside, but the ATM shut down and I had no record of the transaction, nor was there any proof of it online. I phoned and filed a claim, was told it would take up to 10 business days to investigate, and meanwhile I received a "provisional" credit of $260 to my checking account. The claim was resolved in 5 days and I received this email: "We finished investigating your dispute(s). Any temporary credits we deposited in your account are now permanent, and your dispute has been resolved." 

I dismissed the incident as a one-off. But now the same thing has happened again, except this time it's going sideways. On August 5, my $400 cash deposit vanished in the belly of the ATM... error message... no receipt, etc. This time Cap One is giving me the run-around. I filed a claim by phone as before, and was told the same 10-business-days timeframe. On the 8th day I phoned dispute team for an update. CSR said I should be getting an email soon because his info showed the investigation has been completed. Today, August 21, is the 11th day, I phoned again, CSR confirmed investigation is completed but then suddenly put me on hold, then came back and said it was NOT completed and she couldn't do anything about it. After a very long hoId I talked to her very cranky manager, who said the investigation is still ongoing and I have to wait 45 business days. I asked her to escalate, she said a flat No, I have to wait 45 days, and then she went into broken record mode, and I got nowhere. HUCA about 8 hours later, new CSR said investigation IS completed. What is going on???

I have googled for "Capital One escalation team department phone number" but got no results except the same number for the same dispute team.

Advice anyone? 

[FicoMike0]

My advice is pretty obvious, you need a real bank! The first atm malfunction was a free warning, you should have taken action. Isn't San Fran crawling with wells branches? And they paid me $325 to open an account there. 

I have a Capone account ($350 sub), they claim to accept cash at CVS or walgreens, not an option?

https://www.capitalone.com/bank/add-cash-in-store/

[NoMoreE46]

It could be someone tampering with the machine or lack of maintenance.  I would stop using those ATMs.

Also I would go into that cafe branch and ask them if they have reconciled  the cash on hand for those ATMs vs their records.

[anewleafagain]

Thanks very much for your replies. I locked that debit card last week after spending down to the last $1 in the account. Actually, the balance is $401 because Cap One gave me a "provisional" credit for my disputed $400 while they investigate. But I don't dare touch it now that I've seen this new tap-dancing they're doing around the matter. It makes no sense that reconciling an ATM would take 45 days! I wonder if there were other botched transactions that same day?

I don't have all my money tied up at Cap One. I have a longtime account with Bank of America, but the area around that BofA branch has become too dangerous in recent years to make cash deposits at their ATMs. Last week I opened a new checking account with Chase, which has 2 nice branches fairly nearby in safer areas. The Cap One Cafe had become a habit because it was so handy. When/if this dispute is ever resolved, I'll close that account. Right now, I am feeling rather burned, having my money tied up indefinitely.

I did talk to the floor rep who assisted me August 5 at the Cap One Cafe. At the time, he had offered to vouch for the incident if anyone from the dispute team needed to talk to him, so I included his name in my report. A few days later, he said he had never heard from them. Reconciling the ATMs is some arcane interior function that isn't within the floor reps' purview.

At this point, I really want to talk to someone higher up than the broken-record dispute team. Does anybody know how to reach a higher up at Cap One? Or should I be reporting this matter to some outside agency?

[NoMoreE46]

Try looking up President of Retail Banking Capital One.

---

@anewleafagain wrote:

Thanks very much for your replies. I locked that debit card last week after spending down to the last $1 in the account. Actually, the balance is $401 because Cap One gave me a "provisional" credit for my disputed $400 while they investigate. But I don't dare touch it now that I've seen this new tap-dancing they're doing around the matter. It makes no sense that reconciling an ATM would take 45 days! I wonder if there were other botched transactions that same day?

I don't have all my money tied up at Cap One. I have a longtime account with Bank of America, but the area around that BofA branch has become too dangerous in recent years to make cash deposits at their ATMs. Last week I opened a new checking account with Chase, which has 2 nice branches fairly nearby in safer areas. The Cap One Cafe had become a habit because it was so handy. When/if this dispute is ever resolved, I'll close that account. Right now, I am feeling rather burned, having my money tied up indefinitely.

I did talk to the floor rep who assisted me August 5 at the Cap One Cafe. At the time, he had offered to vouch for the incident if anyone from the dispute team needed to talk to him, so I included his name in my report. A few days later, he said he had never heard from them. Reconciling the ATMs is some arcane interior function that isn't within the floor reps' purview.

At this point, I really want to talk to someone higher up than the broken-record dispute team. Does anybody know how to reach a higher up at Cap One? Or should I be reporting this matter to some outside agency?

---

[IsambardPrince]

So to recap, it ate $260 so you went back to the same ATM and put $400 in.

[anewleafagain]

Before going higher up, I phoned the dispute team again for the latest, such as it is. CSR said there's a note that reads: "Pending Recon August 27" (CSR didn't know what Recon meant; is it Reconsideration or Reconciliation or something else...?). In any case, I'll phone again August 27.

[IsambardPrince]

---

@anewleafagain wrote:

Before going higher up, I phoned the dispute team again for the latest, such as it is. CSR said there's a note that reads: "Pending Recon August 27" (CSR didn't know what Recon meant; is it Reconsideration or Reconciliation or something else...?). In any case, I'll phone again August 27.

---

Quit using that ATM. If Capital One doesn't have tellers and you deal with lots of cash, go to a bank that has tellers.

The world is falling apart and they can't even make airplanes and spaceships that work anymore. Why would an ATM be different?

Mom's had the same issue where she keeps using a PNC Bank ATM that shorts her a $20 and she goes in and they have to do something involving a vendor.

I'd get cash from the teller if it was me.

[anewleafagain]

So, it's August 27, and as advised by Cap One CSR, I phoned for an update. New CSR said to expect an email response within 48 hours. Hmm...

Meanwhile, I'm happy with my checking account at Chase so far. Even though it's their most basic account, I will receive a $100 SUB when I complete 10 transactions within the first 60 days. Nearly there.

[anewleafagain]

It's August 29 and time for another update in Cap One futility. The 48-hour wait has passed, and today's CSR tells me that there is no record of any email sent to me. And furthermore, he says I have to wait another 10-15 business days for a response. Then transferred to the supervisor, she tells me that the "back office is still working on it, but unfortunately" she cannot give me any timeframe whatsoever.