I recently have had the misfortune of being a member of Capital Credit Alliance (CCA), a company who, in my opinion, feeds off of the ignorance and vulnerability of consumers with bad credit. A couple of months ago, I buckled at the knees and found myself in search of a way to consolidate my credit cards without filing chapter 13.
I received a letter in the mail telling me that I had been approved for a credit card issued by the above company and that I would have $6500 of cash available to me. I called the customer service phone number to find out what exactly I had been approved for.
At this time, a customer service representative informed me that I would owe a one-time fee of $199.95 that would be deducted from my checking account. She also told me that this fee would be off-set, by a $200 credit on my account. I was under the impression that I could use this credit towards the cash advance I was expecting to take out to pay off my other bills. I gave the associate my checking account information and a check number she could use to deduct the payment. At this time there was NO mention by this person that this was non-refundable.
About an hour after I ended the conversation I realized how ridiculous I was being and called them back to cancel anything I may have started with this company.
I reached an extremely rude representative who informed me that I would have to wait for this to go through because my information was not in the system yet. I asked her to make note of my call and cancel my account and to have someone call me back to verify that. I never got that phone call, but merely chalked it up to the obvious disregard they have for their customers.
A few weeks passed, and while I was balancing my checkbook I realized that there was $199.95 missing from my account. Subsequently, I have bounced five checks.
I immediately called the customer service line and asked for a supervisor. The women I spoke with snapped at me and put me on hold for fifteen minutes. I called again, and again was rudely put down by the employee who took my call; she told me that I would need to speak to a different department.
I was put on hold for so long thereafter that the automated service disconnected the line. Feeling helpless I called my bank and asked them to file a complaint. Since I have given them, initially, the consent to take the money, I had nothing that I could do. The following day I call CCA again and spoke to Tamara, a customer service representative.
I expressed to her my disgust with the company and told her that I wanted nothing to do with it any longer. She maintained that I would not be refunded the money and I told her I would deal with that issue through an attorney, but asked her to close my account regardless.
Again, this month, I sat down to balance my checkbook, and noticed that around $150 was missing from my account. I called my bank and not to my surprised discovered it was CCA, again, withdrawing money from my account.
Infuriated I filed a complaint with my bank and started my phone calls to find a supervisor at CCA. Three hours later after countless phone calls and wasted time on hold, I got in touch with Tamara again. Her tone of voice was not comforting, I repeatedly tried to explain to her my situation and she interrupted me so often that I'm not sure she heard anything I said.
I asked to speak to her supervisor. A man by the name of Bruce took my call and by the end of the conversation he let me know that there was no way to close my account unless I sent a written notice to the company. I had NOT been informed of this previously. He also stated that no moneys taken from my account would be refunded at any time for any reason. He did offer me a $150 merchandise credit toward the purchase of anything in the catalogs that were sent to me. The catalogs are full of worthless over-priced items He was of no help, and treated me as if I was a belligerent customer demanding unreasonable actions. I merely asked for my hard-earned money back.
I am willing to accept the fact that out of my own bad judgment I lost the $200, but I never gave this company permission to take ANYTHING else from my account. I feel violated and taken advantage of.
DO NOT trust these people, the stole my money and they will steal yours!
0 comments