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The ASL slang version of Cancel The Account is the back of the hand, with just the middle finger extended.
Seriously, though, this is a violation of federal law (the ADA) to not allow someone with a disability to have access to services offered to people without disabilities. I say call a lawyer that specializes in ADA law and get a nice chunk of Capital One's money.
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Ben, I believe that it's a single middle finger pointing straight up
Does Consumerist.com ever get any PR lackeys from CapitolOne calling? This is pretty Major. Also it would be a good company to make an example out of. If some huge billion dollar company won't comply with the ADA then why would a smaller company do so? Oh yeah, did I mention I'm very Naive?
This article explains the relay service, and also discusses the likely reason Capital One won't accept relay calls for account verification: fraud. There's no way for them to know if the person using the relay service is an actual account holder, or just some jerk in an Internet Cafe in Nigeria trying to open an account in your name. The latter is increasingly prevalent.
If rampant fraud is behind their \"no verification via relay\" policy, they should have procedures in place to accommodate legitimate users. They should explain why they are unable to handle your verification through the relay service, and tell you who you need to call or what you need to do to verify your account safely and securely.
Their \"deaf people are shit out of luck\" approach is completely unacceptable.
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Mike-- at the time, my mother was on the phone, so I couldn't use the tdd. (Only one phone line.)
I would have done so if she didn't have an emergency phone call to make. Unfortunately after that incident, I really do not want to do business with them anymore. :(
Triteon-- Yeah, I read that too late. Ah well, at least I know better now not to go near them, ever!
nah.. its the pinky finger pointing up \"not worth the time or effort.\"
Capital One provides a TDD number under the Customer Service 'contact us' tab at the top of the page. 1-800-206-7986 (TDD)
The person obviously used the wrong phone number.
Also, how would a deaf person know someone had an Indian accent and lived in India? Hmm?
I worked for Capital One for eight years and we had a lot of people from India employed there and they lived and worked in the US quite legally. Just because they have an accent, the author should really try to not discriminate. :)
kiapurity, the consensus around here seems to be that Capital One is pretty slimy, and I think we're all in agreement that the way you were treated is inexcusable. I hope someone there reads this, and agrees that it would be a good idea to train their CSRs to better handle relay calls.
However, to be fair, they do offer an accessible option. You just chose not to use it. If they didn't have a TDD Line, and they refused to talk to you through the relay service, this would be another story entirely. Next time, wait until the phone line frees up, and call them directly.
I put the blame-o-meter at 75% Capital One, 25% Jessica. Given the amount of fraud, I don't blame Capital One for not verifying accounts through the relay service. I do blame them for not helping her, though. Sorry, but Jessica loses points for being too impatient to wait for the phone line to free up.
Of course, like most people, I'm pretty ignorant about the deaf community, so please set me straight if I'm out of line. Is it really so unreasonable for businesses to refuse to conduct sensitive transactions via IP Relay, given the amount of fraud?
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\"chose not to use it\". For heaven's sake. None of Capitol One's service reps in customer service or any of the other departments she called have any idea about the TDD line? It's her fault for \"choosing\" not to spend her life digging around for the number when she already has a so-called \"customer service\" number?
And, of course they should guard against fraud. But as the commenter above said, the \"deaf people are shit out of luck\" attitude is completely unacceptable.
I actually went to comments to say \"Stay away from Capitol One!\" They are complete creeps. They billed me twice for a $28 charge. I brought it to their attention. They said they'd refund the amount. Nothing happened. I won't bore you with the details, but two years later (TWO YEARS), after the account had been closed as far as I was concerned for over a year, they STILL had done nothing. It took action from the California Attorney General's Dept. of Consumer Affairs just to close the damn account. (At which point they also refunded me my $28, which I really didn't care about at that point.)
This is a business model I'm seeing more and more of. Paypal and Verizon both have it. Freeze onto the cusotmer's money and don't let go until threatened with legal action. For corporations that big, five dollars here, one hundred there, adds up to millions. The money they're making on interest alone must contribute quite a bit to their ill-gotten gains.
\"chose not to use it\". For heaven's sake. None of Capitol One's service reps in customer service or any of the other departments she called have any idea about the TDD line? It's her fault for \"choosing\" not to spend her life digging around for the number when she already has a so-called \"customer service\" number?
And, of course they should guard against fraud. But as the commenter above said, the \"deaf people are shit out of luck\" attitude is completely unacceptable.
I actually went to comments to say \"Stay away from Capitol One!\" They are complete creeps. They billed me twice for a $28 charge. I brought it to their attention. They said they'd refund the amount. Nothing happened. I won't bore you with the details, but two years later (TWO YEARS), after the account had been closed as far as I was concerned for over a year, they STILL had done nothing. It took action from the California Attorney General's Dept. of Consumer Affairs just to close the damn account. (At which point they also refunded me my $28, which I really didn't care about at that point.)
This is a business model I'm seeing more and more of. Paypal and Verizon both have it. Freeze onto the cusotmer's money and don't let go until threatened with legal action. For corporations that big, five dollars here, one hundred there, adds up to millions. The money they're making on interest alone must contribute quite a bit to their ill-gotten gains. We so-o need some consumer-oriented regulation on just about every consumer-related issue!
(Sorry. Not sure why that posted twice. I'm pretty sure I only hit \"submit\" once. ??)
Celesteral-- here's a hint: My mom was on the phone trying to get in touch with them for me. They clearly told her that the Verification branch was located in India (New Dehli? I am unsure of the spelling.) I apologize if it was not clear enough, but she was on the phone dealing with them because she heard the message that was left for me on the answering machine.
Mike-- Indeed, it is my fault that I was unable to wait a little longer, but my mom indicated that it was too important to wait. I apoglize if I did not clarify enough in my posting because I was stunned and angry by this.
I'd like to point this out: I am well aware of the problem with the scammers, but however, from what I've read so far: The \"Nigerian Scammers\" tend to hit smaller businesses rather than large businesses.
Also, the irony here which I should really have put in the original e-mail: Capital One sent me the credit card applications in the first place. By this problem with the vertification department, I was concluded that they didn't need my business that much!
Another thing, as for the TDD numbers, unfortunately there are such situations where I have called those numbers and found out that they were either put down wrong (they were really fax numbers) or were no longer in use. I know this is not the case with Capital One, but it's been such a common problem with where I live.
Bring out the TDD Pitchforks and Torches!!!
Funny how bad service isn't ever just bad service when it happens to any handicapped / government-designated victim / or minority grouped individual. Bad service in a few instances really means that an entire corporation hates you. Systematically. Thoroughly. Occum's razor surely approves. Bring on the lawsuits!!!
Maybe she should just change credit card services instead of making it into a federal case... ?
Nah, that would require her to respect other people's property rights to run their business how they want. And god knows that we can't just go around respecting people's life, liberty, and property in modern-day fascist America.
To hell with liberty! More important than liberty is the government-granted priveleges of politically-appointed victim / minority groups. Why have freedom and free competition when you can just use violence to force other people to run their lives according to your personal preferences?
Freedom? Pffffft... Make mine fascism! Only fascism will protect those who cannot protect themselves. Just look how well it has protected minorities in the past!
Mike... So you can confirm a Hearing person on the phone just by their voice? Just the same!
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God, bryanedds, do you even KNOW anyone living with a disability?
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Dugg