Complain about a product or service

Discover

Discover • Balance transfers • Cancellation problems • Delinquent accounts

Discover's always been sort of the third card out, trailing Visa, MasterCard and Amex by a wide margin. But that doesn't mean it lacks the ability to annoy, offend and aggravate its customers.

Harold of La CA (03/06/09)
I have been a good HSBC customer for 3 yrs. Never been late on a pymt. Paid bal. in full some months and carried 0 bal. many months. Yesterday got a letter in mail from them saying my 3k credit line was reduced to 390 immediately. My current bal. is 0

My fico score will probably decrease because of my avail. credit.

Jimmy of Amelia, VA March 5, 2009

Jimmy of Amelia VA (03/05/09)
I think your Rewards Program is awful. I've run an average balance of over 12k for 5 months on your no interest program. And, you signed me up for insurance I either enrolled in by accident or was enrolled in w/out my permission. I've paid a total of 482 for that and now you've sent me an exciting reward offer of 20! Wow (sarcasm)! However, most of the partners require you to spend 40-45! Every restaurant I selected was at the higher range, so I just got a gift card at Staples to get it.

I am paying the balance within the next month never to do business again, but ever to tell friends, family and associates what a scam Discover represents in the rewards and card protection programs. So while you might screw me out of the 482 and send me an amusing 20 that is difficult to redeem, you'll lose me as a customer and many others as I advise them to avoid Discover. 

Jay of New Smyrna Beach, FL March 4, 2009

Jay of New Smyrna Beach FL (03/04/09)
I scheduled a payment of 230 to be taken directly from my checking account to help bring my card current. I had also schedule a couple of payments over a hundred dollars to try to maintain that current status. I was a little hesitant to schedule the additional payments over the phone because my industry had been on a serious downturn and I feared losing my job. I shared this with the Discover Card agent who had taken my payment and she assured me that I could always call back and change the payment amount if needed.

So, with this assurance I went ahead with the future scheduled payments (March April and May). When my fears came true and did lose my job, I immediately called Discover and explained the situation. You had said that I can change the amounts of the payments scheduled. I'd like to do that, as I'm unfortunately unemployed and not sure when I will be able to make these full payments again, I explained. Rather than cancel the payments, I simply requested that we lower the payment from 230 for 2/28 to 110. I also asked that the March and April payments be reduced to 50, leaving the May payment as-is for hopes that I would be working again.

After going on and on to me about my account still being over the limit with the change in payments, the rep finally agreed to make the change and told me that the payments for Feb March and April would be 110 50 and 50, respectively, as I requested. I hung up and reworked my personal budget for the next month based on this information. This morning, I logged in to my bank account and, sure enough, Discover took the whole 230, rather than the 110 requested.

 Look, I owe Discover the money. My complaint is that they give you the false assurance that you can make the changes to payments scheduled and that said payments have been adjusted. Then when the payment hits your bank account based on this agreement it sends your finances into a tailspin. Right now I'm 120 out of pocket grocery and gas money that I hadn't anticipated. In short, Discover should be up front that when you schedule a payment, its final. Not mislead you that they'll work with you in the event of an unfortunate circumstance.

My budget for gas and groceries for the next two weeks is now short 120.

Irfan of Glen Ellyn, IL February 17, 2009

Irfan of Glen Ellyn IL (02/17/09)
They reduced our credit limit from 15,000 to 4,500 which put our account over the limit by 1,000 and didnt notify us of the change. We called the customer service line and spoke with stacy and told her that we would not be paying any over the limit fees since we were not notified. They did increase the limit to avoid the over the limit fees. We did recieve notification later on the 11th of Feb that they decreased our limit but no where in the letter does it state when this is effective. 2/14 told them to close our accounts. 2/15 accounts closed out. 2/16 asked to have our cash rewards posted to our account. 2/17 was told unable to do so because we closed our account on the 15th.

This was a major drop in our credit limit and we had to readjust some of our payments that weere coming out of that card to avoid any issues.

Barbara of Plymouth, WI February 14, 2009

Barbara of Plymouth WI (02/14/09)
I was filling out an online form to get a Discover Card. While my application was open I looked up to see if it was a Universal Default credit card company, and I learned that it was. I closed out the application and forgot about it. A couple days later I got an email that welcomed me as their newest Discover Card owner. I called to tell them this application was not meant to be accepted, that I thought I had cancelled out of the application (I knew I had), and was transferred to a young woman who didn't literally refuse to cancel it but would not let me get aound her hounding me, grilling me, and then demanding to speak to my husband, as he was the primary name on the card. I handed the phone to my husband, he told her he wanted it cancelled, and she gave him the very same hounding, grilling, etc.

We finally hung up on her and tried calling again. The exact same thing with another person. We hung up again, tried again, and got another person who finally said she would cancel it because both of us were on the phone. We got the cards and ignored them, never activated them. We keep getting these letters telling us to active the cards. I called again, and the routine was identical, but this girl (who was a specialist, I was told) told me not to yell (I wasn't yelling) and demanded to speak to my husband. I gave the phone to my husband and she grilled him (why did you get the card, why do you want to close it, etc.)

I took the phone back and said I had called six times to try to cancel the card, and she said they only have a record of one call. She then said, Ma'am, this is between me and your husband. We hung up, called again, and got a nice lady that said, Certainly I can cancel the card for you. This was exactly what happened before. So, we're just gonna let them keep wasting their money sending us mail, we're not ever going to validate or use the card, and every now and then I guess I'll call up and try to cancel it again, maybe just to see how many records they have of calls.

It's an exercise in futility on both sides. There will be information on our credit report, saying we have a card. Oh well, our credit is good, we have other cards, let them play. I just want to know WHERE they get these people willing to talk to customers the way these kids do.

Steve of Santa Ana, CA February 12, 2009

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