A few months ago I wrote about how I had $2,000 stolen off of some PayPal reload cards I had bought. The situation is finally resolved.
Here’s what went down.
- After getting a few items from the store that I purchased the reload cards from, I started the dispute process with InComm.
- I called the credit card companies (Chase and Barclay) that I had purchased the PayPal cards with, they said that I needed to go through the InComm dispute process first, and contact them again if there was no resolution.
- I was told to wait three to five business days to hear back from InComm. I called them after four business days and was told that the dispute had been denied the previous Saturday… which would have been the first NON BUSINESS day after I submitted the dispute. I was never notified that my dispute was denied other than on the phone call that I made to follow up.
- I called both Chase and Barclay to start the dispute process with them.
- Ten days later, I called to follow up with both Chase and Barclay. Chase said that my dispute was resolved and I did not have to worry about any of the charges. Barclay said that they were still investigating and to call again in a week.
- I called Barclay again a week later, and they said they had received a response from the merchant, but didn’t know what it said and to follow up in a couple of weeks.
- A couple of weeks later I called Barclay again, and they said they still did not know what the response said, but after December 7th the would be unable to take back the credit that I had been granted for the cards.
- Since it is now after December 7th, they are no longer able to deny my dispute even though it is not yet “closed.”
Takeaways
- InComm is a super scammy company. Between “not knowing” where the funds were redeemed to and not ever contacting me to let me know the result of my dispute… I just don’t even know what to say. There is no excuse. I have significantly toned down the MS I do through PayPal, and pretty much will only buy PayPal reloads in order to fund my PayPal account for real purchase (which they say is the “intended purpose” for the reloads anyway).
- Barclay Customer Service is significantly worse than both Chase and American Express. After this, I do not trust them to handle disputes in a timely or fair manner, and for that reason I no longer use my Arrival card, and will actually be canceling it now that this whole ordeal is over.
- If you MS, keep track of your stuff (giftcards, receipts, deposits, etc). It’s not fun to have to go through all of this, and I definitely never want to do it again. Hopefully you can learn from my pain!
All in all, a happy ending for me. I got my $2,000 back and only lost a few hours of my time dealing with InComm, Chase, and Barclay. Definitely not something I care to repeat.
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I agree that you should cancel the Arrival card. With the recent downgrade in benefits, the annual fee is no longer worth it, especially since you can get a no-fee Citi DoubleCash card for effectively the same return, without the annual fee.
I already downgraded it to the no annual fee version — just need to get around to calling again to cancel it outright!
I would think twice before you cancel, if you have the no-fee version. Whenever I do app parties, I use the “close to approve” method if there’s a need for a reconsideration call.