Capital One Venture Card Class Action Seeks Travel Reward Refunds

Capital One has been hit with a class action lawsuit from a Venture Card holder challenging the company’s practice of offering vouchers instead of refunds for travel miles that customers could not use due to COVID-19 flight cancellations.

The Capital One Venture Card refund class action lawsuit was filed by Ellen Fensterer who says she is a Venture Card holder who decided to use the card especially because of its rewards program.

The plaintiff explains that, using rewards points from her Venture Card, she purchased tickets for herself and her family to visit her daughter during a study abroad program.

Fensterer says that to purchase her tickets, she paid using both rewards from her Venture Card and $5,000 in cash. She believes that the retail value of her tickets would be around $18,000. 

However, due to the global coronavirus crisis, she was unable to use these tickets. Despite widespread travel cancellations, Capital One has allegedly refused to offer refunds to customers for these rewards points that are unusable.

Fensterer says that she was not offered a refund, but was instead offered a voucher for future travel. In her eyes, the voucher is not as valuable as the return of her rewards points because she does not intend to take a future trip. She stresses that the goal of her trip was to visit her daughter, but that is no longer possible.

The Capital One Venture Card rewards class action lawsuit explains that, after the flights had been canceled by the airline, she tried to call Capital One. She says that she tried multiple times to reach the company by phone, spending over an hour on wait time.

According to the Capital One Venture Card rewards class action lawsuit, Capital One intentionally made it difficult for customers to contact the company, as a way of getting out of providing refunds or dissuading customers from attempting to ask for refunds. 

Allegedly, when Fensterer finally got ahold of the company, she was given incomplete and inaccurate information over the course of multiple calls with the company. 

She goes on to say that she was hung up on and, when she did reach a customer service representative, was told that her claims were “under review” and that she would be “hearing from someone shortly.”

Ultimately, she says that she was offered a voucher for her rewards as was the case with many other customers.

However, Fensterer claims that she declined the voucher because she had no intention of creating another trip.

She also says that she declined the voucher because of the risks associated with traveling during the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the ongoing nature of the outbreak, the future of travel and public health is still uncertain.

Additionally, Fensterer notes that it is still not possible to travel to many destinations around the world. If a person can travel to a given destination, they may have to self-quarantine upon their arrival or would have a very limited ability to travel.

After she was told by Capital One that she would not be issued a refund, Fensterer said that she called British Airways and was told that she could not receive a refund from the airline either, because she had purchased her tickets from Capital One. After her call with British Airways, she says that she then contacted Capital One again and was once again denied a refund. 

The Capital One Venture Card refund class action lawsuit says that Capital One’s conduct violates the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

Allegedly, customers were financially injured by this conduct because, had they known that they would not be able to use their rewards, they might not have spent them as they did or they would not have made purchases on the Venture Card. 

Now, Fensterer seeks a refund for herself and similarly affected consumers, plus interest, attorneys’ fees, and costs.

A range of businesses have received criticism for allegedly denying refunds to customers in the coronavirus. Some customers claim that they were misled about the terms of a service or product, while others claim that companies took advantage of the coronavirus to turn a profit.

Are you owed for services canceled due to the coronavirus? Get legal help here.

Fensterer is represented by Amy L.B. Ginsburg of Kimmel & Silverman PC.

The Capital One COVID-19 Travel Rewards Cancelations Class Action Lawsuit is Ellen Fensterer v. Capital One, Case No. unknown, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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