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I got recommendations both online and from people I know to get a Capitol One credit card for my European trip since they are the only credit card company that doesn't rip you off with high "service fees" for overseas transactions. The card seems almost too good to be true - no annual fee, no overseas transaction fees, and even a cash-back rewards program. It's a MasterCard, so it has the usual credit card benefits, including a pretty decent rental car collision waver. And, because I have good credit, it came with a remarkably high credit limit.
But sleaze just drips off the Capitol One franchise. These are the guys who send unsolicited credit card offers to every mailbox in America about once a month. I read the card-holder agreements and paperwork with more than the usual attention because of their general reputation, and discovered that the only way to keep them from selling my personal information to everybody on the planet (both "our affiliates" and our "non-affiliates," which would seem to cover everybody) was to call an 800 number and wade through an excruciating voice-recognition tree, declaring "opt out" over and over and over again, and then listening to all the opt-outs read back verrrrrrry slowly and NOT saying "Stop" during any of the long pauses.
But I made it through that and figured I was home free until I called the number to activate my card. Instead of the usual automated process, I was patched through to a salesman that took my info, chatted me up about the weather and then launched into a scripted hard-core sales pitch for a list of unnecessary extra services (fraud protection and the like). When I said firmly that I was not interested in additional services and would just like my card activated please, he got all huffy and hurt ("Well pardon me for trying to do my JOB." When this didn't get any apology from me, he curtly agreed to activate my card and practically slammed the phone down on me.
It looks like a legitimate Master Card with very good benefits, but... ewwww. Does anybody else have one of these cards? Are they ... okay?
But sleaze just drips off the Capitol One franchise. These are the guys who send unsolicited credit card offers to every mailbox in America about once a month. I read the card-holder agreements and paperwork with more than the usual attention because of their general reputation, and discovered that the only way to keep them from selling my personal information to everybody on the planet (both "our affiliates" and our "non-affiliates," which would seem to cover everybody) was to call an 800 number and wade through an excruciating voice-recognition tree, declaring "opt out" over and over and over again, and then listening to all the opt-outs read back verrrrrrry slowly and NOT saying "Stop" during any of the long pauses.
But I made it through that and figured I was home free until I called the number to activate my card. Instead of the usual automated process, I was patched through to a salesman that took my info, chatted me up about the weather and then launched into a scripted hard-core sales pitch for a list of unnecessary extra services (fraud protection and the like). When I said firmly that I was not interested in additional services and would just like my card activated please, he got all huffy and hurt ("Well pardon me for trying to do my JOB." When this didn't get any apology from me, he curtly agreed to activate my card and practically slammed the phone down on me.
It looks like a legitimate Master Card with very good benefits, but... ewwww. Does anybody else have one of these cards? Are they ... okay?
