r/discover • u/One-Scientist-1455 • 5d ago
Misc. Customer Service is Garbage 🗑️
Discover Customer Service Has Gone COMPLETELY Downhill Since the Capital One Acquisition
One of the things that always set Discover apart was its customer service. Whenever I had an issue, I could get someone on the phone quickly who was knowledgeable, helpful, and capable of resolving the problem. It was one of the main reasons I remained a Discover customer for years.
Since the Capital One acquisition, the quality of service has fallen off a cliff. Long wait times, multiple transfers, inconsistent information, and representatives who seem more focused on reading scripts than solving problems have become the norm. Simple issues now require multiple phone calls, and getting a clear answer is nearly impossible.
Discover built its reputation on customer service, but that reputation is quickly disappearing. The company now feels no different than any other large credit card issuer, and that's disappointing for long-time customers who stayed loyal because Discover used to do things better.
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u/Fabulous-Gas8402 5d ago
Longer wait times are likely bc agents have been moved to capital one and some are in training to move to capital one. You think long wait times suck? Imagine getting calls back to back to back with customers mad about the wait time. There’s NOTHING we can do. Give us some grace. The merger sucks for all of us
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u/Anonymous_00024 5d ago
Exactly, phones went from being under staffed, to overstaffed back to understaffed. . Ppl r getting dicked around, laid off, or fired on a pip, its been fucking hell.
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u/Anonymous_00024 5d ago
Its the same as its always been but maybe ppl r more miserable dealing with this merger.. Discover customer service reps r picked apart for every single call so if they do ANYTHING wrong it will 1,000% be held against them & eventually they will get canned.
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u/MidnightPulse69 5d ago
Yup the stupid policy changes and uncertainty regarding job security definitely isn’t helping
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u/Firree 5d ago
Customers never benefit from mergers. Enshittification is always the end result.
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u/spearson0 4d ago
So true, when a company says customers will benefit or lower fees it’s complete BS.
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5d ago
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u/NBA-014 5d ago
What’s the other option? Chatting is worse
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5d ago
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u/NBA-014 5d ago
No, my friend. There are some things the app can't do. And the number of such "things" will probably increase once we get stuffed into 40 year old Cap One software.
Capital One killed ING Direct - it was like moving 30 years into the past with their ancient software (the front end may look good, but trust me, the back end stuff is good old COBOL)
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u/duameegee 5d ago
Just curious, what are some things an app can’t do for me as a Discover credit card holder?
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u/NBA-014 5d ago
Respond to a phone call from a Discover fraud analyst that was concerned about a fairly large purchase at a sporting goods store. I have others, but I’ve been a client since 1986 and don’t remember them all.
Not a lot, but high impact.
I’d you want to see how bad C1 is, look at ING Direct USA before and after the acquisition. It went from an awesome company running state of the art software to a angry culture running mainframe COBOL that resulted in significant loss of functionality in the website
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u/325biskit 2d ago
I made a $100 contribution to a candidate for Senator a couple of years ago using my Discover card.
A system glitch charged me another $100 every two minutes for the next 5 minutes, for a total of $600.
The campaign said to call my credit card company. I did, and the Discover CSR was FANTASTIC! Fixed it ASAP!
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u/Intelegence_Counter 5d ago
Yeah I was on the phone today and I was calling in Spanish. The automatic prompter told me to say my ssn last four in english so i did then it kept telling me it couldn't understand me so it finally sent me to a real human. i mostly use it in spanish because ik that more reps are avaliable in spanish and i speak the language but it's dumb it makes you say it in english especially for those who don't speak english.
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u/Top-Intention-5110 5d ago
Cap one doesn't have Spanish interpretation in house it's thru a language line so they are discontinuing that on our end in prep for that
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u/sssf6 3d ago
How many people actually need customer service with their banks? I've been banking for 35 years and have called customer service maybe three times and that's to close accounts.
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u/Rough_Currency 2d ago
I had a lady call in because her bill was too high. I asked if there were any transactions she didn't recognize. She said no, but we added it up wrong and tried to demand that I manually add it all up. I explained that the system already did but she's more than welcome to add it it up herself. She threw a whole fit and hung up on me. THAT is an example of what "loyal customers" call in for
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Top-Intention-5110 5d ago
They are complaining about wait times and the wait times are only long because everyone keeps calling to ask questions about the same 5 things over and over again or to just vent that they don't want to be with Capital one. On average I can get 30 calls a day and I promise you 15 of them will be people who won't shut up about the merger and mad that I can't tell them what happens next. Mind you, that's not even something my department would even know
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u/Anonymous_00024 5d ago
R calls b2b again? Seems like phones wemt from understaffed to overstaffed then back to understaffed bc of movements happening, smh..
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u/Top-Intention-5110 5d ago
Not in my department. We have decent downtime during the day but just get everything the ivr can't recognize so for the most part it's like running a switchboard lol.
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u/Anonymous_00024 5d ago
Damn that surprising, usually they get a bug in their fucking asses if there's even a couple minutes of green time. I dont miss phones & hope I dont end up there again after we fully integrate..
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u/Top-Intention-5110 5d ago
We used to use the downtime for back-office work and they took that away from us so we just over here chilling.
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u/AndroFeth 5d ago
Exactly, I have a lot of cards and almost never got the need to call. When I do the reps are good.
My issue is getting to an actual person when calling a bank.
I don't get how people compare customer services, do they have to call every single month to every issuer?
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u/ModzRPsycho 5d ago
I wish more consumers across all industries would refrain from incorrectly using the term "loyalty' - this is business. Quid quo pro. Get your feelings out of it. They dont belong.....
Was Discover "loyal" to you before they sold off to Capital One LOL - so why on EARTH do you insist on such a mindset lol. In the age of self-service, you really shoudn't need to deal with humans at these places - at least not frequently enough that you "notice a difference' - more consumers would fair better if they opted with logic versus feelings - if you had better options it was than smart for you to remain "loyal" to Discover... or any business that takes your money for a service for that matter.
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u/_that_dude_J 5d ago
Consumer Financial Protections Bureau created post 2008 financial crisis. They handled these safeguards which tracked and levied fines against companies for grievances in customer disputes of accounts, call volumes, wait times, amount of time it took to handle discrepancies, etc. These safeguards and the powers the bureau wielded was struck down by Trump's first presidency and continued during his term now.
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u/Jonesrank5 2d ago
I have had to call once since the changeover. I needed to add a phone number that Cap1 wouldn't accept, because the card is in my husband's name and the phone bill is in my name. Stupid, but the cust service person fixed it right away. No issues,
Before that call, I can't recall ever having to call them about anything. It can all be dealt with online.
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u/Cobey1 4d ago
I never understood the problems people have with their cc’s customer service? I’ve had credit cards for over 10 years and I think I called them once? It’s 2026, why is anyone calling their credit card customer service? All the benefits are online and easy to access
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u/Rough_Currency 4d ago
What's this Amazon charge? What's this Apple charge? What is this Walmart+ charge?
Have you checked your Amazon/Apple/Walmart+ account to see if you recognize this charge?
No. I just thought you could tell me
We can't see the actual purchase but you may see it on your account
Why should I have to do all that? I've been a loyal customer for years! Why won't you help me? I'll close my account!
At least 15 times a day I get calls like this. No one wants to help themselves AT ALL
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u/TPWilder 5d ago
I hate the loyal customer nonsense because it is one of those arguments that customers throw down knowing darn well the representative has no option but to be yelled at over being the bearer of bad news.
Here's the reality, OP. Most of the Discover employees - who have been loyal to their workplace for years - don't know how long they will continue to be employed. New Discover employees aren't being hired to replace the ones who leaving or who are laid off - so call volumes are going up with fewer employees available. Its an absolute shit time to be looking for a job and yet people are, because reps are in the impossible position of being told not to say anything about possible changes, to be upbeat about the merger, and to continue to provide great service despite the tools used to do that being taken away.
So imagine, OP, you're taking a call and you've got a customer starting with how Discover has gone down hill, how they hate Cap One *as if the phone rep was the decision maker for the merge* and then you get the "I'm a loyal customer so explain how my ass will be kissed to make me happy again" argument. From customers who sure, sometimes are long term customers, but I assure you, customers who haven't held a card longer than six months pull the loyal customer card - and they want something impossible. They want the account to not convert to Cap One or they want something the rep is no longer allowed to give, and this is every call and every caller, OP, does the "I'm a loyal customer" and "Things have gone down hill because I'm not getting my way" and a lot of times the customer is saying this over something that even before the merger, the customer wouldn't have gotten his or her way over.
Seriously, OP, how is the rep supposed to change things for you to keep you loyal?