Atlas Rewards Card

I paid for a rental car, but when I got to the place, they ran my card for the deposit and Atlas flagged my transaction as suspicious. After trying to get in touch with someone for three hours, I finally received an email telling me that my transaction was declined because they do not support the merchant.

Keep in mind that I just used the same card to pay for the cost of the rental literally minutes before the decline and the transaction went through with no problem. When I asked them to explain how a transaction for the same merchant went through perfectly fine minutes before this if that merchant wasn't supported, they couldn't give me an answer and said they escalated the issue for further investigation and they'd get back to me as soon as possible. Mind you, I am now stranded at the airport with absolutely no options. I either leave in the rental or I walk 15+ miles in the freezing cold, hoping I make it safely.

I waited longer to receive a response that said Atlas doesn't support car rentals at this time. We recommend leveraging another card then they recommended I reach out to the merchant and have them cancel the transaction. Again, if it's not supported, why would I have to have them cancel a transaction that shouldn't have gone through in the first place? Unfortunately, that's not how car rentals work.

I can't just cancel something and not be charged, I still have to pay them something for the inconvenience. So I said, 'If I had another card, don't you think I'd be using it?' And told them if I can't use my own money, then they are useless and I want to cancel the card completely. Their response, once again, was 'We understand your frustration, let me further check so we can help out.' I asked them to please explain how the transaction went through in the first place if the merchant wasn't supported, and I sent them a screenshot of the transaction that states the merchant's name clearly that said approved next to it. Almost an hour later, their response was once again, 'I've escalated this for further investigation, we will update you as soon as possible.' It has now been 16 hours and I have yet to hear anything from them.

I ended up walking 45 minutes in the freezing cold and an elderly man gave me a ride closer to my destination (thankfully, I made it safely) but when I tried to withdraw money, my transaction was declined yet again!

I tried two more times, each time being declined. I couldn't even use my card to pay for an Uber, for Pete's sake.