Consumer complaint received 2023-06-19
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: OH
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
Citibank has claimed, falsely, that this complaint involves a third, unauthorized party on 2 separate occasions. A freedom of information act request has been submitted to analyze the disposition of Citibank complaints. 

Original complaint : The incompetence, lying, and outright fraud shown from Citibank is astounding. Even if you don't find in my favor, please take this complaint seriously and consider appropriate fines for Citibank. They are actively, maliciously, causing harm to their customers as a cost saving measure. Any reasonable jury would find that they are violating the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974 as a means of cost-savings. I filed 3 disputes on XX/XX/XXXX for work done by a contractor. The initial details included are outlined below at XXXX. Citibank opened the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX when I initially learned that my contractor did the work illegally without any permits. There were 3 separate disputes in the amounts of {$6500.00}, {$4000.00}, and {$4000.00}. Citi provided online documents on XX/XX/XXXX for me to respond to the dispute details. Those XXXX documents are attached ( Citi dispute 1, Citi dispute 2, Citi dispute 3 ). they have sense been removed from my online account. These 3 disputes were mistakenly sent to me all for dispute Case ID : XXXX. All three were identical. I responded separately to all XXXX. In the next few days, I realized they only applied them to 1 of the 3 disputes. I realized their error and I resubmitted the dispute information with the updated dispute number ( attached : Email Screenshot XXXX, Email Screenshot XXXX ( XXXX ) ). They currently have XXXX different letters on my account after I had called to inquire about the XXXX duplicate letters. They replaced them with 3 alternative duplicate letters ( Currently attached to my account : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX ). Their next communication with me is dated XX/XX/XXXX ( attached : XXXX ). This letter arrived at my house on XX/XX/XXXX but I replied on XX/XX/XXXX because I was able to review the letter on my online account ( Response : XXXX response letter, attachments to this letter are also included here ). They have sense, back dated a letter that says they sent it on XX/XX/XXXX. This is a complete and total lie. They did not send a physical copy of the letter and there was not an online version of the letter until the last few days. They are purposely, illegibly backdating documents to cover their legal exposure ( attached : XXXX ) I have called them more then 10 times during this process. I have the recorded calls. I have been lied to repeatedly, including employees identifying as supervisors. I have multiple recorded calls to support this. Last week I called on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and I was told that an email was sent to the investigator and I would receive a call back in 24-48 hours. That did not happen. I called after 48 hours and asked to speak to a supervisor. She sent another email and ensured me that I'd have an update in 24-48 hours. That, once again, did not happen. I started my cfpb complaint last Friday and contacted the executive response team. Citibank, appears to purposely making the chargeback process as complicated, and non responsive as possible to reduce their costs. It's that simple. They need to be help accountable for their actions. 1A : Expected to receive : We paid to have a licensed and bonded contractor pull required permits, remove a load bearing wall, reroute electrical and hvac system, install a steal beam to replace the load bearing wall, encase the beam in drywall or wood and patch and repair any damage caused during the process. Actually received : Contractor did not pay his bond starting XX/XX/XXXX. Contractor lost all licenses on XX/XX/XXXX. They pulled no permits and all work was done il legally. They removed the wall, installed the steal beam, and had an hvac subcontractor attempt to reroute the ductwork. We had to pay for a structural engineer to come out to inspect the structural integrity of the steal beam. We have had 3 hvac companies come out to inspect the work provided by our contractor and they all 3 agreed that there were serious safety issues and that all hvac work would have to be completely removed and redone at a cost of XXXX XXXXplus the cost to pull permits. The contractor also used my personal power tools without permission, stole and damaged property, and purposely wasted XXXX gallons of water between XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  and XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX. Text from XX/XX/XXXX email : To whom it is conerned : This is in response to the letter posted to my account dated XX/XX/XXXX. These documents apply to all XXXX disputes mentioned in the letter : XXXX XXXX XXXX First Letter Requirement : Please provide us a copy of the invoice, contract or an agreement along with terms of the sale. Initial contract attachment : " Original Contract not signed '' Signed Contract attachment : " Signed Contract XX/XX/XXXX '' Second Letter Requirement : Please provide us the first and the last date you received the services from the merchant. First construction Date : XX/XX/XXXX Last Date : XX/XX/XXXX Third Letter Requirement : Please provide us the date you made the materials available to the merchant for pick up and the merchant 's response to your request for credit. The merchant has been free to pick up his materials at any time but has not asked to. My lawyer also sent him a letter ( attachment : " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '' ) to arrange a pickup but the contractor has not responded. The merchant did not respond to my request for a credit. XXXX XXXX XXXX : Please provide us your recent attempts to contact the merchant to resolve your claim I contacted the merchant on XX/XX/XXXX to ask for the permits. His response was " I wouldn't want to waste anymore money. So I'm not going to do that '' ( attachment : " Text XXXX '' ) A voice call attempt on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX attempting to discuss a refund were not answered. Emails to his email address are returned : XXXX. And his websites are down ( XXXX, rmrllchilliard.com ). Fifth Letter Requirement : Please provide copies of all documentation pertaining to these transactions including invoices, emails, or any other documentation that will support your claim. Remainder of the email text and attachments. The contractor ( XXXX XXXX XXXX presented his business as licensed, bonded, and insured. He did not pay his bond in XX/XX/XXXX and his licenses were put on hold. They were suspended on XX/XX/XXXX. The document named " Signed XXXX XX/XX/XXXX '' had permit drawings attached ( attachment : " XXXX '' ) leading me to believe that the contractor had completed the permit application as he had told us he would do. He confirmed he never pulled permits because he was not able to by text on XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached : " Text XXXX XXXX '' ). He has the permit in the contract in the first step but he did not apply for it. He also has it listed in the attached file : " XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. Summary of situation : We wanted to remove a load bearing wall that was between our living room /dining room/kitchen. This required a steel beam and rerouting the hvac system. Before we agreed to remove the wall, we had a plan for the hvac system and how it would look. Only after that, did we agree to move forward with the project. Work started the week of XX/XX/XXXX. We met with the electrician to make the electrical wiring in the wall to be removed safe. We also met with the hvac team to finalize our plan for rerouting the hvac ductwork. Then on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX 's team came to the house and removed everything except the framing for the load bearing wall. The following week, they put up temporary supports on each side of the load bearing wall and removed the framing for the load bearing wall. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX 's team installed the steal beam and its supports. On XX/XX/XXXX, the temporary supports were removed. During that process, 2 workers were removing a large beam and it fel causing damage to the vinyl flooring in our kitchen. XXXX XXXX subcontracted an hvac team to come out starting XX/XX/XXXX. They worked from XXXX on the XXXX and at the end of the day told me they were 70 % complete. They came back and worked from XXXX - XXXX on the 2nd day and still were not finished. We did not see the work they had done until the morning of the XXXX. It was not at all what we agreed to so we asked XXXX XXXX to come to the house to discuss how we could address our concerns. Our largest concern was the width of the beam and hvac ductwork on the ceiling of the first floor. Previously he had assured us that it would be XXXX '' XXXX '' wide when they were finished. When he came out on the XXXX, he was clearly agitated and said he told us it would be at least XXXX '' wide. It is currently XXXX '' wide and would require a soffit the length of the entire beam to appropriately hide the ductwork. I told him later that day via text, that we should put the hvac work on pause until I had independent hvac companies come out and assess the work that had already been done. XXXX XXXX had previously told me that he had the electricians coming out on XX/XX/XXXX and I asked him to cancel that visit because I was concerned that the hvac work would need to be redone which would cause the electrical work to possibly need to be redone. My text to XXXX was : " We should probably change the Monday electrician to a future date too. I don't want to waste money. '' I had XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX out on XX/XX/XXXX. Their employee XXXX identified 1 serious safety concern with a return put right next to our gas water heater that could potentially cause combustion fumes to circulate throughout the home. Other than that, he just said that the work was very amateurish and simply would not work. We checked the ~11 returns throughout the house and the only one creating suction was the one that was on the side of the furnace next to the water heater. We also checked airflow on the 2 supplies that were rerouted and XXXX had minimal airflow, and the other had no noticeable airflow. XXXX 's estimate of {$5500.00} plus permits is attached ( " Quote HVAC rework XXXX '' ). XXXX stated that none of the work that was done could be salvaged. It all would need to be removed. We had a second professional come out later on the XXXX and he stated the same safety concern as XXXX and said that the work would all need to be redone. We had a third opinion on the XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. They also had the same safety concern and questioned the decisions to run much of the return ductwork as a much simpler and more reliable option was possible. He also repeatedly stated that he did not believe a licensed hvac would have done this work. All of XXXX XXXX 's workers except for him and one supervisor spoke monolingual XXXX. My husband is fluent in XXXX. They were repeatedly saying derogatory, XXXX  comments about us as they did their initial work on XX/XX/XXXX. I heard them ask about the bathroom and I asked my husband to respond. This is the first time they realized that he could understand everything they were saying. To say they were shocked was an understatement and they did not speak much at all after that interaction. I did not learn of everything they had said until several weeks later. This crew is not welcome back in the house. My husband and I were out of town from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX and we allowed the contractor access to our home to continue his work. We had cameras in multiple places inside and outside and discussed that fact with XXXX XXXX prior to allowing them access to the home while we were gone. On XX/XX/XXXX they moved a camera, possibly by accident, that had the best view of the room they were working on. That same night they left water running starting at XXXX XXXX  until XXXX XXXX  the next day using XXXX gallons of water. This corresponded to the time they left on XX/XX/XXXX and was turned off while they were at the house on XX/XX/XXXX We have a smart device on our water meter that tells us usage by the minute ( attachments : " Flume Leak Alert XXXX '', " Flume Leak Detail XXXX '' ). This increase in usage was also reflected on our water bill. I did not see the leak detection report until XXXX. A leaking toilet uses ~50 gallons a day, a full running toilet uses ( if the fill valve was stuck open ) XXXX gallons a day. I texted XXXX XXXX and asked what happened and he suggested that a toilet was running. I told him that it was unreasonable- it would be like 8 toilets running. I asked if it was intentional and did not respond. This was more water then we used in the entire month of XXXX. Due to this incident, the contractor 's hired supervisor came to the house on XX/XX/XXXX and I asked for the key back. I was only willing to let them on the property when I was home to monitor them from that point. When XXXX came out on XX/XX/XXXX their employee explained that we were required to have a permit posted on the front door for the work we were doing. This was our first indication that XXXX XXXX did not pull the permits. I texted XXXX XXXX and asked for the permit number on XX/XX/XXXX. He replied " Haven't opened a permit because we do not have a complete scope of work yet. '' I replied with a screenshot showing that he had previously told us this was the first step after payment was received. I then texted him " If you haven't pulled them yet, you need to pull them now please. This is what you had said was your first step when our first payment went through ''. He then replied " I wouldn't want to 'waste any more money '. So I'm not going to do that. " ( attachments : " XXXX XXXX XXXX '', " Text XXXX XXXX '', " Text XXXX '' ) That is when we realized for certain that we could no longer use him as a XXXX. We contacted Citi on XX/XX/XXXX and disputed all payments for what we believed to be material breach of contract since he did the work illegally without any permits, did subpar work that was not properly inspected ( XXXX XXXX was being taken into the HVAC system by improper design ), and maliciously caused damage to our property through purposely wasting water ( attachments : " Flume Leak Alert XXXX '', " Flume Leak Detail XXXX '' ). We also started digging into his background. We contacted the city of XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX department and confirmed that XXXX XXXX 's XXXX licenses ( XXXX, XXXX ) were revoked XXXX. We found that his license ( XXXX ) was put on " hold '' starting in XXXX, XXXX due to non payment of bond. More digging : XXXX county common please court default judgement of {$81000.00} against XXXX XXXX issued on XX/XX/XXXX - case number XXXX CV XXXX by judge XXXX XXXX. The plaintiff was XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Also open case XXXX CV H aa XXXX in XXXX county common please - XXXX XXXX is the plaintiff. He also has a tax lean on his home in XXXX. Because he is involved in several other lawsuits, including a default judgement of {$81000.00} against him, we believe XXXX XXXX to be insolvent. When the purchases were made, we believed that we were paying a licensed, bonded, and insured contractor to complete our project so that just in case something went wrong, we could go after his bond or insurance. Unfortunately, because he no longer has an active license or bond, we have no reasonable way to collect damages from XXXX XXXX. The total work from the contract is less than half done. The beam is in place, but the HVAC, electrical, and finishing work all still needs to be completed. We have around XXXX XXXX in our living room and our lawyer advised us that we could not repair or continue any work until all legal issues have been resolved. Our kitchen and living room have been nearly unusable for the past several months. The hardwood floor is damaged due to the very large cutout for hvac that needs to be redone. The vinyl floor in the kitchen is damaged. XXXX XXXX or his workers stole several items from the house ( led headlights ). The hvac work done damaged some other hvac ductwork that will need to be repaired. The air conditioner may have been damaged according the hvac professions that came out. The hvac work excluding the a/c is {$5500.00} plus permits ( attachement : " Quote HVAC rework XXXX '' ). I attached another version of the signed contract with a couple of comments where XXXX XXXX broke the contract terms. We can't be certain of XXXX XXXX 's motives for not responding to us or our lawyer but the lawsuits he's been in recently have had difficulty serving him in person and he XXXX be purposely hiding. Please let me know if you need additional information. Sincerely, XXXX XXXX The first complaint was fraudulently closed by claiming they needed my authorization to speak to me - saying there was a third part involved. That is not true. Citi bank says they responded to the complaint, but there is no evidence of that.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation