Consumer complaint received 2021-05-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
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:
I previously submitted a complaint to the CFPB regarding Citi. Since then I have received new information that should be considered regarding this complaint. 

I pursued the complaint by contacting the Citi Executive Response Team. I have attached their latest reply and some background information.

The crux of the issue ( see attached letter ) is that I received incorrect advice by the Citi billing disputes department about whether I could close and then reopen a payment dispute. Previously Citi had denied that their agent had said that I could reopen a dispute, they have since changed their stance. 

In their latest letter they state, We regret any misunderstanding regarding this matter and that your conversations with our representatives were not completed to your satisfaction. Citi are not denying that their agent may have said this - their agent did tell me that I could reopen the dispute. 

I canceled a dispute with a merchant on the Citi website to work out a solution directly with the merchant ( as requested by the merchant and directed by the Citi agent ). When canceling the dispute on their website I read all of the Citi messages. My biggest issue with Citi is that there is NO warning that the dispute could not be reopened. The Citi Executive Response Team agrees with me. In the attached letter they state, While we understand the verbiage does not specifically state you will not be able to reopen your dispute, it does state that withdrawing the dispute will stop the investigation and close your case. 
Citi is agreeing that they are not adequately warning customers that closing a dispute is final. They have agreed their wording is ambiguous. 
Citi agrees that their agent may have told us that we could reopen a dispute. 
When my negotiations with the merchant failed and I tried to reopen the dispute Citi refused. The merchant has since gone bankrupt. 

I submit that Citi has failed its legal responsibility to adequately warn customers about the hazards of canceling a dispute with a merchant. I believe that the majority of bank customers could not know about this trap, unless explicitly told. Furthermore, Citi have failed to adequately inform their own customer support agents of this rule. In the attached letter they show no remorse or intent to change website messaging and that is clearly leaving their customers in the hands of unscrupulous businesses. Why is this? 

I want the {$4400.00} of the original dispute to be paid to me by Citi. I would never have cancelled the disputed transaction if I had known it could not be reopened. Citi has admitted that they are culpable in this situation. They did not provide adequate warning of the results of canceling a dispute. Furthermore, they do not deny that their own staff may have stated that a dispute can be reopened - which they did. 


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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