Consumer complaint received 2017-12-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I was approved for a Citibank American Airlines Advantage Mastercard that offered XXXX bonus miles for spending {$3000.00} in the " first 3 months ''. ( Quotes given here reflect wording on the Citibank webpage that I screen-captured and printed out ). An additional stipulation was that AA " Advantage bonus miles are not available if you have had any Cit/AAdvantage card ... opened or closed in the past 24 months. '' Once I reached over the stipulated {$3000.00} mark, on XX/XX/XXXX I called Citicards to cancel my old card since I was no longer using it. The representative who closed the card said that by closing the card I could no longer use that old card any longer. I had asked if this would cause any problems with my new card. He said, " no. '' I specifically asked about the bonus miles, and he did not mention there would be a problem. 

I never received the bonus miles, and then called the Citibank phone number. I was told an inquiry would be sent to their Consumer Service department by the phone representative. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an unsigned form letter in response stating that I was not eligible for bonus miles because " Special offers are n't available when an existing account in the same product has been approved or closed within 24 months. '' I called back about this and was told there was no one whom I could talk to on the phone in that department and to fax a response to XXXX. I did this onXX/XX/XXXX, carefully giving an in depth explanation regarding the difference between the reasons for not getting bonus miles if the old card was closed in the " past '' 24 months '' as stated in the online ad, and the letter I received with the wording " closed within 24 months ''. I made it clear that I was eligible I had not cancelled the old card " in the prior 24 months '' before being issued a new card. I received another response from Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX, looking like another unsigned form letter, again denying the bonus miles, and not addressing that the online ad for the credit card had language that was different that the reasons for denial stated in the letter I had received from Customer Service. Instead it just repeated that I had closed a card " within past 24 months '', now adding the word " past '' in the phrase used in their letter to me on XX/XX/XXXX, but still not honoring the wording of the ad which did not use the word " within '' anywhere in that ad. I wish to have this situation resolved, since I have made 2 attempts, ( 1 phone call and 1 fax ) to bring to the attention of Citibank that there is a problem in the wording of their ad which is causing me to not receive the bonus miles which I had every reason to expect to receive based about the wording in their ad. Other consumers should be aware of this problem. If I had know about the difference between the ad and the actual Citibank policy, that is, the difference between the words " prior 24 months '' ( the ad ) and " within 24 months '', and then " within the past 24 months '' ( the letters that Customer Service use to alter the wording they are basing their denial on according to whatever new information I am I writing to them about ), I would have never cancelled the old card until 24 months had passed since I was approved for the new card. As it turns out, if I had waited just 11 more days, the XXXX miles would have been posted because the 2nd monthly cycle of the new card would have been over and the miles would have  already been banked.

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