Consumer complaint received 2021-06-16
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit 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:
XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a couch from XXXX 's using my Synchrony Home credit card. A couple days after the couch was delivered on XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX 's about 2 cushions that were not the same as the rest of the couch. From afar the couch looks fine, but close up it was clear 2 of the cushions were more stuffed, they looked and felt different from the rest of the couch. I sent photos, they agreed to replace them. I waited months for them to deliver new cushions. I followed up with them by email, at one point they even told me the cushions were available but they were having trouble scheduling a delivery even though no one had reached out to me about it. I told them to please deliver ASAP, I will make sure I am available, and the next day the delivery was scheduled. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX only delivered new cushions - using the same cushion covers we already had. This did not solve the problem, but made it worse. The next day I called and requested new cushions again, I also emailed them because I was sent to voicemail. It was decided by XXXXXXXX XXXX that 3 cushions should be replaced in order for the whole couch to look the same at the same time. I followed up by email while waiting for that delivery, to confirm they were still being delivered when they said it would since there were issues with the last delivery. They guaranteed the next delivery would be 3 new couch cushions and cushion covers, so the whole couch would finally match. Now the all the holidays had come and gone, that I tried to have a nice new couch for. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX called to confirm they were on their way, they said they only had 3 cushion covers, no cushions. I told them not to deliver because this was not going to solve the problem again. That same day, I called XXXX XXXX again and told them this was their third strike and they needed to fix the problem within the week or I would be reporting them. I did not receive any response ( email or phone call ) from XXXX XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX. Two weeks with no contact from them, even then, there was no acknowledgement of their mistake. By this time, I had already contacted Synchrony to file a dispute, and I did not contact XXXX XXXX again. I provided Synchrony with this same timeline of events, they told me they would look into it and get back to me if they needed anything else. XX/XX/XXXX I was informed my case was closed only because I received an email asking me to " rate my experience '' with Synchrony now that my case was closed. Synchrony did not reach out to me first to tell me my case was closed, I had to contact them to verify. After that I was sent a letter with XXXX XXXX response to the dispute, there was no letter or response from Synchrony. Synchrony had decided to side with XXXX XXXX because XXXXXXXX XXXX said I " only contacted them 1 time in XXXX, XXXX XXXX resolved my problem, and they never heard from me again ''. This was a flat out lie, they didn't even have the correct time period of my first complaint. I responded to Synchrony with my personal phone records and emails between myself and XXXX XXXX, to prove that I had in fact tried to work with XXXX XXXX for about 6 months before it was clear they were not going to fix my problem. Which is why I then contacted Synchrony. XX/XX/XXXX I filed the same dispute for a second time and specifically asked Synchrony to please not close my case until I can make sure XXXX XXXX response is accurate since they had lied the first time. XX/XX/XXXX it was brought to my attention that the back of the couch was starting to cave in. This is a couch that is not even a year old, is being used my 2 adults in their 60 's, it's literally against a wall and has not been moved since the original delivery. I don't know how that's even possible, unless the quality of the couch is very low. I submitted an additional letter to Synchrony explaining this and provided photo evidence, to further prove the low quality of this couch. Synchrony said to submit additional information through Fax, but when I tried to do that their fax number did not work. I work in an office, I know how to use a fax machine, I tried multiple times until I finally submitted it through a message. Synchrony did acknowledge this message but it was an automated response, so I don't know for fact that they reviewed this information. XX/XX/XXXX I was informed that my dispute was closed again, by getting an email to " rate my experience ''. For the second time, I had to reach out to Synchrony to confirm my case was closed again, this time they told me over the phone that I needed to request a response letter to my dispute, I did. Synchrony had again sided with XXXX XXXX. This time Synchrony provided with me a letter response from Synchrony, but didn't provide me with XXXX XXXX response letter. Even though Synchrony  's letter specifically says " A copy of this response is enclosed '', there was no response from XXXX XXXX enclosed. From what Synchrony 's letter says, XXXX XXXX response was that " they had tried to reach out to me and I did not respond '', so I needed to respond to XXXX XXXX to solve my problem. Again, XXXX XXXX is providing Synchrony with inaccurate information, and it seems Synchrony is just going to take their word for it and ignore all the phone records and emails, and timeline of events I have provided, proving otherwise. I have provided hard evidence proving I have communicated with XXXX XXXX over multiple months, and it doesn't seem XXXX XXXX needs to provide any type of evidence to back up their response. The only time I have not responded to XXXX XXXX, is after I had already filed a dispute with Synchrony. Before that time, I went out of my way to always respond and reach out to XXXX XXXX. I have proved that I have put good-faith effort into resolving this directly with XXXX XXXX, I have patiently waited months and months for deliveries, I have taken time off work to be available for deliveries, and each time XXXX XXXX has not been able to resolve this issue. What more can I do with them? And on top of that, I have proved multiple times, that XXXX XXXX has completely lied about their interactions with me to Synchrony. I sent multiple messages to Synchrony Bank, to get answers about how they have come to this conclusion, and each time none of my questions have been answered. I've only received a very general - mostly automated response. You can even see in their responses to me, the majority of the message is automated and the 1 or 2 sentences in a different font are from a customer service rep. But still very general, not answering any of my questions. They listed their online messenger as a way to get questions answered, but their online messenger is not available. I have called the customer service number provided in these messages from Synchrony, I was told they do not have access to XXXX XXXX response letter to my dispute, so they can't send it to me. I was also told they have no information regarding the disputes, so again, they could not answer any of my questions. They could not even provide me with a phone number or anything to get my questions answered. In conclusion, Synchrony is siding with a seller that is continuously proving them with inaccurate information, and nothing to back it up. Synchrony can't answer any of my questions or concerns regarding their decision or the inaccurate information they are receiving. And I'm left with an expensive, XXXX couch that's falling apart already, and being told my only option is to keep going in circles with XXXX XXXX. Which I have already done, with no resolution. How long do I need to work with XXXX XXXX with no outcome, until Synchrony will do something? What more evidence do I need to provide to prove my point, and prove that XXXX XXXX is not providing accurate information?

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