Consumer complaint received 2020-08-14
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: SC
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:
1 ) Purchased a hotel and airline tickets through a XXXX  travel reseller in midXX/XX/2020 for a mid-XXXX vacation 2 ) COVID pandemic became aware to us in serious form about 1.5 weeks prior to XXXX trip departure, but we were determined to stick it out 3 ) COVID situation continued to escalate to such serious level by XX/XX/2020 that we canceled the trip with the XXXX travel reseller the day prior to our departure on Sun, XX/XX/XXXX, providing as much notice as we could under the vastly heightened circumstances. 
4 ) XXXX travel reseller refused to refund anything, claiming their standard cancellation policy applied and that we forfeited our funds. 
5 ) XXXX travel reseller then later said they'd " try '' to negotiate some partial credit with the hotel itself, which we refused and stated the reseller themselves needed to refund us in full without further question/discussion, then they could settle whatever matter with the hotel with whom we were not in contact nor did we buy directly from. 
6 ) XXXX travel reseller delayed and stonewalled repeatedly and then went unresponsive entirely for long period. 
7 ) We proceeded to dispute on XXXX XXXX via the card issuer, Synchrony Bank, as we had informed the XXXX travel reseller we would if they failed to communicate and cooperate promptly. 
8 ) Synchrony Bank from day 1 delayed, obfuscated, and poorly managed/handled the matter but eventually issued a " provisional credit '' on our account for the full purchase price paid. Synchrony proceeds to request " Additional documentation/information '' on XXXX XXXX which simply is the same dispute form letter asking for all the same information we already fully provided in the initial dispute form submission online. This is our first clear indication Synchrony 's  dispute management process is broken. 
9 ) After extended delays and unbelievably poor communication continuing from Synchrony, repeated inquiries and restarts from our side in attempts to regain traction on the matter, Synchrony came back with no documentation, no communication or any explanatory response of any substance whatsoever, simply sending a form letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that the matter had been closed in the merchant 's ( reseller 's ) favor. 
10 ) We then contacted XXXX XXXX, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Retail Card, Synchrony Financial for help in achieving an actual acceptable resolution. While no response was ever received directly from him, we did eventually receive, after a few attempts, a response from his apparent designees in the " Office of the President '' who contacted us on his behalf. 
11 ) More of the same delays, non-responsiveness occurred even from this " Office. '' 12 ) " Office '' designee eventually tries to call us back again and keep the conversation verbal instead of in writing. Designee  argues with wife about " why did think to even book a vacation like this in mid-XXXX this year. '' Synchrony utterly fails to discuss the merits of the dispute or our situation or our reasoning for the dispute in the first place. We ask Synchrony 's " Office '' in writing to confine all future response/communication to written form. 
13 ) We contact the XXXX reseller to ask about their vague refund offer that had meanwhile suddenly appeared back on XX/XX/XXXX during the dispute, on their condition we close the dispute. No response. 
14 ) We informed Synchrony, both via the Customer Service portal and via the executive " Office '' of the merchant 's purported, non-specific refund offer if we closed the dispute. We ask why Synchrony won't reopen the dispute and find it our favor, given such facts, and charge the merchant back as they ought to have done in the first place. No response from Synchrony to this day. 
15 ) We mysteriously receive in the XX/XX/XXXX mail ( postmarked XX/XX/XXXX ) the " missing '' XX/XX/XXXX documentation from the dispute wherein the merchant allegedly provides substantiating details for their rejection/challenge of the dispute. In actuality, the 24 pages contains nothing but nearly illegible boilerplate the merchant has copied and forwarded ( apparently from their website somewhere ) and the only vaguely substantive response is from a " first name only '' individual at the reseller stating on page 22 of 24 : " Customer canceled stay day before arrival. Standard cancellation policy applies and they should have used travel insurance for such. '' 16 ) We have never said or claimed that there was any 'billing error ' as Synchrony falsely misstates. We have never said or claimed that we did not cancel the day prior to our trip/stay. This is not the basis of our dispute and never has been. These are red herrings that Synchrony and the merchant are throwing out because they clearly do not wish to address the primary point we have repeatedly made : This is a force majeure event legally and morally. We are therefore not obligated to fulfill the contract/agreement under these " unprecedented circumstances '' that they and everyone else in the world pretty much universally acknowledge exist. We are thus entitled to a full, unequivocal, immediate refund. Clearly, neither Synchrony nor the merchant wish to address this point.

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