Consumer complaint received 2020-12-29
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
I originally deposited the amount required for the promotion on XX/XX/2020, and contacted support many times, the last of which was XX/XX/2020. 

My request is simple : 1. I have received part of the rewards for a promotion in which I am participating. Specifically, I have received a {$500.00} cash bonus on a new Citi checking account. However, I have not received the other reward, which is an additional 0.5 % cash back on my Citi Double Cash Card, from XX/XX/2020 through XX/XX/2020. 
2. I should have received a set of the terms of this promotion upon enrolling in it. I have received no documents containing these, via mail, email, or messages on the online portal. 

Why I have needed to escalate my request/complaint : - The online information regarding the promotion in which I am participating has been removed. See the screenshots attached. It is entirely understandable to cease new advertisement of promotions which no longer meet Citis business interests. If existing participation in such promotions is no longer in Citis interests, however, it is clearly not acceptable to attempt to hide or erase them. Once my enrollment has been accepted, it is no longer Citis prerogative to unilaterally exit the terms of the agreement. I recognize that legally, there very well might be loopholes written for just this case I wouldnt know ; I cant access the terms but this is irrelevant ; its bad business. 

- I have been read conflicting versions of the terms for this promotion. It seems that no one on the support teams is authorized to send written versions of the terms, but rather may only read them over the phone. This is completely unacceptable a ) on principle, because binding details such as these must be made available in a static and reproducible manner ( and in a format accessible to individuals with disabilities ), and b ) because such information must be made available without errors if the information I receive differs from one request to the next, how could I possibly trust any information provided in this format? If the details are not consistent, how could I possibly believe that Citi would not intentionally change them to suit their interests? 

- After escalating my request to a supervisor, I received a reply message which informed me that I had received the {$500.00} cash bonus ( clearly, I already knew this it was the basis for my request ), included a promotion number with the wrong number of characters, making it incompatible with the online tool meant to help me access promotion information, and contained nothing regarding my request for a written copy of the terms. I have no reason to believe that my request was even communicated to the team responsible for this letter. See the attached letter. 

- With customer support, I have repeatedly been transferred circularly. For example, because this promotion applies both to my checking account and credit card, I have been transferred from credit card support to checking support, only to be told that checking support could not help me and that I would be again transferred to credit card support. 

- I have repeatedly been placed on hold, and then hung up upon during the hold. 

- I have repeatedly been placed on hold, then transferred unexpectedly to a representative unaware of my case.

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