Consumer complaint received 2020-08-30
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 booked two round trip tickets from a travel agent called " XXXX  '' on XX/XX/XXXX. The tickets cost me {$1000.00}. However, the flights were canceled by the airline " XXXX XXXX  '' due to COVID-19 on XX/XX/XXXX. Ever since then, I've been dealing with this travel agent to get my refund for the cancelled flights, no success however, so I opened dispute on the credit card - Citi Business Platinum Select in early XXXX. Dispute ID : XXXX. 

I am entitled for a full refund and have provided all the evidences and documentations to Citi bank. However, the dispute took more than 4 months and during the whole procedure Citi bank dissolved this issue for the merchant favor several times again and again. It's so disappointed that while Citi understands that this travel agent refused to refund for no reason, still they don't stand behind their customer and can not protect customer 's benefits. 

Please see the reasons why I am entitled to get my full refund ( {$1000.00} ) back : First, according to the US Department of Transportation official travel refunds policy, passengers are entitled to refunds of the airline cancelled a flights, regardless of the reason. If a passenger is owed a refund, an airline, travel agent, or online travel agency must process it within 7 business days if the passenger paid by credit card. The link is provided below and webpage PDF is attached https : //www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds Second, the travel agent stated that the Airline is not providing any refund as of now. This is not true. The Airline of the canceled flight is XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX  has clear refund policy online : For the involuntary cancelled flights, if no portion of the ticket has been used, the entire paid fare will be refunded. Again, the link of XXXX XXXX online refund policy is provided and the webpage PDF is attached https : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX Due to COVID, tons of passengers were infected and a lot of us are not getting money back. Because some travel agents act unethically and do not obey market regulations, hopeless customers like me have no choice but to seek for help from credit card company. Its so disappointed that citi bank does not stand behind its customer when there is official travel refunds policy from the US Department of Transportation and the travel agent/merchant stands no ground at all.

Now it's been almost 5 month and I still have not got my money back. Citi has closed my dispute again ( during the past 4 months, my dispute was closed by Citi several times ). Please help. I am hoping to get my refund {$1000.00} back. It's a lot of money to me. It's very appreciated if you can do any help.

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