Consumer complaint received 2021-03-16
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Problem getting a working replacement card

Complaint:
I tried to activate a Synchrony bank MasterCard the last week in XX/XX/XXXX that was a replacement card for a XXXX XXXX store card that also acts as a general purpose credit card. When I tried to activate the card, I was told via the automated activation phone # that the card would not activate and the account was closed. 
I tried to call the XXXX # provided on the back of the card for customer service to find out why I could not successfully activate the card. I was unable to touch base with anyone. When I selected the option for an operator, the line would hang up on me. I tried this many times for about 30 minutes and was not successful in getting anyone. 
I started calling other # s for Synchrony provided on the internet and connected with someone who told me that they didn't handle my situation. However, I finally connected with someone who could assist. The operator told me that ( I believe it was XXXX ) that there was a deadline prior to XX/XX/XXXX to activate the card. I told him it was prior to XX/XX/XXXX that I tried to activate it so why did it not activate and why did their XXXX # on the back of the card not work. ( He told me that he could not confirm when I tried to activate it. ) He could not answer my questions satisfactorily, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. I spoke with 2 supervisors, the first one whose name I do not recall ; he said that the card was a special offering from XXXX XXXX and had a limit on it. I explained that I was unaware of a timeline to activate the card and the XXXX # didn't work. He said that he was unaware of why the # wasn't working but there wasn't anything he could do about activating the card. I asked to speak to a more senior person in their hierarchy and he said there was no one, but he did transfer me over to another supervisor, XXXX. XXXX was rather rude and told me that I was not going to be able to open that account and that was the way it was. Nothing could change it. I told her about the non-working customer service phone # and she said " I'll have to look into it '' when I asked for a more senior person to speak to, she told me there was no one. I said " perhaps a V.P? '' And she said " Well, they wouldn't be interested in talking to you '' And I replied, " Really, I am a customer of your company, and your V.P. would not be interested in talking to me? Is that correct? '' At that point I decided that she was not assisting me and I told her that I needed no further assistance from her and hung up. 
I immediately registered a complaint with XXXX 's problem resolution department and was contacted by XXXX twice on XX/XX/XXXX to listen to my complaint and XX/XX/XXXX to provide the follow up on it. ( He is located in South Dakota ). XXXX explained that the card would not activate, because it was a limited offer by XXXX XXXX and the time was over for it's offering but could not give me a definitive date as to when the offer had terminated or what the timeline was for the offering. He could not confirm that it was prior to XX/XX/XXXX as one of Synchrony 's operators, XXXX had told me. I told him that I tried to confirm prior to XX/XX/XXXX and I was told that my account was closed and that I had no customer service # to follow up with because the # on the back of the card was not functional. XXXX did not seem to be too concerned saying that he was unaware of that # ( I provided it to him from the back of the card ), explaining the # did not show up on any of his lists for customer service # s for Synchrony. I responded to him that I hope Synchrony didn't put a false # on back of the card in case a customer might want to question why they couldn't activate the card. He said that he went through Synchrony 's compliance department to see if my card could be activated but his request was turned down, so I could not activate the card. 
This is a card that I wanted to use because it is a general purpose MasterCard. I was disappointed that I could not activate it and I feel that Synchrony deliberately misled customers as to the time limit needed to activate it and provided a false # on the back of the card so the customer could not get immediate assistance. I still feel as though this card should be re-instated for me since there was no communication about what they were doing and the limitations on it. They said they could not determine when I attempted to activate it, nor provide the timeline in which I should have activated it. 
I would appreciate it if you would follow up with Synchrony about this incident. 
I have other complaints about Synchrony, which I will send in as a separate incident.

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 non-monetary relief