Consumer complaint received 2019-12-03
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
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:
After over a one year billing dispute in which I was told by Citibank Billing Dispute that I have a very strong case against a merchant for a returned bike, and after Citibank mistakenly told me on two occasions that the Case has been resolved in your favor, I was told that the merchant refused to accept what Citibank sent the merchants bank stating that the merchant is not due any money. The merchant then decided to take the rare step and pay to go to Arbitration. MasterCard shockingly ruled in the merchant 's favor. 

The letter that I received from Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX via the online e-communitcation item stated the following : The billing dispute review process has been completed for the above listed item. The merchant has refused to issue credit to your account for the disputed charge. The merchant stands by their terms and conditions that were agreed upon at purchase. They do not allow returns on custom orders. They stated the wheels on the bicycle were custom. We are rebilling the disputed amount to your account. We are unable to assist you further with this matter. You will need to seek other means. We can not mandate the merchant issue credit. This investigation is now closed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. 

The merchant committed fraud in their claim that the was a custom order. I submitted proof that their claim was fraudulent both on XX/XX/XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX. Citibank is negligent because it appears that they did not submit the crucial proof to the Arbitrators that the merchant had submitted fraudulent claims about this order being custom. The spare wheels I had ordered to be use in the winter for winter riding were never delivered, thus resulting in a refund via a MasterCard receipt on XX/XX/XXXX due to non-delivery. 

Plus, they claimed that the bike I was given had custom wheels. I never ordered custom wheels nor did I receive any other wheels, except the wheels that came with the XXXX XXXX XXXX bike. The wheels on the bike were stock expensive XXXX  XXXX wheels. I submitted proof of this. I am puzzled as to how the arbitrators could rule in favor of the merchant unless Citibank neglected to point this out or submit my evidence to the MasterCard Arbitrators. This was key factual evidence. 

I have been a loyal Citibank customer for over 23 years and I am disgusted with how Citibanks Executive Response Unit will not look into and help to correct this situation. I was assigned to XXXX XXXX in their Executive Response Unit who was investigating my case. However on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from XXXX XXXX on behalf of XXXX XXXX and she did not know all the details of the case and refused to let me speak to XXXX XXXX or the person who leads the Executive Response Unit. She kept stating that it is irrelevant. 

Citibank Executive Response Unit refused to discuss the case further even though I submitted proof on two occasions that the merchant has committed fraud. I have mountains of proof, yet Citibank does not want to be bothered and will not try to correct this major error. 

I was told on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX by two Billing Dispute representatives ( XXXX, then XXXX ) via recorded phone calls that the Citibank Investigators told the merchant 's bank that they are NOT going to return the money. The bike was returned and the merchant is in receipt of the bike. There is no proof the customer was advised of the stores return policy and did not sign anything acknowledging said policy. Credit to go back to customer. Citibank also stated that the merchant had provided a lot of conflicting information. 

And another major issue with this purchase is that the merchant never gave me the complete items that were purchased. There was a rouge manager who stole/kept all the supplied accessories that come with the bike and did not tell me that this high-end bike comes with a bag full of accessories. I was able to get a letter from the manufacturer ( XXXX XXXX ) and another local bike shop ( XXXX  XXXX  ) to explain that the bike should have been supplied with a long list of accessories. 

As for the actual transaction, this purchase for one ( bike ), but was split into two transactions : A deposit of {$2500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and the balance of {$5300.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Unfortunately this was one purchase, but it required two transactions. A very important detail is that the {$2500.00} amount was Resolved In My Favor. I do not understand how the deposit part of this dispute was resolved in my favor, but the balance was not. 

Over the past year, I was provided with incorrect information and Citibank 's Billing Dispute department made countless errors. I was told by many supervisors that my case was mishandled and I received many apologies for their mistakes. I even received a courtesy credit of {$100.00} by a Supervisor named XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to apologized for the errors that the Citibank representative who wrote up the billing dispute and was told that the employee will need to be resent to training. 

I am extremely disappointed and disgusted how I have been treated by Citibank. From the beginning they told me that I must return the merchandise as part of the Billing Dispute process. I followed every instruction and provided a mountain of evidence that the merchant was lying and committing fraud. 

In the end, I was told, " Sorry we can no longer help you. '' Not only was I rebilled {$5300.00} which is due on XX/XX/XXXX, but I do not even have the merchandise. This is a grave mistake on Citibank 's part because I am not convinced that Citibank neglected to send MasterCard my evidence that this was not a custom order, that the wheels on the bike were the stock wheels that come with an XXXX XXXX and that the merchant had been submitting conflicting information. 

I am asking for help in resolving this matter since I have nowhere to turn to. Again, Citibank must not have submitted my evidence that this was not a custom order and the photos and proof that the bicycle I received had the stock wheels on it that came with the bike. 

Dates and Details : XXXX Placed a deposit of {$2500.00} for a high-end bike ( {$7700.00} ), water bottle cages ( {$89.00} ) and a low priced ( {$580.00} ) spare set of wheels that I intended to use for winter riding on harsh XXXX streets. I did not want to ruin the expensive carbon XXXX  XXXX wheel that came with the bike. Those wheels which were included with the bike are valued at {$2400.00} if purchased separately. So there was no need for a Custom Upgrade as the merchant had wrote on the side column of a photocopy of my receipt. Never did my receipt state anything about a custom order. ( Prices mentioned above are shown before tax. ) XXXX After a once week delay due to a fork color matching issue, '' the bike arrived late and I was told by the merchant to pay the balance of {$5900.00} in full. '' The spare set of wheel had not arrived yet, but I was told that I MUST pay the entire balance. I received the bike that I ordered the which came with high-end expensive stock wheels. 

A few weeks later I discovered that the merchant failed to give me all the included accessories that was in the shipping box and are the customers property with purchase. This was never a complete purchase, meaning I did not get everything I paid for since the manager withheld/ stole the accessories. This should have invalidated their return policy immediately. 

The Fair Credit Billing Act dictates that there be a process by which one can question transactions involving goods or services you never received or merchants did not deliver in the way they were supposed to. This is exactly that situation. A dishonest merchant who tried to cheat an unassuming consumer. 

XXXX After three weeks of excuses of why my spare set of winter wheels have not arrived, the merchant kindly REFUNDED the wheels to my MasterCard . The amount was {$630.00}. So again, I never received the spare set of wheels. 

Also on this day, after receiving the Refund for the spare wheels, I was told never to come back to the bike shop. With that, they were not going to honor my lifetime service on a bike that I paid a lot of money for. 

XXXX After being very upset how I was treated by the merchant, I called Citibank Billing Disputes to see what can be done. I spoke with a representative named XXXX who informed me that the call would be recorded. She said, Do you like to never have to deal with this merchant again? I said yes. She then said, OK, we are going to open a billing dispute. Since this purchase required two transactions, one for the deposit and one for the balance, I have to open a separate dispute for each, so my questions will be redundant. Once I open this dispute, I will send you paperwork for you to fill out and send back. You will return the bike to the merchant tomorrow and Citibank will take care of this. You will never have to deal with this merchant again. When I mentioned that the receipt said no returns on bikes, XXXX said, It does not matter. And when I told her that if I return the bike, I will need another bike since I am in a cycling club, XXXX stated, You can go ahead and buy the same bike from another authorized dealer that you trust. I was very comforted after this phone call since XXXX of Citibank assured me that everything will be taken care of.

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