Consumer complaint received 2021-01-27
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: VA
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX I booked a vacation through XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I had a medical issue and asked the host to please move the dates to XXXX or XXXX. If we were not able to do so I would just have to put the XXXX  on hold. I even offered to pay more and rent the second property. Immediately the host said if you cancel " you will lose your entire payment. are you sure you want to cancel? '' I said No I do not want to cancel I was trying to see if we could move the dates. I had called prior to sending a message and XXXX told me to ask the host to change the dates which would be no problem and best way to work something out. Then the host told me to cancel from my end and I contacted XXXX again. The agent said do not cancel, if you do you will lose all your money. Then the host began to threaten me and gave me ultimatums which is documented saying I better cancel by a certain time or else. Then on XX/XX/XXXX my husband and I found out we needed to be tested for XXXX  because we were exposed to it by 3 people who tested XXXX. I told the host immediately that we really were going to need to change the dates due to the order to quarantine. The host accused me of lying. Then there was a message sent via XXXX messaging pretending to be XXXX telling me to cancel. XXXX/the host lied and said if you cancel we will give you a full refund - if not it will mess up the hosts metrics and and gave me an ultimatum and time deadline to cancel. Again, I called XXXX and they said that was not true that someone was just trying to threaten me and intimidate me to cancel. Then it appeared the " host '' messaged me and said " i am no longer comfortable hosting you. Cancel by XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  or else you will not get a full refund. It went on and on with threats and the host canceled and kept my money. I had to start a dispute with Citibank Mastercard. I ended up with XXXX  related issues well into XXXX. I had XXXX XXXX and my Mother had XXXX  and actually did not recover and passed away XX/XX/2021. During the entire time from XX/XX/XXXX to today XX/XX/2021 I have disputed the charges. XXXX harassed me by yelling at me on the phone. XXXX sent an email stating if I did not give a full refund they would remove this listing. None of that happened. Citibank Mastercard did absolutely nothing to help me and kept sending me emails saying they found in the favor of the merchant. This was over {$5000.00} I was charged. The host/XXXX then decided to give back all but {$1600.00}. I contacted Citibank Mastercard numerous times during the time I was sick, my Mom was sick and developed XXXX and XXXX. They refused to talk to me on the phone and even kept hanging up after transferring me numerous times. I ended up closing my credit card account I had for years with them due to this. I even filled something out online and got approved to not have to pay for a while and while this was being disputed. Then they tell me again I have to reopen the dispute and claimed they never received one piece of evidence from me. All lies. Today I find out that while this is still in dispute and under covid relief pay they take {$300.00} out of my bank. We contacted our bank immediately. I talked to someone at citibank and they said you have a balance you have to pay. This is illegal as I consulted an attorney who told me that if the entire balance was in dispute they can not take any money. They claim that I had autopay and they would continue to take money until I turned off autopay. They refused to talk about the amount that is still being disputed. The entire balance on that card is from the XXXX  charges. XXXX claimed they would give a full refund then backed out. We had hoped XXXX would have worked something out to change dates considering the dire circumstances. I have proof my Mom died who had XXXX  XXXX and she was one of the people who unfortunately had it and we didn't know it and we were exposed to it. I want the rest of my money back. This is fraud especially when the customer service agents refuse to look at any documents I provided including emails and messages from XXXX and stating that XXXX sent them documentation and they refuse to show me what any of that is. This effected my credit as well. I had to get a loan to get my heat fixed during this mess as well. I have been harassed by XXXX and CItibank customer service employees. I barely have gotten through taking care of things after my Mother 's death and am receiving no help at all from Citibank.

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