Consumer complaint received 2023-11-10
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: CA
Product: Credit 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:
Synchrony Bank Dispute for Defective Merchandise - {$2300.00} Synchrony/Venmo Credit Card I have spent over XXXX hours of my time in attempting to resolve an on-going dispute with Synchrony Bank, regarding a Venmo Credit Card transaction with no success, causing me significant emotional and financial stress as well as impeding business operations due to the preoccupation of my time. At this point, I am interested in suing Synchrony Bank for their apparent malpractice, as they have a legal obligation to investigate my defective merchandise claim, in order to recover the funds that were lost, in addition to recovering funds associated from damages. 

Detailed account of what happened : On XX/XX/2022, I purchase XXXX back braces from a merchant I found on XXXX. The transaction was processed on my Synchrony Credit card. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the back braces are defective they breakdown after a few weeks of use. I recorded a video depicting the issue and sent it over to the merchant through XXXX messaging system. The merchant ( which are XXXX and speak very little XXXX ) claimed that I was not using the back braces properly and that there is nothing wrong with them. Frustrated with their lack of responsibility for quality assurance and customer satisfaction, I asked for a refund. They only offered me {$300.00}, to which I refused and stated that I would simply resolve this issue through my bank. 

Sometime between XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted the Synchrony Disputes Department and articulated my issues. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a full refund of the {$23000.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, the transaction was placed back onto my account, listed as Rebill/provcr. Confused as to why the credit was reversed, I contacted the disputes department. I was then informed that the initial claim was reversed due to the fact that the merchandise was received. I informed the representative that that was not the issue the issue is that the merchandise is defective. 

The case has been reopened and closed at least XXXX or XXXX  times, each time Synchrony sides with the merchant. In one of the appeals, processed sometime in the beginning of XXXX, I was informed to send in evidence of the back braces malfunctioning. As there is no way to upload a video, I was advised to send in screenshots, to which I did ( see document Screenshots of Defective Back Brace ). On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the disputes department at XXXX XXXX  to check the status of my claim. The representative that I spoke with informed me that the claim has been denied, yet again, as Synchrony can not verify if the merchandise is defective or not. I then asked if the merchant has provided evidence to prove that the back braces work fine, to which the disputes representative said no. 

Essentially, Synchrony Disputes Department is siding with the Merchant based on statements only. Despite my many attempts to resolve this issue with ample evidence ( actual defective products, a video, and the photos and documentation they requested ), they are not willing to protect me against Defective Merchandise, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Any unscrupulous merchant would of course blame the customer and avoid responsibility at all costs.

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