Consumer complaint received 2022-02-22
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:
Core Issue : Merchant processes refund, provides documentation, but we never receive credit to our account. Citibank states that they can not locate the refund and will not reach out to the merchant or merchant 's bank. Due to the original date of the transaction, the cases keep getting closed even though the representatives will state that this is non-standard issue due the charge being for services to be used at future date that never occurred due to the pandemic. Further this is a refund that took place in XXXX XXXX and was never credited. 

Citibank is opening this case for the 6th or 7th time, but a representative from CFPB suggested filing the complaint to exhaust all avenues. 

Below is a timeline to add more context and understanding to this refund that we have not received.

Original Charge : {$3700.00} ( this is the amount of the refund that the hotel made on XXXX XXXX, XXXX but we have never received ) 1. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Confirmed booking of 11 night all inclusive vacation at XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX @ XXXX XXXX in the XXXX XXXX for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. 
2. XXXX XXXX Pandemic had begun and we were told by XXXX customer service to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Regional Online Sales Manager for the XXXX XXXX XXXX We emailed her to find out what our options were. 
3. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX offered us a stay certificate to travel in XX/XX/XXXX. We expressed concern that there were so many unknowns with the pandemic. 
4. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX offered us a certificate to travel in XXXX. 
5.. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Reservation put on hold. 
6. XXXX, XXXX- XXXX went through a rebranding and was renamed XXXX XXXX XXXX as of XX/XX/XXXX, XXXXThe hotel remained under the XXXX brand. 

Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, there is a significant amount of discourse between us and the property trying to confirm we would receive all of the elements included in our original booking. In addition, we were given conflicting dates of when our travel voucher would expire. 
7. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX confirmed that it was approved and we were going to be refunded. ( email sent dispute department previously ) 8. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Original refund fails because the expiration date of the credit card on file at the property was old. 
9. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX We sent them the new expiration date and the refund proceeded. 
10. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX confirms that the refund has been completed and sends us a screenshot of the refund ; however, nothing shows on our account and on numerous calls to Costco Visa , the agents confirm they do not see the refund either. 
11. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Regional Online Sales Manager ( XXXX 's counterpart ), financial team said " You must request from the issuing entity of your card an extract of the movements since XXXX XXXX, XXXX. With this information, you will see that the amount has been transferred to your credit card. '' We looked at our statement and confirmed the refund was not there. We also called and spoke with a Costco Visa agent who confirmed the refund was not there. 
12XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX tells us that her finance colleagues indicate that the refund is complete in their records. 
13. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX us a receipt for the refund. ( this was included in the previous email to Citibank 's dispute department ). 
14. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX We sent to XXXX an email with multiple screenshots of the receipts and communications. 
15. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX We receive a message through citibank portal that our case has been closed due to time since transaction. 
16. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX called Citi dispute department and spoke with XXXX who stated that the dispute was closed in error and he was re-opening it. He then told us to send this timeline so that it would be clear that the time frame is not applicable. XXXX also submitted another request for an audit of our accounts that XXXX from Citi had previously requested. 
17. XXXX XXXX The billing dispute was closed again due to timing and then XXXX from the dispute department escalated to the executive response unit. On many occasions, Citi representatives have reassured that the timing wasn't applicable as we purchased services to used at a future date due to the pandemic and that date never came. 
18. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX took the case and ultimately closed it due to timing on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. Before it was closed, she stated that she would initiate an audit but we never received confirmation that this happened. We provided her with the transaction ID but she still closed the case and never referenced it. 
19. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX A representative from Visa followed up with us and recommended reaching out to a supervisor in the dispute/refund area at Citibank and provide the information. They suggested it would be helpful to advise Citi that the refund was issued to my old card ( which we already have multiple times ). He said Citi can search for the transaction in question and if Citi needs assistance with the refund process, Citi can also contact their Visa Account Manager for guidance. Visa should be able to track the refund with the ID that the vendor provided : From Vendor : Below the transaction identification number that our Bank has given us, so that your bank can verify the reimbursement. Our bank has reconfirmed us once again the refund transaction had been done with no inconveniences. 

Identification number : XXXX XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX from Citi XXXX previous escalation manager now in customer care, responded to our facebook inquiry and requested we re-submit the information as the prior submissions expired after 30 days. She was going to re-open the case and forward to the backend investigator to contact us directly. 

21. XXXX XXXX - re-emailed timeline, receipts, etc to citidisputes 22. XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX ( citibank visa executive response unit analyst ) said that she would reach out and see if she can help find the transaction with the ID # that we provided. 
She would reach out to the audit dept and see if they searched the charge amount and date, coming from XXXX XXXX XXXX. She had us send Ms. XXXX and Ms. XXXX 's emails to her. 

23. XX/XX/XXXX - We were able to obtain the refund receipt that includes the last 4 digits of out old card number, date of refund and amount from Ms. XXXX. We sent it to XXXXexec response unit. 

24. XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX from billing disputes called and let us know that since XXXX is working with us, they will let her handle our case. 

25. XX/XX/XXXX- XXXX called and told us that they were still unable to find the refund and would be closing our case again. She said there is not a visa rep that she can speak with and she did not email the hotel managers ( XXXX and XXXX ). She suggests that I try to get XXXX to recall the refund and submit payment to us direclty ( I don't believe this is possible ). She also suggested that I contact Visa to get more information and see if there is anything that they could do to help locate the refund. She agreed that I could call her back if I find out more information. 

26. XX/XX/XXXX - called Visa and spoke to XXXX ( supervisor ). She informed me that Visa provides the platform/ network, the banks own and have access to the accounts. She does not. She informed me that " every bank has a Visa representative on their end '' and that " citibank should contact the merchant and their visa representative, as this is what they would normally do. '' She went on to say that she was not sure if they're not, since it's been 2 years, but they should, as this was a special circumstance with the pandemic. '' She said the citibank rep should research who their visa rep is within the company and reach out to that person, as well as to the merchant. She suggested that I request XXXX 's supervisor, if XXXX does not do this. She also suggested that I go into one of the Citibank branches. 

I also reached back out to Visa 's XXXX account and was informed by " XXXX '' that XXXX should be able to reach out internally or to her manager to figure out who their Visa account manager is. He offered to escalate my case to find out the contact person in relation to citibank. He asked for the first 6 digits of my card and phone number to do so. I provided them. 

27. XX/XX/XXXX- Left a voicemail for XXXX, asking that she call me back, as I have additional information from Visa. 
28. XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Called and spoke with XXXX to discuss the feedback from Visa. We were informed that she sends off the information to their payment investigator who may have spoken with Visa. With regards to the merchant, Citi would be considered a 3rd party and would not be able to discuss our details with the merchant. XXXX stated she is going to resubmit the information and see if the payment investigator can confirm whether the transaction ID provided to us by the merchant via the merchants bank, is valid.

Attached are screenshots of emails that should help in understanding the timeline. I can provide all of the emails in their original format but please understand that we have over 50 emails going back and forth and it can be a daunting task going through them. 

The attached documents show : 1. that they were giving us a refund as of XX/XX/XXXX. 
2. The first attempt fails as of XX/XX/XXXX due to expiration date. 
3. The refund continues after we provide a new expiration date as of XX/XX/XXXX. 
4. XXXX states that the refund is complete as of XX/XX/XXXX. 
5. They provide us with a copy of the refund receipt on XX/XX/XXXX. 
6. The bank receipt of the transaction 7. XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX document showing the last 4 digits of the card number, transaction amount and date In between all these dates, we have calls with Costco, are told by XXXX to view our transactions as the refund should be there, Costo Visa doesn't see the refund, we send XXXX a copy of our statement showing no refund etc.

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