Consumer complaint received 2023-10-03
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: MS
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:
I would like to initiate a complaint against Discover Credit Card for not allowing me to reopen a dispute against XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Discover 's website says to contact Customer Service if you need to cancel a dispute and it does say your options may be limited if the dispute needs to be reopened. I realize my options may be limited for recourse, but it needs to be reopened and no options have been provided to me other than Discover telling me over and over that it can't be reopened. 

I purchased a trip to the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I paid for it with my Discover Card and the charge was {$3900.00}. I paid over a year in advance. The Festival was to be held XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX began canceling festivals with XXXX notice ( XXXX being the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX ) leaving concertgoers stranded out of the country because XXXX XXXX had not paid the resort with the money. This infornation has been covered on multiple new stations, is easily found on the Internet, and there is currently a class action lawsuit against XXXX XXXX at the present for this. This was the first red flag that something was not right. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I was notified that the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX that I'd paid for with Discover was being moved to new dates of XXXX and a new resort XXXX XXXX XXXX In XX/XX/XXXX, I learned that the company XXXX XXXX had filed for bankruptcy and I knew in my XXXX it was not likely the XXXX Festival would be held. I contacted Discover on XX/XX/XXXX to initiate a dispute and also contacted XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX  assured me that XXXX Festival would be held and said I could not dispute anything as their contract said no refunds. They offer you a credit to a future festival. They also posted on their website IF you dispute the charge, they reserve the right not to do business with you and to refuse you from future festivals. So I canceled the dispute the very next day on XX/XX/XXXX as they said that the festival would still take place and at that time there was no announcement otherwise. I also was scared if I went forward with the dispute they would refuse me from attending future festivals as stated on their website. I explained to Discover why I was afraid to continue the dispute and told them the response received from XXXX. I felt I had no choice but to drop the dispute - they were saying the festival was still going on and if I didn't drop it they could refuse my attendance in effect tying my hand. For the next few months, I could never reach anyone at XXXX to inquire about the status of the festival and they stop providing updates. On XX/XX/XXXX, I finally receive a response that the XXXX was still occurring. Several weeks went by with no communication and then suddenly I received an email on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX week before hand that the festival is indeed not going to take place due to customer cancellations. XXXX XXXX has said absolutely no refunds. My concern is that this company has filed bankruptcy but did not notify customers, there are multiple lawsuits against them, they have canceled several festivals since XX/XX/XXXX and there are no future festivals taking place. How can you give a credit to a festival but you have no money fo hold XXXX. Thousands of customers have lost money due to their " no refund '' policy and it is not fair that Discover is in effect allowing them to keep my money by not allowing me to rightfully dispute a company with shady practices. They have still been advertising festivals under new names luring customers in ( the name switched from being called XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX ) and taking people 's money knowing they have filed bankruptcy and no future festivals are going to take place. How can you have a future festival when you are facing multiple lawsuits, bankruptcy, and a tainted name. They have not provided the service I paid for, and Discover is allowing this to continue by not doing the right thing by me as a customer and allowing me to reopen my dispute. I have been a Discover customer for years. They showed absolutely zero empathy when I called to explain my situation. We have had Discover Loans, Credit Cards, and even my children have Discover cards. I am disappointed in the way both XXXX XXXX and Discover just have my money and I have no recourse and am at the mercy of this shady company. Discover is allowing the shadiness to continue by not allowing me a fair dispute process.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation