Consumer complaint received 2019-04-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
This is the second time I am having issue with XXXX XXXX card. Last time case # XXXX. 

The last time I made the purchase using this store card was in the month of XX/XX/XXXX. Post making the purchase, I asked customer agent to let me know how much is the total balance and as suggested by the agent I made the final payment thinking my account is current. Also, I suggested the agent that I should have received the credit of past purchase in my account and my account should show a credit from now onwards. 

Later when I was not getting the statement, I called up XXXX  card to verify why I can't login or check my account ONLINE. While checking they confirmed the address provided was wrong and they updated my account detail and enabled my online login. 

While checking the online statement, I saw again that my account is not current and I requested them to send my the statement of last 6 months because in the month of XXXX, I moved to a new apartment. They never send me the statement. 

Come XX/XX/XXXX, I logged in to my account and I saw that my account once again keep on increasing and there was a large amount outstanding in form of Late Fee plus interest rate. I once again call the customer care and inquired about the reason behind this. PLEASE note that all these calls went on for around 2 hours wherein me as a customer has to be in a ping pong stage all this time and none of the agent makes any note to the account. So, everytime I call I have to explain everything from scratch and all calls goes 2+ hours. This year I have already called and email 5 plus time without any success. 

I have never made any purchase this year and till now company keeps on charging late fee and the interest. 

Again in the month of XX/XX/XXXX, after staying on the call for 2 hours, agent suggested that there was a credit issues in form of a cheque to me but I stated I have never received that cheque. Agent suggested that they will reissue the credit and to stop this late fee plus interest charge, please make the remaining payment. I made the payment again just to make my account current and also made the request to the agent that PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS NOT GETTING REPORTED TO CREDIT BUREAU as this is XXXX system problem and me as a customer should not be getting impacted. They accepted my request and I thought from now on everything is fine. 

Come XX/XX/XXXX, I went to XXXX  store to buy few stuff. At the counter I was told your card is not working. I said it should be and I can't believe that even though there is any outstanding amount HOW CAN THEY BLOCK MY CARD WITHOUT any information for me ( not any email or letter ). At the store the lady at the counter connected me to the customer care and once again I have to repeat the whole story. Agent told me that we will go to the bottom of this and assist you. It was again 2+ hours and I was in the store with my family waiting for the resolution of this issue once for all. But again it was getting delayed and the only option agent can tell me is the best option is please pay the amount by cash and whtever is outstanding XXXX  customer support will take care and will revert back. Despite the fact the agent agrees that there is an outstanding credit which I should receive ( can't imagine why it takes 1 to 2  month!! ) and all the charges was ongoing late fee plus interest rate, he was suggesting that system has no way to stop all these charges even though it was not at all my mistake. I also asked the agent whether they make any note in the account when a customer calls so that he/she don't have to repeat again and again from scratch, he said yes we keep note of it. Later as there was no way he can confirm that the issue will be resolved, I dropped the call. Once again on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I called back the customer care just to check whether any note was mentioned by the earlier agent with whom I was on the call from store for around 2 plus hour, to my utter disbelief there was no note and this time too the agent was telling me " you have an outstanding balance and do you want to pay it ''. 

During the call on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX time XXXX hours, when I requested that I need to talk to the manager, the agent told me that manager will call after 48 hours. when I stress on the fact that can you make sure that the case note is made, he said yes and slowly disconnected my call. Can't believe in this 21st century this is the way a company like XXXX handles a customer call. 

With this complain I would like to make sure : - My issue gets corrected once for all ( My account should have XXXX balance, all the credit bureau report for last 5 months should be corrected OR there should not be any -ve reporting to the credit bureau for this account ) - the company should be liable for such casual way of handling such issue - the company should be serious about the way they deal with customer and there needs to be a feedback mechanism - in case company block the card they need to provide an information or early warning and in case the fault lies with Company they should compensate the consumer. 

- the customer care team should be taken to task for being so unprofessional. 

Hope this issue gets resolved and I don't have to go through all this trauma of XXXX card. 

Looking forward to hear from your end With best regards, XXXX

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