Consumer complaint received 2021-07-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: DC
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:
I booked a group vacation with XXXX based, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I was scheduled to travel to XXXX with them on XX/XX/XXXX Bank : Citibank card ending XXXX Payments made : XXXX USD on XX/XX/XXXX ( Deposit on trip ; Attachment A XXXX XXXX receipt_ {$300.00} ) XXXX USD on XX/XX/XXXX ( Final payment ; Attachment B XXXX XXXX receipt_ {$840.00} ) *Dates are in XXXX format to match with the receipts My trip was postponed due to Covid travel restrictions. As you can see from the email dated XX/XX/XXXX, the company changed the dates of my trip to XX/XX/XXXX. ( see 2nd portion of Attachment C Postponed Trip ) XXXX XXXX went into administration and became bankrupt on XX/XX/XXXX. An email from XXXX XXXX was sent shortly after this date but I did not receive that email. I believed I still had a trip scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX until I sent an email to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( see top portion of Attachment C Postponed Trip ) that I learned XXXX XXXX went into administration and I needed to seek a refund from Citi. 

The former owner of XXXX XXXX also put me in touch with XXXX XXXX ( their insolvency practitioners ) so that XXXX could send me their original email ( see Attachment D XXXX Email ) from XX/XX/XXXX, informing me of the administration. 

Under the Fair Credit Billing Act it is my right to claim a refund when the service I paid for is not received due to a company 's bankruptcy. 

I attempted to open up a chargeback dispute on XX/XX/XXXX by submitting my dispute via US Mail to Citi Cards Dispute Dept in XXXX XXXX, SD ( see Attachment E Postal Receipt ) using the Chargeback code XXXX for credit Merchandise services not received. 
*Note : Included in my original submission, see the following attachments : Attachment C Postponed Trip, referenced above ; Attachment D XXXX Email , referenced above ; Attachment F XXXX XXXX T & C , referenced below ; Attachment G XXXX Notice , referenced below ; I also included in this original submission two Citi banks statements that included the {$300.00} and {$840.00} charges those are not included here but I can provide if necessary Initially my bank opened the dispute and conditionally gave me a refund but later reversed the conditional refund and refused to accept my dispute. I am informed by my bank that the reason for this is that XXXX XXXX merchant acquirer XXXX challenged my dispute with the bank on the basis that I was protected by XXXX XXXX financial failure insurance in their Terms and Conditions which is incorrect. 

I am informed that the financial failure insurance was always in place for XXXX  customers, but US-based customers were not insured until XX/XX/XXXX ; after that date, XXXX XXXX were able to insure every customer globally and they changed their Terms and Conditions to reflect this on XX/XX/XXXX. 

As I booked before this time, I am not insured nor protected by any other method. When the challenge was flagged by my bank, they should have looked at the evidence I already gave them which included the Terms and Conditions relevant to my booking ( Attachment F XXXX XXXX T & C ) which clearly shows that the financial failure insurance was for XXXX customers only. Later after Citi rejected my dispute, I also submitted a flowchart provided by the insolvency practitioners, XXXX, which was sent to all XXXX XXXX customers ( Attachment H XXXX Claim Flowchart ). XXXX informed me that this flowchart was agreed and approved by XXXX themselves. 
*Note : Please see the red box in the bottom-left corner of the Flowchart clearly showing that the insurance is for XXXX customers only. 

For your reference : The time limit for making a claim should start from the date one would expect to receive the service/trip not from the purchase date, given you are buying something to be delivered in the future. In my case this date should be my rescheduled trip date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

Alternatively, they may use the date that XXXX said they sent me the notice that I would not be receiving the trip ( XX/XX/XXXX ) but as previously stated, I did not receive that notice and did not know of XXXX XXXX insolvency until I initiated contact with them on XX/XX/XXXX. I then mailed my dispute submission to Citi on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Here are Mastercards rules : On chargebacks there is normally a 120 day limit, but this can be extended to 540 days if the services were to be provided at a future date. So, for example, a trip. 

In more recent communication, Citibank have told me to go to the merchant ( XXXX XXXX ) for a refund. XXXX XXXX have ceased trading so this isnt possible XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX I have been informed by the insolvency practitioners XXXX that all credit card paying customers should go to their banks for a refund. The XXXX Government backed Civil Aviation Authority are advising me to do the same ( Attachment G - CAA Notice ). 

I would like my bank to open my dispute and refund me, in accordance with the Fair Credit Billing Act. 

*Attachments I-P are all of the communications Ive received from Citi . Citi opened a dispute claim for each charge both charges were for the same trip. Regarding these attachments, a couple of final things worth noting : In the two attachments from Citi with details of XXXX challenge ( Att J and Att L ), note that the image is from the XXXX site, not their US-based site. I also pointed this out to Citi. As noted before, insurance protection was on in place for XXXX customers before XX/XX/XXXX but not US customers. 
In my communications received from Citi, I was receiving the same information for both claims in tandem until recently. Now Citi is giving me two different reasons for their continued rejection of my two claims both of which were for the same scheduled trip ( initially, their rejection was for the same reason described above ). Im not certain of the reason for this recent divergence in their communication regarding the two claims. 
Finally, please note that everything Citi has requested in their communications was previous provided in my original submission. I also resubmitted some documents and sent the flowchart as additional evidence that I was not protected by financial insurance. 

*When asked for the card number when submitting this complaint, I gave the number used to make the two purchases but that number is now expired. When communicating with Citi, I've been referencing this old number ( ending 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 monetary relief