Consumer complaint received 2018-04-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: PA
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:
SUMMARY : To summarize, XXXX agreed to a refund, did not follow through with their refund, advised me to initiate a chargeback, then upon charging back, took/cancelled my access to the merchandise I paid for, effectively creating a situation where I did not receive the merchandise. Further, they are now continuing this dispute, despite overwhelming evidence that they lied, and in the end, I did the actions I was advised by XXXX employees and am now being requested to pay for an event that I was not allowed access to. 

Citi AAdvantage Mastercard refused to take action in the chargeback process and after dragging the process out several months with XXXX, sided on no action, despite overwhelming evidence that I paid for merchandise that I ultimately did not receive and that was expired ( the event had already occurred ) by the time I was charged. 

DETAILS : I have attached the requested information ; a copy of what I purchased, as well as my attempts to contact the vendor. 

The purchase was completed, and immediately ( as can be witnessed by the time stamps of the ticket purchase and first conversation ) I contacted customer service, as there was no way of knowing that the tickets were non-transferrable. Their verbiage was the same as all listings, which have always allowed ticket transfer. Further, due to the lottery system to even get tickets, I had purchased this ticket on behalf of a friend. The first conversation, as attached, resulted in being told to call customer service. 

The second conversation was a call with customer service, where I was told that I would need to write the online prompter again and ask to speak with a manager. 

The third conversation is also attached. In this conversation, you can see 1 ) I was  told that if they do not transfer the tickets to initiate a chargeback through my card. You can also see 2 ) that I was contacted by a manager. 

The fourth conversation was a phone conversation with the manager ; this manager took the information of my friend for the transfer and began to initiate the transfer. However, after approximately 15 minutes, she stated that it would " just be easier to refund the tickets '' and that she would start the refund and that it should clear to my account within 72 hours. 

I called back after 3 days and was told there was no record that I ever spoke with XXXX or XXXX, the representative that I spoke with by computer and the manager I spoke with by phone. They also then informed me that they would open ticket resale as an option, so not to expect a refund. 

I listed the tickets for sale as a backup to waiting for the refund ( at a price that would allow for a refund of the original ticket price, which was approximately 20 % higher due to a roughly 10 % service charge on either side of the sale ), and then I called again and asked them to reference my situation. I was told there was no notes I had ever contacted XXXX to begin with and that XXXX would not refund my purchase since they were gratefully allowing me to sell the tickets. I informed XXXX that I would proceed, as advised, with a chargeback, and I was informed that this was my right and that I could do it, but they would block my card from further transactions with XXXX. 

As you can see from the transcripts, I have attempted multiple times to resolve the issues presented in the transaction ; due to unclear verbiage and poor policies, XXXX lured me into a business transaction I did not approve of ; further, upon attempt to resolve, I was told my refund was being processed ; the company then advised me, on two separate occasions, to charge the refund through my credit card company as they no longer desired to honor their agreement. 

Please let me know if I may be of any further assistance. 

Congruent to the follow up letter, I wanted to take the opportunity to provide the following information : I had the pleasure of speaking with XXXX today in the Kentucky office, as well as his account manager, XXXX, and I was advised I could follow up by email due to currently being XXXX with the XXXX XXXX to a remote part of XXXX XXXX. As such, I will attempt to answer any and all inquiries as concisely and exact as possible : The cancellation of the charge was stated on XX/XX/XXXX with the account manager, XXXX, via telephone. She stated this would take 2-3 business days to take effect and not to worry in the meantime. As the refund had not cleared that week, I made the decision to contact XXXX again on that Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, in which I was told that there was no record I spoke with XXXX or XXXX. XXXX was a fellow XXXX XXXX veteran and had worked in some of the same regions I have previously worked, so I can confirm without a doubt that she is a manager there and that I did in fact speak with her. 

The cancellation policy was not explicit at the time of the transaction ; this is due to two factors. First, all transactions have an extremely limited time window for high-volume events ; between the lottery drawing, waiting in line, ticket processing, and purchase, the end user has approximately 60 seconds after load times to make decisions. Further, direct ticket transfers are advertised within the XXXX XXXX XXXX program, which displayed numerous pop-ups and advertisements saying that ticket transfer and resale once tickets are received are as easy as a few button clicks. This conflicted with the information that the tickets would only be able to be picked up by the credit card holder at Will Call, but as with most events, once the tickets are transferred ( especially internally of XXXX ), the information is updated as required and this is not an issue. 

The merchant agreed to the refund on XX/XX/XXXX. 



I would also like to add that after submitting the billing dispute, approximately five days later, I did not have access to the tickets through the XXXX application, which is what I had been previously using to generate all of the information and view the progress of things. This, to me, aligned with what XXXX stated, that once a billing dispute was submitted against a credit card that the purchaser was blocked from utilizing XXXX using that card again. As such, XXXX effectively restricted my access to the tickets regardless of the outcome of the dispute until after the event had already occurred. 


I hope this is concise, and I truly appreciate all of your efforts in resolving this dispute. As I had previously stated with XXXX, I had attempted to purchase the tickets for a friend, who, given both past experiences with XXXX and their policies, entered the lottery, as I did ; however, as my number was drawn and hers was not, I purchased the tickets and immediately attempted to transfer them, only to find out this was not an option. After several days of complaining, XXXX offered me the " option '' to resell the tickets, but only if they were able to take a large commission from both the purchase and the resale of the tickets, effectively changing the price, as ticket transfer through the XXXX XXXX program ( which is how I purchased the tickets initially ) is without any fees. 
I just spoke to XXXX at the Billing Dispute Unit to ensure that communicating via email was still acceptable, as my current location in the XXXX XXXX has caused a lot of communication issues. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. If possible, please call my cell phone, XXXX, whenever any updates to this case are posted, as my internet access is sporadic at best. If this is not possible for security reasons, I completely understand. 

I will attempt to provide the information requested. 

First : Please provide a letter detailing your dispute and if the cancellation policy was disclosed along with documentation showing you canceled in accordance with the terms and conditions you agreed to. 

Second : The date you contacted the merchant to cancel, the cancellation number you were given, or a copy of your phone bill or an email showing the date you contacted the merchant to cancel. 


I believe the dispute has been detailed thoroughly to this point ; however, I will summarize the events once again below. 

I purchased tickets via XXXX utilizing a " new service '' that was being pushed, which forced users to place their name in a lottery for the attempt to buy a ticket. My intent was to pull a lottery number and give the tickets to a friend if possible, in an attempt to ensure that they received tickets for an event that XXXX was highly promoting yet restricting general access to tickets to. XXXX ( the service ) clearly advertises the ease in which tickets can be transferred or resold, and that upon purchase, you could enter your profile and click the appropriate button to transfer tickets or post them for resale on the account. As a XXXX member, when my lottery number was pulled, I waited to purchase the tickets and was granted the opportunity to do so ; however, upon completing the purchase, I was informed that the tickets were Will Call only, and that no transfers would be allowed. This contradicted what was listed and advertised when attempting the ticket purchase, so within ten minutes of completing the purchase ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I reached out to XXXX online. The first conversation I had, after waiting nearly 15 minutes for the queue to dwindle, was with XXXX, who stated that despite being advertised as transferrable tickets, that XXXX does not allow transfer of tickets, and that the tickets could not be transferred or resold. I asked at this point for a refund, to which I was told I was not entitled, despite the product not being as listed and that I contacted while ticket sales were still occurring. I asked for a phone number to escalate the concern. 

The second conversation I had was that night with customer service, who informed me I needed to write the online prompter and ask to speak with a manager. 

The third conversation, which was also attached, is with XXXX, occurring also on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX agreed to escalate it to her supervisor, XXXX. XXXX stated that she did not feel that a refund would be granted, but advised me at the 26 minute  mark to make a chargeback against my credit card ( as I have done ) if one was not received, and that XXXX would ban my card from use but it would resolve the situation. I was contacted by XXXX by phone while on the computer with XXXX ( visible at the 28 minute mark ), which is listed on my phone bill as the incoming from XXXX at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This fourth conversation, with XXXX, the manager, resolved in XXXX taking the information of my friend to transfer the tickets into their name. However, during the call, she stated that it would " just be easier to refund the tickets '' and that she would start the refund. When I asked about the process, she said I would be emailed a confirmation number and that the whole process should take less than 72 hours. 

At this point, I assumed that my refund would process, and I had no reason to follow up further. However, after 72 hours, I still had not received any confirmation number. As such, I called back from my office phone in XXXX, which ( as I am located on an XXXX military installation in the XXXX XXXX of XXXX ) I can not produce a copy of this phone record. However, at this time, I called and was informed that there was no record I every spoke with XXXX or XXXX, and that since ticket resale was now activated, there was no chance for a refund. However, when I asked if I could transfer the ticket through XXXX as the resale was activated, I was told I could not but I could sell them directly to someone, as long as I paid a XXXX commission fee for the sale and the buyer paid an equal fee on the purchase ( as opposed to the free transfer option advertised by XXXX ). 

At this point, I listed the tickets for sale at roughly 120 % face value, as XXXX was going to charge commission on the resale, as well as the initial purchase ; the 20 % was merely to roughly cover the service charges. I called once again asking XXXX to reference my situation and was told at this time that I had never contacted XXXX to begin with, there were no notes on my account, and that XXXX would not refund my purchase since they were, in their words, gratefully allowing me the opportunity to sell my tickets. I informed XXXX I would proceed, as advised, with a chargeback, and I was informed that it was my right, but by doing so, XXXX would block my card and all further transactions. 

Approximately five days after I submitted the chargeback, I no longer had access to view my tickets through the XXXX application, which is what I had been previously using to generate all of the information and view the progress of things. This, to me, aligned with what XXXX stated, that once a billing dispute was submitted against a credit card that the purchaser was blocked from utilizing XXXX using that card again. As such, XXXX effectively restricted my access to the tickets regardless of the outcome of the dispute until after the event had already occurred. 

As such, regardless of whether XXXX had information or not, they charged my account for tickets that I was ultimately unable to claim or see, as I did not have access to these tickets once the chargeback had been submitted, and XXXX conveniently waited until after the event to respond to any/all disputes. 

To summarize, XXXX agreed to a refund, did not follow through with their refund, advised me to initiate a chargeback, then upon charging back, took my access to the merchandise I paid for, effectively creating a situation where I did not receive the merchandise. Further, they are now continuing this dispute, despite overwhelming evidence that they lied, and in the end, I did the actions I was advised by XXXX employees and am now being requested to pay for an event that I was not allowed access to. Citi refused to process the chargeback and would not reopen the case, despite the fact that the merchant did not provide the merchandise/service advertised and charged anyway.

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