Consumer complaint received 2021-03-04
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:
Citi Dispute number : XXXX In XX/XX/XXXX I paid in advance for one year of health insurance with the XXXX  XXXX on my Citi credit card. I paid {$8900.00} for insurance starting on XX/XX/XXXX. 

In late XXXX I was advised by my insurance agent that the XXXX  XXXX was being investigated for bankruptcy and to cancel the insurance policy with them. I was advised to dispute the charge on my credit card so I could get excess premiums returned to me, since the company apparently wasn't servicing any claims. 

I checked first with Citi and they said I could file a dispute on the transaction. I did this on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX claiming half that amount ( {$4400.00} ) for the half year that I couldn't be covered by the health insurance. 

Shortly after that the XXXX  XXXX informed me that the division managing my insurance was not going bankrupt. I asked if I could cancel my insurance anyway as I had already taken out another policy due to the previous notification. They agreed in writing and stated that I would be refunded excess premiums, but that I would need to cancel the credit card dispute to get a direct refund from them. 

Citi advised me that credit card transaction disputes require you to allow the merchant to resolve the dispute, therefore I cancelled the dispute, not because the company didn't owe me the money, ( they acknowledged in writing that they did, and would pay me ) but because the Citi stated I needed to work it out with the merchant. 

As a result Citi closed the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX with a status of " Resolved - Customer Responsible XX/XX/XXXX ''. This was a surprise and a harbinger of things to come. I never said I was responsible for this, I was just trying to do what I was advised in allowing the merchant to resolve the issue with me. 

After a number of months trying to get my excess premiums returned to me by XXXX XXXX I realized they had no intention of refunding the money, and I would not get any money back. 

In XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Citi and said that this merchant was being fraudulent and could I reopen the dispute. They said yes. 

In early XX/XX/XXXX I reopened the dispute with Citi disputes division for the amount of {$4400.00}. Citi declined the dispute stating, " We closed your dispute since you cancelled it and once you cancel the dispute we can not reopen the dispute for you ''. This was the first we had heard of this. Based on previous conversations with Citi we understood that a dispute could be reopened. 

I called Citi immediately, I asked why they could not reopen the dispute and they claimed that this was the law. I asked which law or policy they are referring to. Citi could not tell me. 

Within 10 days we contested this by email and also spoke with Citi management but we received the same reply, and no indication of what law or policy they were referring to. 

We have spoken to Citi Dispute management but they refuse to do anything to help us. It is ironic that the Disputes Division created this mess via bad advice and now is refusing to do anything about it. I did learn from one representative that Citi customers commonly fall into this trap and are bilked by companies that know Citi cant/wont reopen a dispute. I am flabbergasted that the Citi Disputes Division led us into a trap that they had full knowledge of. Surely, they can warn customers of this law/policy prior to the fact. 

I followed the advice of the Citi Disputes Division and did the right thing in trying to resolve the dispute directly with the merchant as they requested. Having created this mess, the Citi Disputes Division are now refusing to resolve an issue.

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