Consumer complaint received 2018-04-10
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit 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:
Last XX/XX/XXXX Home Depot sent a mailer offering me zero percent interest for 12 months on credit card purchases totally over {$290.00}. The offer was open from XX/XX/XXXX throughXX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I decided to do my XXXX shopping at Home Depot specifically because of this promotion.

Before making the purchase, I called Home Depot to ask how any qualifying purchase would be noted as qualifying for the promotion and I was told that it would be " automatic. '' At XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX, I placed an online order for 8 items. The total order was {$380.00}. Please note that the purchase was OVER {$290.00} and placed BEFORE the offer expired at XXXX  of the XX/XX/XXXX. This has been confirmed by Home Depot representatives and I have attached documentation verifying it as well.

Today,XX/XX/XXXX, I went online to pay my Home Depot Credit Card bill and noticed that the total amount owed was higher than expected. I downloaded my XX/XX/XXXX- XX/XX/XXXX statements and was surprised to find that I am being charged interest on the purchase that qualified for the promotion described above. I called the credit card company ( Citibank ) to inquire why I was being charged 26 % interest on a purchase that qualified for 0 % interest for 12 months. I was transferred four times trying to get someone to help me and ended up in the office of the president of Citibank, where I was informed by XXXX  that my purchase did not qualify for the promotion. Apparently, Citibank considered each separate item as a purchase rather than the qualifying total purchase, because they bill each item separately when each item was shipped. Therefore, Citibank claimed none of my purchases met the requirement of a purchase totaling {$290.00} or more. Furthermore, the billing date was the date of fulfillment by the vendor, rather than the purchase date, which Citibank said also disqualified my purchase. I informed XXXX  that the total purchase was {$380.00} and the total purchase was made before the deadline and I had the invoice to prove it, but she said repeatedly there was nothing she could do and advised me to contact Home Depot directly.

I then called Home Depot and verified that the entire purchase did, in fact, qualify, as the purchase was made before the deadline of XXXX  XX/XX/XXXXand the total purchase was over the {$290.00} minimum. The Home Depot representative ( XXXX, Resolution Expediter, XXXX office ) created a conference call with XXXX  from the president 's office of Citibank, who merely reiterated that " there was nothing they could do '' and kept insisting that the separate purchases did not qualify for the promotion.

Despite the Home Depot representative confirming that the {$380.00} purchase was completed BEFORE the XX/XX/XXXXXXXX   deadline and totaled well OVER the {$290.00} minimum purchase required to qualify for the promotion, XXXX  simply kept repeating that my purchase did not qualify and there was nothing she could do, and that she had no supervisor that I could speak with.

To this date, I am being charged 26 % interest on a purchase that qualified for 0 % interest by Home Depot 's own criteria, but Citibank refuses to honor the promotion.

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