Consumer complaint received 2023-10-11
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: OH
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
I have failed to dispute on this matter with Synchrony Bank regarding failure of Ashley to provide services and responses within a reasonable amount of time. I have disputed this twice now, with the same outcome. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased a mattress ( {$2700.00} w/ tax ) and mattress protector ( {$150.00} w/tax ) along with some other items from Ashley Furniture Homestores in XXXX , Ohio using my Ashley Furniture Homestores Synchrony Bank Credit Card totaling {$2900.00} w/ tax. I was told by Ashely that using this mattress protector would add an additional warranty and were anything to get through the mattress protest, they would replace my mattress. My cat XXXX  on it while we were sleeping on XXXX My wife awoke immediately to the sound and we got the cat out and removed the bedclothes only to find the XXXX had gone straight through the mattress protector. I tried to contact the store I purchased the mattress at for a several days by phone, emails, and a text line their outgoing message said to contact. I never received a response, I drove to the store on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  and received a number to call from a salesman to file the warranty claim. I waited the 10 day period with no response. After two weeks with no response, I left a XXXX review on XXXX Upon submitting that review, I received a reply to it, asking contact their escalation team, which I did ), and it was ignored as another Ashely employee began reaching out to us asking for the same information I had previously provided. We kept failing connect by phone as she was calling me when I was unavailable despite me informing her of this in an email. She never provided a phone number I could reach her at when I was available and the one on caller ID was their generic order line, was never able to reach her through it despite trying. At this point she requested I provide details by email and I recounted the issues to her on XXXXXXXX  in an email. On XX/XX/XXXX, she tried to call me again when I'm not available and claims to have not received despite me using the same email chain we had been. At this point it had been 40 days since the incident and I still had no resolution, so I filed the first dispute with Synchrony Bank on the full charge of the transaction, as Ashley claimed to no longer have information the transaction for me to only file on just the affected items. On XX/XX/XXXX, while the the dispute was still under review and 23 days after filing the dispute and 66 days since the initial incident, Ashely attempted to contact us through my wife 's phone and left a voicemail ( we saved if needed ) after business hours. The message stated the warranty the claim needed to go through the mattress protector manufacturer, XXXX, and not Ashley, contrary to what we had been told at purchase. The Ashley employee also stated claim with XXXX had already been started by Ashley and approved, but I needed to contact XXXX to complete things. I contacted XXXX on XXXXXXXX  to check on this. The XXXX representative checked for claims under both mine and my wife 's phone numbers and found that Ashley had not filed anything as they had told us. He assisted me in starting a claim, making sure to note that I had not been getting responses from Ashely but had let them know immediately that I had a problem. I received a judgement within two hours from XXXX that my claim was denied due to not filing within 5 days of the incident. Upon receiving the response from XXXX, I updated the dispute information one my Ashley Furniture Homestores Synchrony Bank Credit Card with this information, outlining that it took Ashely 66 days from the incident to provide me information on this, and prior to the voicemail on the XXXX, it had been 26 days since they attempted to contact me. 

I received information that the dispute had been resolved in Ashley 's favor on XX/XX/XXXX, I was still liable for the remaining payments, and a further email would be sent when all documents were available for me to review. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Synchrony that all claim documents were available. Upon reviewing them, I found it included a receipt of the transaction despite Ashley telling me it no longer existed. Reading the documents, it was clear that Synchrony had disregarded that it took Ashely Furniture Homestores 66 days from the time I tried to contact them to provide me information that I should have gone through XXXX and that I was already well beyond XXXXXXXX XXXX 5 day post-incident window to file while Ashely failed to respond to me. I contacted Synchrony on XXXX  hoping to be able to appeal this decision and was told the only thing I could do was to file a second dispute, which I did, amending the disputed amount to reflect only the mattress 's cost + tax ( {$2700.00} ) and making sure to outline it taking over two months for Ashely to provide me accurate information. On XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  I received the decision that this dispute had also been found in Ashely 's favor. 

Ashley Furniture Homestores gave me incorrect information as to who to contact in the event of an issue. Had they responded promptly with accurate information to my initial attempts to contact them, this whole issue could have been avoided. Not only did it take them 66 days to provide accurate information, I was lied to about a replacement already being approved. All of this has very clearly been ignored by Synchrony Bank on the transactions on my Ashley Furniture Homestores Synchrony Bank Credit Card

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