Consumer complaint received 2018-03-15
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the Citi Travel Desk ( XXXX ) in order to make a booking using the Citi 4th Night free benefit and my corporate XXXX member code. This is not doable online, unfortunately, so I had to call in to make the  reservation. I was marking a reservation at the XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX, XXXX Downtown, from Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX through Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX ( 4 nights ). The travel concierge put me on hold to call XXXX and make the booking, but we were disconnected during this process. The concierge did not attempt to call me back, and I did not authorize a charge or total amount. I did not receive a confirmation email from either Citi Travel Center or XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the Citi Travel Desk again. I told the agent that I had been disconnected on a previous attempt making this reservation, and asked them to check and confirm that it had not been successfully made. They indicated that there was no record of the reservation, and I should proceed to make a new one. I received an email indicating that this reservation had been made, for a total of {$550.00} before the 4th Night Credit. This reservation was a refundable corporate reservation, for the same property and same dates as noted above. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I opened my XXXX account to print out my reservation details prior to my trip. I was surprised to find two different reservations for the same property in my name. One was the expected reservation under my corporate code, and another was a non-refundable booking made at the normal daily rate, for a total of {$590.00}. I checked my credit card statement, and saw the charge from XX/XX/XXXX for this amount. 

I called the Citi Travel Desk to figure out what had happened. They indicated that they had no record of the nonrefundable reservation having been made, and no reference to it in their system. They attempted to contact XXXX to obtain additional details ; XXXX indicated that the travel agent number and email addresses matched XXXX 's contact information. XXXX indicated to me that because they had no record of this reservation, it would not be eligible for the 4th night credit no matter what course of action I took. 

Seeing as I had not authorized the charge at any rate other than the corporate rate I was trying to book, that XXXX had incorrectly directed me to make a second reservation, and that even if I kept it, it would not be eligible for the 4th night free benefit, I proceeded to contest this charge.

After disputing, Citi resolved the claim in favor of themselves, indicating that even though I had not authorized the charge by Citi Travel Center and the Citi Travel Center actually *lost* the booking, it was a non-refundable charge and thus I am liable.

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 non-monetary relief