Consumer complaint received 2022-11-23
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MA
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: Overcharged for something you did purchase with the card

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX XXXX  I opened a Lowes Credit Card through Synchrony Bank to take advantage of a 20 % off offer ( capped at XXXX dollars ) on a refrigerator that I was purchasing from XXXX. 

After being approved online for the card ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I went to purchase the refrigerator and only 5 % ( the standard lowes credit card discount rate rather than the new card rate ) was applied to the cart. Before making the purchase I called Lowes Customer Service, who informed me that the 5 % was applied because it was a sale item. This was not apparent to me when signing up for the card. As a result, I called synchrony bank that same day, prior to making the purchase to either cancel the card or see if they would offer me a discount. 

When I spoke with synchrony bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) they told me they could not help me with the discount. I then said I wanted to cancel the application, to which they informed me it was too late. I then said I wanted to cancel the card since the discount couldn't be offered and I had yet to make the purchase. I was then placed on hold so the Synchrony employee could discuss the issue with their supervisor. The employee returned to inform me that the reason the XXXX dollars ( 20 % off offer at the cap ) was not showing up was because it was issued " on the back end by the bank '' and that the XXXX dollars would come off once the transaction had cleared my account. This clearly implied that synchrony bank would offer the XXXX dollars off after I made the transaction. I was skeptical of this given that was contrary to what the original offer said. I asked " Can you 100 % guarantee that I will get the XXXX dollars off '' and the employee said yes it was guaranteed after speaking with his supervisor. I asked the employee to note this on my file, which he claimed he did. 

I then made the purchase of the fridge based on this. The total cost of the fridge was XXXX cents, 5 % was taken off at the transaction for a total discount of XXXX dollars. The total purchase after tax but before the promised XXXX dollars off discount is XXXX dollars. 

The transaction was posted on my account but no XXXX dollars was taken off. My account was billed for XXXX dollars. 

I then followed up with Synchrony bank on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX I explained that Syhcrony Bank had offered me a guarantee which was not met and that their statements essentially defrauded me into maintaining the account ( rather than closing it ) and making a sizeable purchase rather than not. I asked that the credit be issued and after several rounds between the customer service representative and their supervisor I was told they could not issue a credit. They refused to listen to the recording of the previous call ( from XX/XX/XXXX ) and would not acknowledge if there was or was not a note on my file. They suggested I could just use the 20 % off on another purchase or elect for interest free financing. I explained that I had made this purchase based on the false claims of their representative, the same for maintaining rather than closing the account. They refused to compensate me as promised. 

I've attached the receipt for the transaction. The coupon code for the introductory offer is : XXXX

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