Consumer complaint received 2023-06-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NV
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, my XXXX XXXX XXXX daughter was playing games on my phone. During that time, XXXX sent a pop up notification to my phone regarding tickets for a comedian named XXXX XXXX. That's how this mess started. 

I had recently gone through the mishandled situation with the XXXX XXXX XXXX program for XXXX XXXX where I was unable to get tickets. My daughter was very disappointed that I couldn't buy tickets for XXXX XXXX. So, when this phone notification for a different person named XXXX popped up on my phone while she was using it, she clicked on the link. That link took her straight to XXXX sales site for XXXX XXXX. My daughter kept pressing next to see what tickets had become available for the event she thought was XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately, the XXXX site login info and my credit card info was saved and automatically populated due to XXXX settings and XXXX wallet settings. The XXXX site automatically chose the best available seats and let my daughter continue all the way to the end of the process to buy the {$980.00} tickets. 

The first I heard of this situation is when my daughter came to me after the transaction and showed me the congratulations you got tickets message on my phone. She had no idea what she had just done. She didn't understand that she had just paid money for real tickets. She absolutely did not have authorization to buy anything and didn't realize that she had. She thought I had some grown-up process I needed to do to buy the tickets she had already accidentally bought. 

I immediately called XXXX to fix the situation and couldn't get through. So, I emailed them of the fraudulent transaction so they could reverse the transaction right away. I got an automated unmonitored emailed response from XXXX. So, I started a chat conversation on the XXXX app. I was transferred to different departments and was told that someone would be reaching out to me to resolve the situation. I went back and forth with XXXX telling me their fraud dept. would help without action until XX/XX/XXXX. At that time I gave up on XXXX and called Best Buy Citibank to dispute the charge. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Best Buy Citibank opened a billing dispute claim and credited me for the amount of the transaction. I submitted the correspondence between me and XXXX on the Best Buy Citibank website. I didn't think much of it after that because I thought the situation was resolved. However, I noticed in XXXX that the charge was added back to my account. I called Best Buy Citibank again to find out what was going on. They apologized and said the issue was not a billing dispute but rather a fraud claim. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I was transferred to the fraud dept. where another claim was opened. That claim was denied on XX/XX/XXXX without explanation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called again. They apologized and said the claim had been closed in error and opened another claim. They credited the charge back to me again. They issued a new card and closed the old card. I was asked to send the communication with XXXX documentation again, which was faxed to them. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my account again and realized that they had added the charge back on my account again and denied the fraud claim. They apologized again and told me it wasn't fraud, but rather a billing dispute. I told them that I was getting the runaround since I started in the billing dispute dept. They opened another billing dispute claim. On XX/XX/XXXX, the charge had still not been credited back to me yet. I spoke with a billing dispute escalations supervisor who apologized again and said he would credit the improper interest charged but that he couldn't credit the original charge until the next billing cycle on XXXX. He told me he was entering the note and that there was nothing due for the XX/XX/XXXX bill. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I got a collections call from Best Buy stating that I had missed a payment. Since I shouldn't have had a balance on my account, this was very upsetting. I called Best Buy Citibank again and was transferred to an Escalations Manager who said she was entering clearer notes to finally resolve the matter once and for all. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another collections call from Best Buy. I called them again and was told my claim had been denied again. I was transferred back to the fraud dept. Once again they told me it was not fraud and transferred me to the billing escalations manager. She told me she was not going to reopen the case. She told me that I am responsible for my child and therefore I am responsible for the charge. She told me my only option was to go back to the vendor ( XXXX ). I reminded her that I didn't have that option since the unauthorized purchase was for tickets for a show that had already past. XXXX wouldn't help me to begin with so they are certainly not going to refund the charge now. She said Best Buy Citibank could no longer assist me and that the payment for the {$980.00} charge plus interest is due. 

So, now, I need assistance please. It is my understanding that since this was an unauthorized charge that the Citibank zero liability policy and the XXXX  zero liability policy should have resolved this matter. However, since they failed me as their customer, I need assistance enforcing the F.T.C. consumer protections please. I don't know what else to do. I appreciate your help. Thank you.

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