Consumer complaint received 2019-09-12
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I made payment of {$1300.00} to Citi Costco by the phone on XX/XX/XXXX. The agent processed my request and when the call was completed, I waited for payment confirmation email. I didn't see it right away but thinking the email must be delayed and got back to work. The next day I still haven't received payment confirmation email and so I checked my bank. The money was taken from my bank so checked balance on my Citi card and learned the balance didn't reflect the payment. I began calling Citi and requested the payment investigation. The agent told me that they had no record of my call to Citi on XX/XX/XXXX at all, never mind the payment. 

A couple days later, I requested my bank for the transaction copy and realizing my circumstance, the bank personnel faxed the record from my bank to Citi. Since then, I provided my bank statement, bank transaction record, my account number, phone #, and everything they have asked for and seeing credit on XXXX statement, I thought matter resolved. 

Now, almost 3 months later I am told money can not be located and the case is closed. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Citi and was told to mail, fax, and email my documents to prove that I paid. I mailed and emailed but did not fax. The very next day, I received a letter from Citi stating, money can't be located but conditional credit was applied and I have until XX/XX/XXXX to provide the needed documents. Now, I am still calling Citi to resolve. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Citi to talk to someone in Payment Investigation Department but was told no, and I had to start explaining the situation again. I was told by a rep that they show no record of receiving any email from me. I explained regular mail and email was sent. She said to fax info. After my insistence she said she found the email that I sent and that she would ask someone to help with it. The email I sent on XX/XX/XXXX had a cover page, including acct #, my name, phone #, and credit card # followed by on 4 more pages with my bank statements and bank transaction/transmittal record ( I even copied the minuscule printout with a marker for better reading ). I was then told to call back a couple days later to check on the progress. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was told the case was closed as of XX/XX/XXXX at the end of the day due to lack of required documents. I explained situation again and had to point out the details of bank transmittal record. I was then told that the bank transmittal did not have my bank account to prove that it was my account the money came out of. I again had to point out the bank statement and the matching account number on the transmittal sheet. I was asked to hang up and wait until the rep calls me back. 35 minutes later I received the call and the person helping me said that she had to point out the account information on the sheet for the payment investigation personnel and that she was going to follow up on it and would give me a call back in 4-5 days. 

My complaint is, 1. the whole ordeal started because a Citi employee made an error, 2. the payment investigation showed me incompetence in performing their job, 3. the discrepancy with information provided to me, 4. diminishing trust in Citi with handling my payment properly, 5. I have yet to hear from any person about the missing payment and/or status, 6. Citi obviously does not hire a dependable reps who can use common sense to take care of its customer 's issues, 7. while I was told by Citi that I never called in on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a survey request email on XX/XX/XXXX about the service I received on XX/XX/XXXX and when I mentioned this, Nobody, I mean Nobody was able to explain. 

The whole time I am calling Citi, only the last person took extra steps to help me in resolving the problem. Still, I was told that she was not with Payment Investigation Department and the fact that she had to point out where to look for on the bank transmittal paper to reps in Payment Investigation department is truly mind boggling!! 

Even though the case is still open, I feel this should've been resolved two months ago since I have provided all the necessary document to prove the money came from my bank, my account and not this other person Citi gave credit to - Oh, Yes, I can clearly see from the bank transmittal record to whom the money Citi applied including what could possibly be the Citi account number of the person. If I can see clearly where the money went and why couldn't Citi. 

Bottom line is, I made a payment of {$1300.00} to Citi through a Citi 's representative, Citi misapplied money, can't find it, neglected information I provided, closed the investigation, and now I feel threatened. PLEASE HELP! I can not stop doing everything to be on the phone for hours each time!!!!

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