Consumer complaint received 2020-09-23
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: WA
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:
I signed up to a 30 day trial subscription to a newspaper called XXXX XXXX using my Target MasterCard. This trial month ended Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX the day after XXXX XXXX. I wanted to be sure to cancel my trial subscription before XX/XX/XXXX in order to avoid being billed {$79.00} for a newspaper that I didnt want to continue getting. I went to the XXXX XXXX  website on XX/XX/2020 to cancel my trial subscription. When I tried to cancel on their website it said call to cancel. I then called them at XXXX XXXX  PST on XX/XX/2020 but no one answered and, conveniently, there was no option to leave a voicemail! Because of this I then sent a cancellation email to XXXX to inform them I wanted to cancel. I did this because I couldnt leave a message and if they didnt have someone answering calls on Sunday afternoon it was highly unlikely anyone would answer their phone on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX which was a holiday- XXXX XXXX. I received an automated confirmation email from them the same day XX/XX/2020 confirming they received my cancellation email. 
However, on Wednesday XX/XX/2020 I incurred a charge on my Target MasterCard for {$79.00} from XXXX XXXX. The next day, Thursday XX/XX/2020 at XXXX PST I called XXXX XXXX to confirm my cancellation and the employee I talked to told me it was too late to cancel my trial subscription but if I couldnt afford the subscription they had payment plans! I told her I did t want a payment plan and that I emailed to cancel on the XXXX of XXXX. She told me she would take my word that I emailed in and cancel my subscription. No need to take my word- they emailed confirmation they received my email from XX/XX/2020! 
On Tuesday XX/XX/2020 at XXXX PST I received a call from XXXX from XXXX XXXX wanting to discuss my subscription. I looked at my Target card account and the {$79.00} charge from XXXX XXXX was still there! The lady I spoke with on XX/XX/XXXX hadnt removed it as she said she would. 
At this time, rather than calling XXXX again, I contacted Target card services to file a dispute. The gentleman I spoke to took down my name and information pertaining to the dispute and told me someone from the disputes department would be contacting me. In the next few weeks after that reps from XXXX XXXX called me approximately 10-12 times to try to convince me to stay subscribed or to convert me to a shorter subscription term but no one from the disputes department contacted me. Approximately a month later I finally received a letter from Target card services stating that they had talked with the merchant and then sided with the merchant and that my dispute was closed! They didnt even contact me to discuss my dispute or ask for supporting documents from me! This was absolutely mind blowing to me. Why have a disputes department at all if you arent actually going to investigate disputes? 
Upon receiving this letter I called Target card services again and was connected to the disputes department and talked to a supervisor named XXXX who seemed very empathetic. She talked over my case and asked me to fax in a copy of my cancellation email and said she would take care of this dispute. I promptly faxed in my cancellation email to her personally at Target Card Services and waited for a resolution. About two weeks after this I received a letter from someone else at Target card services saying they never got my fax and my dispute was closed a second time- in favor of XXXX Times! I immediately called Target Card Services again and they reopened the case and asked me to re-fax the email. My girlfriend XXXX did that for me on XX/XX/2020 and we have the fax confirmation. 
On Monday XX/XX/2020, after not hearing from them in almost 2 months I called them to see what was going on. The lady I talked to said the disputed department was closed and shed have a supervisor call me the next day. A supervisor named XXXX did call me the next day and left me a message saying they would need to arrange a conference call between me and the merchant to resolve this as the only way I would be released from this charge was if the merchant agreed to release me from it! This is absurd! I cancelled my trial membership before the date required and I have proof of my email which I already provided to Target and a time/date stamp on my phone showing my call to XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2020 two days before the cancellation date! I am not getting anywhere with Target card Services and need your assistance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief