Consumer complaint received 2020-11-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: RI
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Citibank is not reimbursing me for a fraudulent charge which took place on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$330.00} under vendor XXXX XXXX XXXX. Here is the brief history : On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I identified two fraudulent charges on my credit card and reported them immediately. The first charge was " posted '' at the time, and I was immediately refunded by Citibank for the charge while they investigated. The second charge was " pending '', and unfortunately Citibank has still not refunded me for it. Hence the reason for filing this complaint. 

I contacted Citibank repeatedly since XXXX XXXX, and can extract my phone records to support the many calls. Below are notes from some of the later conversations, as my concern grew that Citibank was not setup to handle fraudulent charges that are reporting when " pending ''. Note that at first I was told they would not allow the pending charge to go through. Then I was told they must let pending charges go through, as they can't stop a pending charge. Then I was told multiple stories about when/how I would get reimbursed for the fraudulent charge. 

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : Citibank rep said the dispute was filed incorrectly by previous Citibank rep. Needed to access previous credit card and dispute there, not on new card. They tried multiple times and were not successful because its under wrong card number. Went back to old card number. Transaction posted there. Will tag this as fraud on old card. This will automatically be sent to fraud department for further investigation. Will expect security credit in next 5-7 business days. Dispute Department is : XXXX XXXX XXXX. Should be taken care of by Security Services Department XXXX XXXX XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I was told to call Security Fraud Ops at XXXX. Rep sees credit manually issued by team on XXXX XXXX, takes 3-5 days for it to appear in my account. So I should start calling again on Friday, XXXX XXXX, if it doesn't hit my account then. 

On XXXX XXXX rep indicated that the credit will process when my next statement is issued, which will be XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX called correct department but was routed to Disputes department because the Security Fraud Ops department is closed on weekends, and only available weekdays. It is unknown if they are working on Monday since it's a holiday, so I should call back XXXX again XXXX on Tuesday to ask about the fraud situation. The business hours : M-F XXXX EST. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called 4 times but the system kept hanging up on me. 

On XXXX XXXX I was told they don't know why the credit didn't post, and to check my " online statement '' in 3-5 business days, and that I should see the credit. 

On XXXX XXXX, I was told that it will take 1-2 billing cycles for the credit to post ( so now it's not the 3-5 business days, or the 5-7 business days, or the next billing cycle, but rather it's 1-2 billing cycles ). And then I was told that I need to talk to customer service and not the XXXX XXXX XXXX dept, even though up to this point the only thing Citibank representatives could eventually agree on was that I should be talking to Security Services Department. Asked to speak with a supervisor. Was told I would get call back within 3 days. Never received callback. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I was told they don't know why the supervisor didn't call me back, and that per the notes I should wait 1-2 billing cycles to get the credit issued on XXXX XXXX. Upon further investigation, it was noted the previous representative did not correctly handle the supervisor callback request, and that is why I did not receive a callback. I spent 25 minutes on the hold but was told the rep was having IT issues and couldn't get through to the supervisor line. I was told that callbacks are not within 3 days, but will take place within the next 6 business hours, and that this time I will get a callback. 

Given that I have been interacting with Citibank since XXXX XXXX on this matter, and given that nothing the reps have told me has been true, I believe that Citibank has a technical flaw where it is incapable of reimbursing a customer for fraud reported when the charge is still pending. It appears I am not supposed to report fraud timely, or I will not get reimbursed for it. I don't think they mean to not reimburse me, since I have been told multiple times the credit was approved on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, but unfortunately intent to issue a credit is not the same as having the ability to issue a credit. 

I no longer see how to resolve this issue when Citibank reps don't know how the process works, supervisors are inexplicably unavailable, the system can't issue the credit, and I am in my third month of calling with no forward progress.

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