Consumer complaint received 2020-10-31
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MD
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 have been a customer of Citi Bank since about XXXX and am disheartened by the treatment that Citi Bank has given me during this COVID-19 pandemic. On XX/XX/XXXX I filed a dispute to receive money back from a charge that I had booked through XXXX after receiving a notification that my trip had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was instructed to go through my bank to receive a refund. In my dealings with Citi Bank I included the website notification posted by XXXX as well as the email they sent mentioning to go through my personal bank to get the refund because BookIt would not be giving it back to me directly. 

After going through the first round of calls with Citi Bank Staff, I was told that my refund had already been processed, however, I then received a letter stating that the claims that I made had been denied. The issue with this is that there was never a reason given for why my claim had gotten denied, and the refund that they had claimed to give me wasn't the entire amount that I was owed. To add insult to injury, the only refund they claimed to have given me was the initial XXXX  deposit fee for {$190.00} and completely disregarded that they had taken out 2 different charges of that same amount ( which really totals {$390.00} ), and when I mentioned that there were two charges for this amount they acted as though one of the charges didn't exist until I printed out my account statements and showed them. The second charge that was supposed to be refunded was the remaining installment fees which totaled {$490.00}. This claim was also denied due to reasons that were not explained even though I showed them this charge in my account statement as well.

In the end after being denied the {$690.00} that I was owed by Citi Bank, I was told by multiple Citibank employees including ; XXXX ( Account Supervisor for Client Relations ), XXXX ( another supervisor ), and XXXX ( an Account Supervisor ) to file an appeal after learning of my issue. In each conversation that I had with these individuals I was told that I had an " open and shut '' case and they had no idea why my claim was denied since I had the supporting documentation for my claims showing the amount that Citi Bank owed me for a service that I never received from XXXX. After filing three appeals and being denied XXXX times with no notes written in my record for why I was being denied, I felt as though Citi Bank was blatantly stealing my money. When I mentioned this to the supervisors that I had been in contact with, they repeatedly told me they would handle it and reach back out to me once they had gotten the issue resolved, but they never did. 

I find it unfortunate that I have had to deal with this kind of treatment from a bank I have dealt with for several years, especially during a pandemic that is causing a financial strain for ordinary citizens across the globe. After several letters, over 15 phone conversations and multiple empty promises, I'm considering this my final attempt with Citibank to do the right thing and return my money.

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