Consumer complaint received 2017-11-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MS
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 am a XXXX XXXX employee. The credit card is a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX individually billed travel card provided by Citibank. On XX/XX/XXXX I made an 8 day day hotel reservation ( XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ) through XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX, located in XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( itinerary # XXXX ). The reservation was pre-paid with my Government travel card. The following cancellation/change policy was displayed to me before I finalized the reservation process : " Cancellations or changes made after XXXX ( XXXX XXXX Daylight Time ) on XX/XX/XXXX or no-shows are subject to a property fee equal to the first nights rate plus taxes and fees. Due to a XXXX ship schedule change, I had to depart XXXX XXXX two days earlier. I notified both XXXX ( on  XX/XX/XXXX ) and the Hotel ( on XX/XX/XXXX ) of my earlier departure. Based on the cancellation policy above, the penalty was supposed to be {$87.00} but I received no refund from XXXX and the penalty applied was 2 x {$87.00} = {$170.00} ( last two days charge ). I filed a timely transaction dispute with Citibank for {$87.00} on XX/XX/XXXX through the Citibank website, Ref. # XXXX. My dispute form included the cancellation policy above. In a letter of XX/XX/XXXX, Citibank mailed me the copies of XXXX reply to my dispute, inquired whether I still wanted to dispute the charge, and if so, asked me to send them a detailed explanation why I disputed the charge along with supporting documents. The letter stated that Citibank " must receive this information within ( 10 ) ten days of the date of this letter ''. In its reply XXXX claimed I was due no refund but the copy of my itinerary was of such poor quality that the cancellation policy, if included, could not be read and compared to the text I had. I was on overseas travel ( not official duty ) between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. My mail delivery was on hold and was being collected and stored at the local post office. I replied to Citibank inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX providing proof of my travel and a copy of USPS mail hold request. In a letter of XX/XX/XXXX, Citibank informed me that they would not be able to assist me further because they received my reply after the requested response date. The credit for {$170.00} was reversed. I have never received an explanation for the reasons why Citibank believed the charge was valid required by 15 USC 1666 ( a ) ( 3 ) ( B ) ( ii ) within 90 days or two billing cycles from filing transaction dispute date. Therefore, I notified Citibank, they forfeited the disputed amount, 15 USC 1666 ( e ) and requested a credit for that amount but Citibank never credited my account. Citibank violated the Fair Credit Billing Act, 15 USC 1666 ( a ) ( 3 ) ( B ) ( ii ) by not sending me the required explanation and by not making an impartial investigation of the validity of the charge. It had enough information to proceed without my reply because my original dispute form included the unambiguous cancellation policy. Therefore, I believe I am entitled to {$87.00}. Citibank forfeited it regardless of the merits of the dispute. Because the cancellation policy provides only for one night charge penalty in case of changes/cancellations, XXXX should have refunded {$87.00}.

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