Consumer complaint received 2020-09-10
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: AZ
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:
A merchant committed fraud by shipping an incorrect item, then ignored all requests to correct the situation. Although I disputed the transaction with Citicard ( aka " Citibank '' ) 1 month later within the allowable dispute period, the matter had still not been resolved three months later, despite my frequent request for updates from Citicard. I was ultimately denied the recovery of my money by Citicard because " too much time had passed ''. This is unacceptable since the passing time was all due to delays from both Citicard and the fraudulent merchant. Specific details now follow. On XX/XX/2020, I purchased a large inflatable water slide for {$99.00} from an XXXXadvertised merchant located in XXXX. Prompt shipping of 3-5 business days was promised. However, 1 month later on XX/XX/2020 I still had not received the item. The XXXX tracking number I had been given still showed " preparing for shipment '' and 2 email requests to the merchant from me regarding status update had been ignored. I disputed the transaction with Citicard, and I received the response that I would be given conditional credit of {$99.00} while they investigated the transaction. I did not hear anything else on the matter until XX/XX/2020 when a package finally arrived from the merchant. However, it did not contain a {$99.00} large inflatable water slide -- it contained one pair of socks. I called Citicard that same day to let them know that I believed that the merchant was trying to defraud both me and Citicard, but I was informed that I would need to wait for official email communication from Citicard to continue or update the dispute. 10 days later on XX/XX/2020 I received communication from Citicard that the merchant had " proven '' shipment and delivery, and therefore Citicard would reverse the {$99.00} conditional credit and close the dispute. I responded to Citicard on XX/XX/2020 by email, fax, and USPS mail using their own provided form that I was not satisfied with the resolution, that the merchant had indeed committed fraud of which I had solid proof, and that I believed the merchant was deliberately working within Citicard 's known policies in order to carry out the fraud. I did not receive another response until XX/XX/2020 when Citicard requested more information including receipts, etc, with a warning to return all requested information by the next day, XX/XX/2020! I replied the very same day with all requested proof including receipts, advertisements, email attempts to the merchant for resolution, and pictures of what was ordered vs what was shipped. Confusingly, I received two email responses from Citicard. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email stating " We received your dispute information. Your dispute is still open. '' 3 days later on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a secure message linking to a document backdated to XX/XX/XXXX stating that because they had " previously requested necessary additional information from you through email concerning this dispute and did not receive any response '' that the dispute was being closed (! ). Finally, on XX/XX/2020 I received another secure message that " the time frame in which to resolve a dispute has passed. '' I sent Citicard a strongly worded email stating that all delays were on their side, that I would not let this go, that I will continue to contact them for resolution, that I may close my several Citicard credit card accounts since they can no longer be seen as trustworthy, and that I may seek legal counsel on the matter. I honestly have no hope of remuneration from the XXXX merchant but I feel that Citicard should be held accountable for their complicity in this.

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