Consumer complaint received 2019-01-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
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:
On XX/XX/2018, I paid online for a scooter from a company called XXXX XXXX based in XXXX. I used my Citibank credit card thinking that the advertised purchase protections would cover my back if the merchant was dishonest. The purchase amount was over {$1500.00}. After making the purchase the company tried to upsell me and I refused and asked for a refund since the merchant refused to ship the product to me. They indicated they would issue the refund on XX/XX/2018 but never did. I contacted Citi on XX/XX/2018 to handle the situation. They provided a temporary credit. After waiting almost two months, Citi sent me an email on XX/XX/2018 indicating that there was a letter for me to review. The email made no indication that I had to provide anything. I logged into their website and downloaded the letter which was a letter from the merchant asking their bank ( not Citibank ) to not charge additional fees on top of the chargeback that Citibank instituted. The merchant did not contradict any of my claims and further indicated a desire to issue a refund. Although Citibank 's message to me did not indicate a need to respond, apparently they prepared a second letter, that was not clear from the message, that requested I provide a signed letter in response to the merchant 's message even though the merchant agreed with my claims. They provided no guidance as to what should be in the letter since the merchant was agreeing with me. Citibank gave me only one week to respond and I didn't know I had to respond at all since no additional information was requested. The next month Citibank reversed the credit and left me with a {$1500.00} charge and no product. I called to inquire and they said my time for a dispute had expired and there is nothing they can do. They were the ones that chewed up all the time and yet I'm stuck with no product and a large charge. I complained that their communication to me did not indicate a need to respond since the merchant agreed with my claims. They proceeded to hide behind statements of policy and tried to blame Visa for the restrictions. But Visa didn't take a month to respond. Even though Citibank claimed to have " investigators '' looking into the issue, they didn't investigate anything that resulted in my getting my money back. 



Their claim to have purchase protections for consumers is simply false. I had a problem with a chargeback with XXXX XXXX a few years back and it was amazingly simple to do and resolve. But Citibank seems to want to cloud the issue with inaccurate stories and claims of restrictions on what they can handle. They shouldn't advertise purchase protections and then run the clock out just so they can claim the time period is expired.

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 explanation