Consumer complaint received 2018-07-25
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: IL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Overcharged for something you did purchase with the card

Complaint:
I purchased a few items online last spring as I often have over the past several years. This time when I returned in the store, Bloomingdales withheld a portion of the return for each item. There was no restocking fee and there has never been a restocking fee in the past. There was no damage to any items and no claim of damage to items. However after researching the problem, Bloomingdales claimed that years ago I was given rewards in the form of discounts that I used. Bloomingdales is claiming that because I had returns in the past I should not have qualified for these past rewards issued and used without a problem long ago. They issued a reward point debt requiring me to make a certain number of purchases before additional reward point discounts would be offered to credit against future purchases. However they next did something unethical and illegal by turning this reward point debt into a dollar amount debt many months after the purchases in question and without ever confronting me or telling me about the problem. They claimed to have changed my policy over the summer with no notice in order to convert rewards point balances in the negative to a dollar debt deducted from returns. Note that there is no amount they claim I owe for the negative rewards points, but until I am in the positive with the rewards points ( which have always had no monetary value beyond the percent off discounts Bloomingdales sometimes elects to offer those with rewards points ) I will only be refunded a percentage of any item that I return after purchases online or in the store. When I went to return items, they kept a chunk of the return to pay off my purported debt for discounts offered long in the past to credit card holders. I called and got no where. I called again but was disconnected shortly before the refund was posted. 
I sent a complaint through the website about this problem and was told I was issued a refund in a letter posted to my account. However the amount in question still shows and now I have two late fees and finance charges. My account balance would otherwise be XXXX with the exception of the {$48.00} in dispute, all of which accounts for the small amounts Bloomingdales refused to refund for each returned purchase this spring. I now have a {$29.00} late fee from XXXX and a {$38.00} fee for XXXX plus a few dollars in finance charges for a total of {$110.00} owed. My balance should be XXXX. I have always paid off my balance to XXXX within a month or two of purchases, and I have been a loyal customer. My credit is otherwise very good. Please note that Bloomingdales issued several refunds in the for of a check sent to my mailbox for overbalance payments during the time in question. I paid the balance due according to the website while a return processed and thus overpaid, and they sent a check. If they felt I owed them money for rewards points converted from potential future discounts to hard cash, why did they issue a refund?

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