Consumer complaint received 2016-06-12
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TN
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I opened my CitiGold checking account at the end of XXXX XXXX. I signed up for it because I was lured in with a bonus promotion that promised XXXX XXXX XXXX miles would be credited to my AAdvantage account that was linked with my Citi XXXX XXXX credit card. To receive the bonus, I was supposed to use the bill pay feature in two different months and I was supposed to spend {$1000.00} on the debit car within three months of account opening. After I completed these requirements, I asked Citi customer support when I could expect to receive the promised airline miles. I received a response that contained this : " After further review of your account, I can confirm you have completed the requirements for the XXXX XXXX promotion offer. The promotion states that you will receive the miles within 90 days from the end of the statement cycle in which you completed the requirements. You completed the requirements in the month of XXXX and the 90 days began on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. You can receive the miles no later than end of XXXX. There is a certain processing time for XXXX XXXX to credit the miles to your account. If you do not receive the miles, please contact Citibank and we will submit an investigation to the missing miles on your behalf. " In this message I was told I would receive the miles at the end of XXXX. Also in the same message was this : " Please be advised that the Citigold account has a $ XXXX monthly service fee if you do not meet the {$50000.00} average balance requirements. The {$30.00} fee appears on the first business day of the month. If you see a {$30.00} fee, this will be the monthly service fee for the Citigold account. '' No problem, I thought, I am happy with the account so far I will just keep paying the monthly maintenance fee. 
Anyways, the end of XXXX came and passed an I still had not received any airline miles from the CitiGold promotion that I was enrolled in. No problem, I thought, I will just send a message to customer service to see what the hold up was. I received a response that contained this : " I regret any confusion and inconvenience this has caused. Our promotion offers are available by invitation to specific targeted clients to an email listed on your account and/or letter sent by mail from Citibank. 

I understand you received secured message XXXX/XXXX/XXXX and XXXX/XXXX/XXXX with promotion attachment and promotion requirements. However, this is not a guarantee of eligibility of promotion incentives. In review of your eligibility, an invitation for this promotion was not targeted. I will have our Marketing management team re-review your account and promotion eligibility and send you a response by secured message. " As you can read from this message, Citi has back stepped from what I was previously told. Apparently, I am not the only person this has happened to.

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