Consumer complaint received 2021-01-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
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:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I visited XXXX XXXX in XXXX, OH and was persuaded to become a member. A membership at XXXX costs {$99.00} per month and was told that as a member, I could visit a clinic each month to receive a chemical peel or microdermabrasion ( valued at {$99.00} ) in exchange the membership fee paid. I was very excited to take advantage of my membership and visit monthly to receive treatments. 
The XXXX XXXX XXXX ( WHO ) on XX/XX/XXXX, declared the novel coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) outbreak a global pandemic. Immediately following this declaration, XXXX was closed for months citing safety concerns amidst the pandemic. Due to the local and federal restrictions, they were forbidden to provide customers with the standard services they normally provide. To this day, they still are not providing the majority of services, as per their website. However, they were still charging members saying the members could bank the money as credits to be used later. I contacted XXXX last year and tried to work through my issues concerning not being able to be serviced by still paying. The supervisor and I went back and forth and no resolution was made. We had a few phone calls and they tried to get me to do expensive services that I didnt need. 
I then filed a despite with Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX hoping that they would assist. Citibank reached out to the merchant on XX/XX/XXXX and gave them 90 days to respond. The merchant responded to Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX with a general contract ( my actual name and signature were not present in the screenshot ) and the correspondence to the dispute was ripe with errors and falsifications of dates and facts. At one point, another customers name was even included. 
Further, once XXXX realized I filed a dispute with Citibank, they closed my member account meaning all of the supposedly banked credits ( {$99.00} per month x 8 months ) were wiped away. So not only is Citibank holding me responsible for these charges, the merchant already ended the contract. 
I do not feel Citibank protected me as a customer and executed a high-quality, high-equity investigation. Instead, the bank sided with the merchant after conducting a seemingly cursory review of the documents. I filed a claim saying yes, I signed up for a membership, but was not provided with services consistent with what the membership advertised. I was arguing that based on these terms, I deserved a full credit. Citibank took the merchants response of the customer ( me ) signed up for a membership and used that to deny my claim and hold me responsible for {$790.00}. I filed an appeal with Citi and they declined it and upheld the charges. I believe Ive been wronged by XXXX and now Citibank.

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