Consumer complaint received 2023-08-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit 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/2022 I made a purchase on a merchants website that included an item ( an XXXX ) that was {$1200.00} + taxes. After receiving the item I discovered that the items specifications/qualities were misrepresented on the website. Within a week I abandoned usage of the product and then attempted to return it via a return method advertised to me by the merchant. My return was repeatedly refused or otherwise rejected until such time as the return period had passed whereby I was prohibited from making further attempts to return the product. I took screen shots of my computer to prove this. 
I later disputed the charge on my Citibank Credit Card, pointing out that the merchant had not only misrepresented the product on their website, but that I also was unable to return the product pursuant to the return policy and advertised return method of the merchant. 
Citibank didnt appear to speak for themselves and appeared to allow the merchant to speak for them ; the merchant declared that the product was not misrepresented and that there was no record of any attempts on my part to return the item and that the merchant was therefor refusing to accept a chargeback, as if the merchant controlled Citibanks determination regarding my dispute and not the other way around. 
I then discovered that Citibank had arbitrarily ( and possibly capriciously, but definitely unnecessarily ) disabled the ability for me to respond to the matter via their website ; requiring me to utilize a printer to print out my evidence to mail to them. I then sent them a letter showing the screenshots of my computer showing the merchants misrepresentation of the product as well as my numerous attempts at returning the product. I further pointed out that the only way the merchant didnt have record of my attempts was if they were lying about it or if their records were terrible. 
I was then given a response, again basically by the merchant rather than Citibank, that I was not entitled to a refund. The merchant admitted that there was a problem with their representations of the product but claimed it didnt matter. They also confirmed that I had made multiple attempts to return the product and that they hadnt allowed me to do so. Their response to that was that it was my fault for not going out of my way and trying even harder ( besides my 6+ attempts ) to return the product. 
Ultimately it was declared that the merchant deserved to keep my money and I had to keep the item that I didnt want and was not even using, even though it was confirmed that they misrepresented the product and confirmed that they didnt allow me to return it within the return period pursuant to their policies. Due to the misrepresentation of the product I abandoned usage of it after about 3-5 days of acquiring it. To this day I have not used the product ; its just sitting in the box. 
I believe Citibank has acted in bad faith in this matter, not only by not protecting me from misconduct by a merchant, upholding my rights, and also by allowing the merchant to make decisions regarding the dispute instead of handling it themselves.

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