Consumer complaint received 2015-10-23
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: VA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Customer service / Customer relations

Complaint:
Citi has shut down my Master card XXXX - exp XX/XX/XXXX, sec code XXXX due to fraudulent activity ( details to follow ). This would normally not be a problem but they have refused to make any arrangements for me in the event I need to use the card to verify an XXXX XXXX return part of a round trip ticket ( XXXX ; XXXX ) scheduled for XXXX/XXXX/2015. The XXXX XXXX tickets were purchased with my Citi card on XXXX XXXX, 2015 for {$3100.00}. This also means that Citi is not honoring any insurance that goes with buying the tickets and says they are unable to assist me with XXXX XXXX if an issue arises - while normally the airline does not ask for the credit card at the airport, technically they can refuse to let me board if the card I used to buy the tickets is inactivated. 
In detail : Since XXXX XXXX, 2015 I have been in XXXX. On Wednesday, XXXX/XXXX/2015 I received a voice mail message, text and email from Citi about fraudulent activity. I called back in less than 2 hours - at my own expense since I was calling from XXXX - and I verified that the charge in question ( ~ {$9.00} at a hotel in XXXX ) was not mine, and was indeed fraudulent. I requested that all activity on the card be stopped but that the card remain open so that, if necessary, I could use it at XXXX airport on XX/XX/XXXX to verify my airline ticket. A few hours later I sent a secure message to Citi asking that in the meantime they mail the new card to my address on record in the XXXX so that I would have the card when I return home. Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I received an obscure response saying that fraudulent activity had been identified on my card and that I needed to call. Well, now I was not sure whether this was the original fraudulent activity, new fraudulent activity, or a basic failure in reading and comprehension. So, I called in - and AGAIN at my own expense, the auto system did not recognize the last XXXX digits of the card, the system did not recognize the entire card number, the system did not say whether or not it recognized my social security number, and the audio system did not understand me when I said my security word. Three minutes in I got someone on the phone who was completely incomprehensible - NOT her accent - the headset she was wearing was XXXX, her words were fuzzy and I only caught every other word. I WENT THROUGH THE ENTIRE Q AND A AGAIN - THE {$9.00} CHARGE, NO IT WAS NOT MINE, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. AGAIN I reiterated that I did not want charges on the card but I wanted to be able to produce the card at XXXX - I went through my entire story. After all of this, the Citi Bank customer service rep says - 'so I see you want to continue to make charges on your card! ' NO, NO, NO, NO - I asked to speak with someone else. I get another woman on the phone, this time an American with a much better headset. I GO THR0UGH THE ENTIRE THING A THIRD TIME. Basically, this woman say - all we can do is stop the card, she could not give me a new account number, only send me a card, and any card mailed to XXXX would not arrive until I checked out to get to the airport. So, bottom line, my card is cancelled and Citi says that they will be unable to help me if I run into a need to verify that I purchased these XXXX XXXX tickets, they refuse to give me a new account number or a help number should the airline want to call them for verification.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation