Consumer complaint received 2023-10-30
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: ME
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
Wayfair Mastercard TURNED OFF ALL MY AUTO ALERTS WITHOUT NOTIFYING ME, THEN CHARGED ME A BUNCH OF FEES. 

On the evening of XX/XX/XXXX, I logged onto my Wayfair Mastercard online account to find that I had been charged both a late fee of {$29.00} and an over the limit fee of {$72.00}. I had always made my payments on time since acquiring the credit card account since XXXX, and found it odd that I was not sent any alerts prior to the fees. Among my automate notification settings, I had set my alerts to notify me if I was within a certain days of the payment due date, as well as an alert if I were within a certain amount of my credit limit. When I checked my alert and notification settings, however, I discovered that all of my automated alerts had been turned off. I had never asked for them to be turned off nor did I turn them off myself. The payment due date was on XX/XX/XXXX, and I had received zero alerts prior to or after the XXXX. I only found out because I logged onto my online account. 

I tried calling customer service immediately on the evening of XX/XX/XXXX, but an automated message notified me that their customer service lines were closed despite Wayfair Mastercard indicating on their website that their customer service is available 24/7. I scheduled an online payment of {$650.00} to be charged from my checking account immediately as I did not want to be charged any more fees or have my credit rating damaged. I would have been able to make the payment on time had my alerts stayed on and intact. Again, I had never turned off or asked to turn off any of my alerts, and no one had notified me that all my alerts had been turned off. 

I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a customer service representative to ask to have both my late payment fee of {$29.00} and over the limit fee of {$72.00} voided and credited back to my account. The customer service rep agreed to do so, and I verified three separate times that my account would be credited back, and the customer service rep confirmed. Instead of my account being credited for the fees, however, {$170.00} was charged to my account. I never asked to make another payment, and the rep was well aware that I had already scheduled an online payment in the amount of {$650.00}.

I called again immediately following my first call and connected with a second customer service rep. After listening to my complaint, she informed me that the late payment charge of {$29.00} had already been waived and that she could also cancel the {$170.00} payment that I had never asked for, but that she could not void the over the limit fee of {$72.00}. I asked her to explain why my alerts had been completely turned off, and to connect me to someone who could answer my question if she could not. After a hold, she informed me that she could not find the answer. I asked to speak to her manager.

Once connected with the manager, I explained my situation once again. The manager 's answer was the same : that he did not know why my alerts had been turned off and that the over the limit fee of {$72.00} could not be credited back to my account. Instead of trying to assist me with my complaint, the manager ended the call attempting to set up my account for auto payment withdrawals from my checking account, and then tried to process yet another payment from my checking account once again. 
Moving beyond my own case, I would find it only fair that Wayfair Mastercard gets assessed a penalty for predatory behaviors that burden the consumer not only with unfair charges, but saps them of their time, and causing undeserved stress and frustration. I ask that the CFPB and/or other appropriate regulatory agencies look into the matter of how often Wayfair Mastercard engages in turning off, without the customers ' knowledge, their auto alerts and notifications, and how often this results in customers being charged fees, and why customers are denied a refund when this happens.

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