Consumer complaint received 2021-11-20
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
I am a Verizon Wireless customer and have been for over XXXX years. Verizon has a permanent splash page advertising their Verizon Visa Card offered by Synchrony Bank. I typically don't use credit except for the reward benefit as my wife and I do not carry a balance on any revolving credit card we own. The entire purpose of the card was for the benefits in that the reward dollars accrued could be applied to our Verizon Wireless bill and the monthly benefit or savings we received for setting up autopay using this Visa. For months the card worked brilliantly and we averaged between $ XXXX {$140.00} per month that we used against our phone bill. In XXXX of this year, we took advantage of some promotional offers through Verizon to purchase new phones and we additionally added lines for our parents -- extending the same benefit. We had owned our phones and hadn't had any issues for many years. The entire upgrade and additional lines was a problem which we spent countless hours trying to resolve with Verizon and those indeed were resolved. One issue that was created from an IT solution -- a solution that was not my choice, was not part of any offer or benefit to me and one that wasn't explained in any way to me -- was that to resolve an activation issue on a new phone, Verizon created a " sub-level '' account. How I understand this is if my account number had been XXXX, creating a sub-level account would now reflect this account as XXXX. When this occurred, it disassociated my Verizon Visa card from the Verizon Reward program which is the only way that these reward dollars can be redeemed. Nor Verizon or Synchrony have any alternative for reward redemption except Verizon 's reward program through their application. I have literally spent well over 50 hours on the phone Verizon and Synchrony since to resolve this issue -- all to no avail. Each time I call I have to re-explain the issues, most of the time I'm dealing with people who don't understand this issue and offer solutions that have been exhausted. In XXXX, i finally asked Verizon while they were " working '' to resolve the issue to apply the reward dollars that I had accrued from XXXX that had not been redeemed due to the ongoing issue, to be applied against my Verizon Wireless bill. After multiple efforts to effectuate that, Verizon applied over {$500.00} in credit to my wireless bill and I had acknowledged that I would no longer use the Verizon Card for future purchases until the issue could be resolved. To " fix '' the issue and " help '' Verizon since they couldn't resolve the issue, my wife applied for the Verizon Visa Card through the Verizon Mobile App as advertised. She was approved and we began using the cards as soon as we received them. The issue that exists on my account, is also preventing my wife from redeeming the rewards we accrue. I again notified Verizon and Synchrony and have since been emailing and calling them for resolution. I'm assured that they've " escalated '' the issue higher and that ill receive weekly updates ; however they don't follow through with their promises -- prompting further calls and emails from me. I emailed Verizon XX/XX/2021 indicating that my wife and I were going to discontinue use of the XXXX cards immediately. I requested a credit of the {$440.00} that has accrued since the XXXX credit for both my wife and I and emailed them the monthly statements for both. My XXXX bill/rewards has not been generated however if estimated to be over {$100.00}. I advised that I would not ask for XXXX 's rewards for a bill I haven't received ; however that I needed credit to my wireless bill immediately and although they failed to resolve the issue, i would be " satisfied '' as it relates to my grievance and not pursue the issue further. I have not received a response at this time. Verizon and Synchrony advertised a benefit that we are not realizing. My wife and I have spent countless hours patiently trying to resolve this issue. We now have XXXX accounts with inquiries and a new tradeline that has an impact to our credit. If we close those accounts, the inquiries remain and the closed accounts reflect negatively to our bureaus. My wife and I are upholding the end of our agreement. We've never carried a balance, we pay purchases and transactions almost immediately after we've charged them, we make numerous payments each month against those transactions. Verizon and Synchrony are not holding up to their representations and warranties or terms and conditions of use. The level of " service '' and response t this is appalling. My time on an hourly basis is the same or more than the entire month 's reward total and they have required me to spend these countless hours frustratingly trying to resolve their issue and hold them to the terms and conditions we agreed to when we entered into a cardmember agreement. I'm certain I'm not the only one dealing with this. Recently I've been made aware by both Verizon and Synchrony that they're aware that an issue exists ; however have yet to remedy it or be proactive with their customers to offer some good faith measure to mitigate their frustration or actual damages.

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