Consumer complaint received 2019-02-16
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL
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:
I purchased business educational programs, XXXX   XXXX and XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX with charges over a few months. There are 4 charges that I am disputing because I received absolutely nothing, no materials or services for the charges. The charges, totalling {$37000.00}, were posted to a Chase Bank Visa card as follows : XX/XX/XXXX - {$9000.00} for XXXX Payments XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - {$10000.00} for XXXX Payments XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - {$10000.00} for XXXX Payments XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - {$8600.00} for XXXX Payments XXXX. 
The educational programs advertised to include teaching materials, life time access to made-for-me marketing materials ( e-mails, ebook, sale support, life time access to XXXX XXXX websites, continuous training, follow up, etc ) and prepaid XXXX meetings at a luxury resort in XXXX XXXX and XXXX. I received absolutely nothing for these charges. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the FTC appointed a Receiver, XXXX XXXX XXXX who froze the XXXX XXXX company and its subsidiaries, all websites, telephone numbers and company assets pending investigation which concluded the company was a fraudulent operation resulting in permanent dissolution of the company that was deemed to be a scam. There was no access to the former XXXX XXXX merchant preventing me from any direct negotiations re these charges. Thus, I contacted Chase Bank requesting a refund of these charges. I provided Chase Bank with the links for the FTC actions as listed below. 
1a. Receiverships Appointment : XXXX XXXX XXXX 1. Initial Order : XXXX XXXX XXXX 2. Complaint : XXXX XXXX XXXX 3. Temporary XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX XXXX   4. An Article on the FTC website www.ftc.gov : XXXX Chase initially posted temporary refunds for the disputed charges pending further investigation. On XX/XX/XXXX I was notified by Chase that my dispute of the {$9000.00} charge had been resolved. They said they had discussed my claim with the merchant and based on information from me and the merchant and the time passed since charges and dispute, concluded the merchant was unwilling to credit my account and that the charges would remain on my account. As there was no possible means of contacting the merchant after the FTC took over in XXXX, the bank lied about discussions with the merchant. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Chase stating that their investigation had concluded that I received benefits for the charges on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, Furthermore, that I had notified them that the charges on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX were valid transactions. Once again Chase was fabricating answers that were untruthful, I had received NOTHING for any of the 4 charges and I had never told them the transactions were valid. 
I responded by rejecting their decision initially telephonically and when it became apparent the bank was not paying attention to what I was saying in writing on XX/XX/XXXX. The points I made were 1. The FTC findings and closure of XXXX XXXX declare the transactions as a scam. Is CHASE Bank disputing the FTC findings? 
2. There was no merchant access due to FTC actions and thus, no one with whom I could dispute the charges nor with whom the bank could have evaluated the validity of the charges. 
3. I have not received any goods or services at all for the programs I purchased which were XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. These programs were advertised as including teaching materials, marketing tools, XXXX   meetings and related materials. 
4. In fact, I received absolutely no products or services of any kind for the charges.

5. The facile, and frankly insulting, definition that if I provided the card details to the merchant it was not a fraud despite the FTC finding that the merchant was running a scam operation. I am disputing these charges because I received nothing for them. 
6. Finally, other Affiliate Marketers of XXXX XXXX known to me personally, have received permanent credits for charges they made on their CHASE cards. Why is my account being selected for discriminatory action that is inconsistent with the banks actions on the same question for other clients. 
7. XXXX XXXX and XXXX have given me permanent credits for similar charges that I made for XXXX XXXX products and services based on the findings and actions of the FTC with respect to XXXX XXXX. 
I concluded with the following questions : a ) WHY IS CHASE BANK TREATING MY REQUEST FOR DISPUTE OF THE CHARGES DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHER CHASE BANK CUSTOMERS. 
b ) FURTHERMORE, WHY IS CHASE BANK NOT ACCEPTING THE FTC FINDINGS IN MY CASE WHEN MY OTHER BANK AND XXXX XXXX HAVE. Social media is full of comments and reports of multiple financial institutions refunding these charges. 

Chase responded in writing on XX/XX/XXXX informing me that they had re-examined the matter and confirmed that the transactions were valid and would stay on my account. 
Another letter from Chase on XX/XX/XXXX stated that the transactions were valid because I provided my card information and authorized the transactions. That I had received services prior to the FTC action to close XXXX XXXX once again ignoring my statement that I had received no services. 
I replied once again rejecting their findings in fact and challenging the absurd definition that a fraud could only be if someone other than myself used my card, I repeated that I was claiming refunds based on receipt of zero products or services, not on the charges being fraudulent. That terminology came from the FTC not from me. 
Chase sent a couple more letters stating the same thing, namely that the charges were valid and I was responsible for them. 
Further attempts to talk with the relevant Chase Dispute staff resulted in direct insults to me when the supervisor claimed to be unable to understand what I was saying even though my English ( mother tongue ) was better than hers and she had an accent. This farce was witnessed by the local Chase branch deputy manager from whose office the call was made. 
I wrote again on XX/XX/XXXX reiterating the position, pointing out that they had ignored the points refuting their position in my previous correspondence. In a letter from Chase on XX/XX/XXXX they had said that they would not reply or respond to any further requests from me as they had done all they can do to assist me. In my XX/XX/XXXX memorandum I charged that the questions I had posed in previous correspondence had been ignored and therefore should be considered new information. I received a reply on XX/XX/XXXX stating that they considered the transactions valid, that no billing error had occurred and that the charges would remain on my account. They did not address the apparent discrimination against me by subjecting me to different treatment for the same charges for which other clients of Chase had had received refunds. Nor did they provide any response to my charge that they were in fact supporting a documented scam operation per the FTC against one of their clients, thus providing support to criminals against a US citizen.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation