Consumer complaint received 2016-12-13
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: SC
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
We made a furniture purchase in the amount of {$34000.00} from Ethan Allen on XX/XX/2016, and used a promotional offer through Synchrony Bank to finance the purchase. When the first part of the furniture was delivered, XXXX items, every piece was incorrect, dirty or damaged. We requested that the furniture be returned, however, the delivery men refused. We called the Ethan Allen showroom immediately, but neither the store manager, nor the sales person we dealt with was available and did not return our call. We called Synchrony Bank to verify that we could dispute the purchase if we did not get a satisfactory response from Ethan Allen. The representative from Synchrony told us that they could open a dispute and investigate our claim, working on our behalf to try and resolve the matter with Ethan Allen. We did not open the dispute at this time because we were still hoping to hear from Ethan Allen. After several more calls to the showroom, the manager and sales person stated that they would have to come to our home and inspect the furniture. When they arrived two days later, the manager was very dismissive and stated that the media cabinet we purchased was still 'structurally functional, ' despite one of it 's doors not been able to close and having numerous chips and defects on it. The manager also stated that she would have to speak to her supervisors and get back to us regarding how Ethan Allen was going to resolve the issue. At this point, we decided to contact Synchrony Bank and dispute the entire furniture order based on the unhelpful response we received from the store manager. We were told that Synchrony Bank would be sending us paperwork to fill out regarding our claim. However, the paperwork never arrived. We called Synchrony Bank every week for over a month and were told various things such as our mailing address was wrong, or that the letter had been sent out and we should just be patient. We never received the paper work, but found out through an internet search that we could print out the form and fax it to Synchrony Bank, which we did immediately. Meanwhile, we made numerous attempts to resolve the matter with Ethan Allen. We requested that the damaged furniture be removed from our home and Ethan Allen refused. We agreed to have all of the furniture pieces remade. However, if any of the new furniture pieces were unacceptable that we would like a full refund issued to the credit card. Ethan Allen refused. At this point, all communication ended with Ethan Allen, so we tried to pursue the matter further with Synchrony Bank. However, we still had not been contacted regarding our dispute. We called them every week trying to follow up on our claim, and were told repeatedly that our dispute was open and that we would be contacted by a representative from the Synchrony dispute department. On XX/XX/2016, we received a letter from Synchrony Bank, along with the response from Ethan Allen, stating that our dispute had been closed and that Synchrony Bank was siding with the merchant. The response from Ethan Allen stated that we should not be allowed to dispute the charge because this was a matter of 'buyer 's remorse ' and 'marital discord '. Additionally, Ethan Allen submitted forged signatures to Synchrony Bank showing that all of the furniture was received in good condition. We called Synchrony Bank to register a complaint, and were told that they would not look at photos of the damaged furniture nor would they get involved in disputes regarding the quality of the furniture. We explained that this was not an issue of quality, but rather of damaged, incorrect furniture, and they still stated that they were siding with the merchant. We are filing this complaint against Synchrony Bank because we feel that they used deceptive and unfair practices by not allowing us to represent our side in the dispute.

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