Consumer complaint received 2020-12-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
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 successfully booked a confirmed and ticketed {$740.00} flight itinerary with Citi Thank You points that I had earned with my credit card. I subsequently canceled my card after using my points so as to avoid a new annual fee. Not long after that, the airline cancelled my trip without any action on my part. The airline then proceeded to refund the value of my ticket to XXXX XXXX ( Citi 's Thankyou Travel Agent ) without any input from me, and XXXX XXXX ( Citi 's Thankyou Travel Agent ) in turn transferred the proceeds of the flight refund directly to Citi bank itself. Documentation and phone calls prove this. Again, all of this was done without my knowledge or consent, with the net effect being that {$740.00} in airfare was stolen from me by Citi after I had already booked, paid for, and ticketed. I would have happily accepted a voucher from the airline for future flight credit rather than the airline refunding everything back to Citi, but I was never consulted about such an option by either the airline, XXXX XXXX, of Citi. Despite multiple attempts to recover the value of the ticket ( be it in points, future flight voucher, or cash ) which Citi has wrongfully taken away from me, Citi has refused on multiple attempts. It should be noted that Citi and its agents have resorted to misdirection and, at times, outright lies to get me off the phone. A detailed timeline follows : XXXX Trip ID : XXXX Airline Ref : XXXX Agency ref : XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX Pass 1 : XXXX Pass 2 : XXXX Credit card account closed : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX sec code : XXXX XXXX Timeline XX/XX/XXXX : Flight booked via Citi Thankyou web travel portal at a price of XXXX points or {$740.00} ( points redeemed at XXXX cents per point ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : Credit card account closed : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX exp XX/XX/XXXX sec code : XXXX XXXX : Called to seek voucher or refund. Rep had to try to call XXXX XXXX, could not get in contact. Was told that they would keep trying later, but could not continue right now. Ended call. 

XX/XX/XXXX : No refund provided yet. Called to see issue and rep was surprised to see that the Refund had been requested and approved by XXXX XXXX that XXXX XXXX was just waiting for XXXX XXXX to send the money. Internal issue # XXXX was provided in reference to this. I was told the refund should occur in about 10 business days. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Spoke with XXXX  XXXX  rep XXXX. When asked where the refund was, she stated that because the refund occurred over 60 days after card closure, the points would be lost. I conveyed that this makes no sense, she agreed and escalated to supervisor XXXX. After explaining the situation to XXXX, she agreed it made no sense to not refund the value of my ticket in the form of a tech refund and she told me that a check in the amount of the ticket would be mailed to my address in the next couple of months. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Email from XXXX  XXXX  : Dear XXXX : A refund for your travel reservation under TRIP ID XXXX was issued on XX/XX/XXXX to the original form of payment and typically displays on your account statement within the next 7-10 business days of issuance. Thank you for your patience. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Call to XXXX XXXX, transferred to Citi : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX refused to address the fact that Id been told a tech refund was issued by supervisor XXXX. She continually repeated that a points booking can only be refunded as points, offering no solution other than saying that its in Citis hands. She did confirm that the refund was issued to Citi on XX/XX/XXXX as per the email, but offered no explanation of how or why, if that were true, neither the front line rep nor supervisor XXXX made mention of it on my XX/XX/XXXX call when they promised to issue a refund. 
Call was transferred to Citi with a female XXXX employee whose name I could not understand despite multiple attempts. After hearing the background, she apologized and said that the points would be reinstated if I reopened the card. I agreed. 
Then on Saturday I received a secure message from Citi stating that the card could not be reopened as it had been closed too long. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Sent snail mail letter to Citi detailing the above timeline and layout out the above since I was consistently unable to obtain recourse over the phone. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Received letter from Citi stating they tried to call me about my letter, but could not reach me. They asked me to call them to discuss. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I called Citi per their request, but I was told the same things as outlined above ( like reapplying for the card and paying a fresh {$95.00} annual fee ) despite me already having tried this and it not working.

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