Consumer complaint received 2016-04-03
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other fee

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX I initiated a dispute on my CitiBank XXXX credit card for charges done in XXXX XXXX. In XXXX XXXX, I paid to replace the catalytic converter on my vehicle. In XXXX XXXX the part failed and the merchant ( auto-mechanic ) replaced it. The part again failed in XXXX XXXX. After repeated attempts and failing to resolve the matter with the merchant, I submitted a dispute in XXXX XXXX. With my dispute I submitted supporting documents from XXXX that the catalytic converter had never been replaced or was replaced with a used part. I contacted the CitiBank dispute department starting XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. During these conversations I was informed that CitiBank would do a COMPLETE investigation of the dispute. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I received a letter indicating that do to the lapse in time from the original charge date to the date I initiated my complaint, there was nothing they could do. I called CitiBank dispute department on XXXX XXXX, XXXX and spoke with XXXX, who informed me that XXXX sets its time frames for disputing charges and there was nothing CitiBank could do. I spoke with XXXX the supervisor, who informed me that there was nothing they could do and had to abide by XXXX investigation policies. 

CitiBank did not disclose at anytime that my dispute was out of time frame in addition to making no attempt to contact the merchant that my dispute was against. In XXXX XXXX, CitiBank asked for additional documents for this " investigation '' which I submitted in a timely manner ; however, there was no actual investigation done since according to XXXX policy I was out of the time frame. In XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, I called the CitiBank dispute department and I was informed that the investigator was waiting for a response from the merchant ; yet there was never correspondence sent to the merchant regarding this dispute. 

CitiBank intentionally withheld critical information regarding my dispute time frames. CitiBank also misled me when I was informed on multiple occasions that the dispute was under investigation when in actuality nothing was being done on their part except to collect documentation from me. 

The letter received XXXX XXXX, XXXX should have been sent to me in XXXX XXXX when I still had the ability to locate the merchant and not 90-days after the fact. CitiBank was aware of XXXX investagtive policies yet they allowed the account to accumulate interest charges and waste my time. 

This is bad business. I applied for a credit card with CitiBank and they failed to protect me. They allowed a fraudulent merchant to take advantage of me. CitiBank led me to believe they had my best interest at heart and all the while they did nothing during this supposed investigation. CitiBank was the issuer of this credit card and should be responsible for protecting the consumer. CitiBank failed and did a poor job of protecting me.

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