Consumer complaint received 2016-07-29
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: Disclosure verification of debt
Sub-issue: Right to dispute notice not received

Complaint:
Last year I was disputing charges on my Best Buy credit card that I felt I was wrongfully charged for. Best Buy opened up a case for the dispute but never updated me. I had to call in to get answers, which never worked because every time I called in, they said it was still being investigated. That was 7 months ago. 2 weeks ago I pulled up my credit report to see what was on it and I found that Best Buy put my account into collection even though it was still being investigated ( 7 month long investigation, which should have only took less than a month ). The collection agency where our debt is now at is Citi Bank North America. I contacted the collection agency and started asking them questions. They informed me that if I wanted to settle on the debt, I would first have to remove the dispute with Best Buy so they can move forward with a settlement. When I informed the rep, if that was the only way to settle on the debt, then please remove the dispute to see what we can settle on. The rep then removed the dispute and then informed me I would now have to pay the full asking price. I asked to speak with a supervisor because I felt like I was manipulated into removing the dispute so they can charge me full price. The rep informed me she was the only person there and that there was nobody else we could talk to. I end up disconnecting the call because the rep was so rude and manipulative. I called the next day to see if I could speak with the supervisor and they denied me again and informed me I can not speak to a supervisor. That is when I disconnected the call and then called my wife to be a witness to the conversation. We spoke with another rep about settling the 25 % we were n't disputing and that we did not agree to pay the 75 % we were disputing with Best Buy. The rep came up with a number that she was willing to settle the debt which was reasonable for us but she informed us that we had to agree to the terms before she sent out a letter to us. We did not feel comfortable agreeing to terms that we did n't have in writing, so we waited to speak with our bankruptcy attorney and he informed us to ask to speak with a supervisor because we should not have to agree to terms we do n't have on paper. So we called back for the 4th time and asked to speak with a supervisor and another rep denied us ... again, so we informed them that we were recording the call. The rep said she does not consent to the recording and we informed her for our own rights we are recording because the way we continue being treated with this company. After countless attempts of requesting the letter be sent to us or to speak to a supervisor, and being denied each time, we finally end up accepting the terms just to get the letter sent out because we wanted to settle the debt as quickly as possible. The rep said now that we accepted the terms, we will now get a letter in the mail and the settlement is only good for 30 days and will expire on XXXX XXXX, 2016. We waited for the letter to arrive to our house for over a week, so we felt the need to call the company back to see what was going on. After calling them today, we just found out they still have n't sent us the letter, so we asked them to push the 30 days forward to the day they send the letter. They informed us they ca n't do so and that they will send it out to us today, XXXX XXXX, 2016. I feel like they are getting over on people and that no matter what, they feel like they have the upper hand to deny people their right to speak with the next level up. I want a supervisor to call us back because we have been proactive since the day we found out about the debt and yet they still treat us so poorly. This is not a way to treat people, especially when there was an active dispute on the charges for this debt with Best Buy. These employees that represent the company are very unprofessional and give the company a bad rep.

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