Consumer complaint received 2021-04-19
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: CA
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:
In XX/XX/2021, I instructed a freelance marketing specialist who I found online to produce for me a guide to enable me to use my XXXX profile to gather new students for my XXXX  XXXX XXXX  business. The premise of this job was that I wanted a clear, easy to understand guide that would teach me how to search for and identify potential students from XXXX members, and to also provide me with message templates to then send to the members on XXXX who I had identified as potential students. I explained clearly what I was looking for, and also that I had no experience in marketing and so would need everything clearly explained and any specific terms defined. I paid a total of {$140.00} for this service, to a company called XXXX XXXX. I first received a 10 page document that was supposed to be about how to find clients on XXXX. 6 of these pages were absolutely irrelevant material about how important XXXX is. The other 4 pages described a complex process with many unfamiliar terms designed to harvest emails and personal information from random people with the intention of spamming them by email in the hopes of getting them interested. I didnt understand anything that was described and asked for many point to be clarified. I was sent a few replies with more confusing instructions. I was then sent the message templates. These were not meant to be sent on XXXX  but by email, although this was not what I had requested. I asked to set up a XXXX call so I could ask my many questions. A date was set up which I confirmed but at the last minute this was cancelled because the staff members wife was taken to hospital. In total frustration I then composed a 6 page document with all of my questions detailed clearly. I received a document back which was basically a list of videos to watch that would supposedly explain things. None of it made sense. None of my questions were answered in a clear manner. I paid {$140.00} for an expensive email spam campaign, not a XXXX targeted approach. After 5 wasted weeks of getting nothing practical from the merchant, I emailed to request a refund. She responded immediately with a furious message telling me that if I really wanted it to work I would have made more of an effort. I then opened a case with XXXX to request a refund. I uploaded all documents involved with the case, and the seller offered a {$50.00} refund which I rejected as I got nothing whatsoever in return for my money. XXXX made what I feel was a hasty decision in the merchants favor saying that I had received what was paid for. I most definitely did not. 
I then contacted my credit card company, US Bank Cash Plus Visa. I explained the story detailed here and said I wanted to raise a dispute. I was given a temporary credit of {$140.00}. I asked on this occasion, as well as on several other occasions during subsequent phone calls, if I could submit my evidence for the dispute by email or by upload link, as the total number of pages in all documents was approximately 35 and I didnt have the ability to print out that many pages and then mail them. I was told Im not sure, youll have to talk to the dispute department or else well have to ask about this. Eventually I received a letter in the mail requesting I submit evidence for my claim. There was no email address or upload link, only a fax number. I dont have any form of access to a fax and dont live anywhere near to a facility that sends faxes. Even if I had access to a fax machine, sending 35 pages by fax is completely impractical as its difficult to keep them organized. Email or upload link is far more practical and used frequently by other credit card companies. I was unable to print out this number of pages as my printer only prints out about 2 or 3 pages before it stops working and I then have to reset it and wait for it to become functional again. I also dont live near a post office so would have to take an XXXX to the nearest post office, and it would cost me around {$10.00} to mail the number of pages. Again totally impractical. 
I called US Bank to explain the impossibility of submitting my evidence in the forms available to me, and again asked if an email address or upload link could be supplied. I was told that this would be looked into and I would be contacted. I was told if an email address was an option that I would be contacted by email and I confirmed my email address. I received no letter or email after this but on XXXX XXXX I received an email saying that my case was nearing resolution. When I again called US Bank to enquire as to the status of my case I was informed that the assessor on my case had closed the case after a response from the merchant. I asked what evidence the merchant had supplied and apparently the merchant offered no evidence at all apart from a claim that they had provided the service requested. I on the other hand had not been given a reasonable opportunity to present my evidence and the case was closed without giving me a fair opportunity to respond. The staff member I spoke to about this most recently told me that due to the difficulties I faced in submitting my evidence, I would receive a phone call from the assessor dealing with the case within 48 hours. I gave the staff member specific times that I could be reached on Friday XXXX XXXX. No one contacted me. I am often away from my phone while I am working and cant leave my ringtone on because it will disturb my teaching schedule as I live in a small apartment. I therefore cant guarantee that if the assessor calls at a later time I will be available to take the call. I was also informed that in fact there is no option to submit evidence by email, which was completely different from how the question of providing email contact had been answered during my previous calls. 
It appears to me that the assessor on this case simply couldnt be bothered to carry out due diligence on my behalf and accepted the merchants assurance at face value. This is completely unfair and imbalanced. I therefore would like my {$140.00} to be refunded to my account immediately or an electronic means of submitting my evidence to be made available.

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