Consumer complaint received 2015-07-01
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WI
Product: Credit card
Issue: Credit card protection / Debt protection

Complaint:
I am writing to inform you of unfair business practices conducted by Best Buy XXXX. and XXXX, XXXX On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, a fee of {$300.00} was charged to my Best Buy credit card. This surprised me, as I always made my payments on time and never had issues with Best Buy previously. I thought that this was a mistake made by the billing system, and that the fee would be cleared as soon as I made a payment in XXXX. However, this was not the case. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I contacted Best Buy customer service to find out why I had to pay this fee. After speaking on the phone for more than XXXX hours, the customer service representative told me that the fee was charged because I still had a balance on the account on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I argued that there should not have been a balance on the card because whenever I bought an item, I always bought it with a " no interest in paid within 'x ' months '' offer. I would always calculate my monthly payment by dividing the price of the item by the amount of months I had to pay if I did not want to pay interest. The representative then transferred me to a manager named XXXX. The manager was not able to explain why an outstanding balance would result in a fee over {$300.00}. Then, the manager transferred me to the Corporation Department, which also was not able to tell me anything except to continue paying. Because I was seeing that this was going nowhere, and because I running short on time, I had to drop the call. A few days later, I began to look through my statements and discovered that I had been enrolled in debt protection since the day I opened the credit card, XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Now I knew that something is definitely wrong. I would never sign up for credit card protection because I would never purchase something over {$1000.00} and because I have a stable source of money from my XXXX payments due to being a XXXX, single mother. Also, I clearly remember the word " insurance '' never being mentioned when applying for the credit card at the Best Buy store. From XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX, I had been charged {$240.00} in credit card protection. Furthermore, before the fee of {$300.00} on XXXX XXXX, XXXX was charged, I only had an outstanding balance of {$230.00}. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I e-mailed Best Buy customer service, asking for an explanation for why I had credit card protection. That same day, I received a response that told me to contact XXXX to request cancellation for the debt protection program. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I responded that I will not request cancellation for something that I never signed up for, and that it is Best Buy 's responsibility to take the charges off my account. That same day, a customer service representative named XXXX responded and stated that he has canceled the debt protection and refunded the debt protection fees from XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX by adding a credit of {$17.00} to the account. To remove the charges before that, I would need to contact XXXX myself. I viewed this as Best Buy admitting to their mistake, and that the rest of its damage would have to be fixed by me. So, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I contacted XXXX and requested them to take the fees off the account. They said that I will receive a letter within XXXX days that will have the documentation required to do this. After waiting a little bit longer than the XXXX period and not receiving the letter, I contacted XXXX again and spoke to a representative named XXXX and requested that they take the fees off the account. Like the previous representative, she told me to wait XXXX days for a letter. To prevent a repeat of what happened the first time, I asked XXXX if she could send some sort of confirmation that the letter has been sent. She responded that her company offers no such service. After waiting through the XXXX day period again, I received no letter and am now asking for your help.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief