Consumer complaint received 2018-07-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: PA
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
In this case, Citi bank credit card division misguided us at every step, and supported and aided the fraudulent and unethical activities of a merchant. We have been touch with Citi 's office of the President for over a month, and very irresponsibly they have misguided us leading us to signing a forced agreement with this vendor, and us not getting anything in return. Citi 's complicity in this case is unethical and illegal besides breach of contract terms to prevent fraud, and protect the consumer & purchase. 

Case : We received a promotional call on XX/XX/2018 saying they were calling from XXXX, we incidentally do a lot of business with XXXX. They mentioned about a cruise opportunity during call, we asked them to send us the paperwork for review. They asked us to furnish the credit card number to reference in and create the paperwork with clear understanding that after we receive the paperwork, we can decide if we like, and after we sign and provide the paperwork, they could proceed with transaction.

While this company was still preparing the paperwork, we called XXXX  directly to confirm, and XXXX   mentioned to us that they had no linkage with this offer. We reported this fraud immediately to Citi bank on XX/XX/XXXX. Citi told us that they would take care of it once transaction takes place, we asked Citi why wait for any misuse of card, and why not proactively stop any possibility of card misuse. Citi assured us that they would take care of this. Following which, we called back the number from which we received the offer, and asked them why they misrepresented on behalf of XXXX, and told them we were not interested in any offer or purchase. Despite this, the merchant went ahead and charged us {$700.00} approx. which was never authorized by us. Also, sent us agreement to sign. We refused to sign the agreement and refused to provide any ID to this merchant. And, filed fraud case with Citi in XX/XX/XXXX. Citi came back in XX/XX/XXXX saying that it was not a case of fraud but of dispute. We told Citi that we never authorized purchase, never signed any agreement either, info was given to XXXX to create papers for review only. But, Citi 's president 's office closed the case without supporting us, or showing us any proof from vendor that it was a valid purchase.

We pursued further with XXXX  ( President Citi Bank ), they appointed another agent XXXX XXXX  to look into the case. XXXX reached to the merchant and found that never any agreement was signed by us, nor did merchant had any other paperwork or call recording to show that we made the purchase. But, he expressed that as the agreement was non-refundable, we needed to enter the purchase with this vendor. We told that we did not sign anything, how was this valid agreement. He insisted that only way to get the money was to sign the agreement with this merchant and get the service. He also got a communication from merchant along with unsigned agreement.

We were harassed and tired to a point that in XX/XX/2018 ( last week ), we signed the agreement. After receiving the agreement, merchant has not been responding to any calls or communications. We notified Citi, and they are not asking the merchant to perform the service either. Citi has been complicit with this vendor, could not refund us an unauthorized charge on card ; also coerced us into signing an agreement with this vendor, and now there is no performance of this agreement, and Citi is washing their hands off.

Citi did not try to prevent the fraud before it occurred and was notified by us. Wasted over three months in investigation, and then conveniently termed this fraud case as dispute, followed by closing it, reopening it, and now justifying the transaction without any service or purchase protection to us.

We notified the vendor before the paperwork was received that due to misrepresentation we do not want to be part of any proposal, we did not sign anything, did not provide any ID, which were the precondition to the transaction. Citi team was forwarded all the communications with merchant showing the evidence of above case. Despite that, their fraud prevention department did nothing, but sent us a copy of merchant transaction as evidence. This is disgusting as we know the transaction occurred but was not authorized by us. Citi had no evidence that we allowed the merchant to charge us. The info. was misused by merchant beyond the purpose it was provided ( to create the proposal only ).

Citi found it easier to ask the customer to deal with the merchant saying it is a case of dispute. We furnished all the documentation to prove that we did not authorize the purchase, whereas merchant provided nothing to show we were a free willing party to purchase. Citi did nothing to prevent the fraud before the transaction, and nothing after the transaction despite notices and calls.

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