Consumer complaint received 2016-08-23
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CO
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
I purchased an Ipod from BestBuy XX/XX/XXXX and it was explained in store that my purchase qualified for 18 months no interest if I used my BestBuy credit card to purchase. Given this information I accepted and used my BestBuy credit card to purchase. I later purchased a Fitbit from BestBuy on XXXX XXXX XXXX, at the time of purchase it was explained by the cashier that the Fitbit qualified for a 6 months no interest for being over {$100.00} dollars. At which point I purchased the FitBit with my BestBuy credit card oppose to using another card, since I would have 6 months to pay the FitBit. In XX/XX/XXXX my BestBuy credit card statement arrived and I was charged a finance fee of {$210.00}, I called to dispute the charges and obtain an explanation to get a better understanding on the situation. The service agents explained that the fee could n't be reversed and there was nothing that could be done since I did not pay the Ipod purchase off in time. I attempted to explain that I made a second purchase in that time and that when I purchased the FitBit the cashier explained it qualified for 6 months no interest for being over {$100.00} dollars. BestBuy customer service explained on multiple times that this was not the case that the FitBit purchase would n't have qualified for 6 months no interest and that the payments I sent were split between the original Ipod purchase and the FitBit purchase. I explained neither was made clear ( payment application or in store advertising ) and is the reason why I was calling to make a dispute. I also went to the BestBuy store I purchased the FitBit at for a copy of both the Fitbit and Ipod receipts and for an explanation on the FitBit qualifying. They were able to provide my the FitBit receipt but not the Ipod receipt ( which I found odd ) it was n't in the system and as for theFitBit they explained they have promotions all the time and it could be possible. I personally feel they should make this a bit more clear between the credit card agents and BestBuy stores to make this clear to consumers. They should also make how payments are applied more transparent to consumers after making a second purchase ( I was under the impression my payment was being applied to the Ipod purchase ). If I had know how the FitBit payment and IPod was going to be applied split between both I would have solely purchased just an Ipod and paid off one thing at a time. Either way I still paid the FitBit off before XXXX which would have been the 6 months no interest I was told I supposedly qualified for when purchasing the FitBit. This personally feels a little deceptive so that consumers are stuck paying huge interest charges after payments are applied a bit back handed by the credit card company and this is also my attempt at making consumers aware, while disputing this interest charge. Please also note that BestBuy goes back and forth on what qualifies the Ipod was {$290.00} the accessories are well under {$100.00} dollars seperately. In this case the Ipod would have been paid off well before the 18 month no interest. The in store explanation and phone agent Credit card customer service varied, one said total purchase the other said only for electronics items that qualify this is conflicting and misleading for consumers. Which also becomes confusing when paying off balances before promotions expire. Video games, earbuds & beverages do n't qualify as major electronics yet when going to apply interest to me all of a sudden according to the agents they did qualify as part of total purchase. Yet in the store and this varies amongst agents when in store and calling in to the credit card customer service interest free only applies to major electronics ( ipods, laptops, tv 's etc ). This is 100 percent confusing and most likely why consumers end up paying huge interest the qualifications changes from person to person. They need to stick to one thing.

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