Consumer complaint received 2021-08-07
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit 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:
On XX/XX/2020, I purchased online a XXXX XXXX Laptop computer from Amazon. Upon receipt of the Laptop on XX/XX/2020 and after attempting to install some custom software that I use, I found that the laptop would not run my custom software programs. Laptop was reset to factory settings and laptop was returned. During this time, during the XXXX season Amazon made an arrangement with XXXX Department stores that a person could take any item that needed to be returned to XXXX and XXXX would take responsibility for the repacking and reshipping of returned items back to Amazon at no cost to the consumer. I returned the Laptop to the return dept. at our local XXXX Department store and was given a returned receipt ( which I have included a copy ) to prove my return. I had used this same service for another item I ordered online from Amazon and returned with no problem. During this time, Amazon has also sent me a gift card of which I assumed I received because I was a member of their Prime program and had ordered quite a few items from them. I did not request the gift card, they just sent it to me. I also did sign up for their credit card which I did use to purchase the laptop. The total cost came to {$300.00} Upon the return of the XXXX XXXX, I later received a bill for {$190.00} from Syncrony Bank which issues the Amazon Credit Card I used for the purchase. I called Syncrony Bank and explained that I had returned the laptop and Amazon had accepted the return. They told me that I still owned them {$190.00} for the purchase of the laptop and I should call Amazon customer support to work this out. I called Amazon and was told that I needed to clear this up with Syncrony Bank. I explained that I had already spoken to them and they had told me to call Amazon Support. To make a long story shorter, I called both sides about six times and was given hard to understand double talk about why I still owned Syncrony Bank the said amount for a laptop that I returned in good order ( factory reset ) within two days but still owed on the laptop. I was told that Amazon placed part of the return cost of the laptop into my gift card but did not cancel the balance of the return amount. I questioned Amazon about this and how exactly their gift card program works but could not decipher what the person was saying to me. ( judging by their accent, I was not speaking with anyone in the United States ). So I let it go about contacting both Amazon and Syncrony Bank because of the consistent double talk explanations. My argument is that the entire purchase that was returned should have been cancelled and if they did put some of the costs ( why they would do that I have no idea ) into the gift card they gave me, they should have explained that to me instead of automatically doing what they did without explaining it to me and automatically doing it without my permission. And although I have a high credit score, I am refusing to pay that amount of money to Syncrony Bank for a laptop that I do not have in my possession. It would be just giving my money away. So unless theres some bizarre reason that Im liable for this situation, I have not sent them any payment even though they are harassing me for payment and threatening to cause a lowering of my credit scores. In order to protect my credit scores it appears I will be forced to make payment unless something can be done to rectify this situation. I would like to have your office look into this for me. Perhaps they will give you a clearer response and explanation than I am getting from them. Ive attached screenshots of proof that I returned the item to Amazon.

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