Consumer complaint received 2022-02-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
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:
Background : We were scammed by XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). XXXX XXXX XXXX is a scam sold at XXXX XXXX. Salesman pressures it's visitors to buy into their vacation club by offering them money or services in exchange for listening to their " short '' presentation. Visitors are then given a 4+ hour presentation to be worn down and ultimately sold on the " great value '' of the club and the " low prices '' and " savings/benefits '' being a member of the club will provide. Visitors do not get to see REAL TIME pricing prior to contracting and becoming a member. We had faith and trusted that the pricing would be what we were told. We had to wait 30+ days for our membership to be active and able to get on the website to book a trip/ see pricing. The soonest we were able to get online and book a trip, we quickly realized we had been scammed as none of the prices were anything that they were said to be. Some of the locations for trips were completely unavailable or cost upwards of $ XXXX due to NONDISCLOSED resort fees, etc. We immediately called XXXX to verify thinking we were possibly looking at the wrong thing, but it was confirmed we were indeed at the right place and those were the prices. Upon discovering this, we immediately contacted XXXX by phone to cancel our contract and notified them of the breach in accordance with THEIR outlined terms. We were told over the phone there was nothing they could do. A few days later on XX/XX/XXXX, we received an email from a representative to discuss & proceeded to notify them of the breach of contract AGAIN in accordance with their terms. The Merchant refused to cancel and refund our money and maintained they were not in breach of contract. Therefore, we submitted the dispute with Citibank. 

XX/XX/XXXX - dispute filed with Citibank for a charge of {$6700.00} placed on XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX XXXX after the merchant refused to refund our money. Received email from Citibank confirming receipt of dispute. A conditional credit was applied within a week. 

XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX - Emails were received from Citibank notifying the dispute was being reviewed. 

XXXX Email from Citibank notifying they had finally contacted the merchant and were waiting to hear back from the merchant who had until XX/XX/XXXX to respond. 

XXXX we were notified that Citi had awarded the dispute in the Merchant 's favor/ closed the investigation and re-charged the {$6700.00} to our card. 

XXXX We responded to Citi and reopened the dispute, resending the contract and evidence from the Merchant stating the terms of the contract specifically applying to the case- " if member considers that mediator is in breach of any of its obligations under this contract, member shall have ( 10 ) days counted from the date of breach to notify mediator .... if mediator is unable to correct said breach, member will have the choice of terminating the contract and requestion a refund of the total price already paid ... '' Citibank could not possibly have read the information provided to them if they awarded the case in the merchants favor. Moreover, Citibank states that they can not award the case in our favor even if they wanted to because the Merchant is refusing to comply. 

Citibank clearly did not examine the documentation we provided to them or they would have seen the terms of the contract and awarded this case in our favor. To date ( XX/XX/XXXX ), it has been 178 days since this dispute was opened. XXXX has harassed and threatened us with multiple emails & calls threatening to ruin our credit history and send the money owed to collections. Citibank made NO EFFORTS to resolve our dispute within the FTC timeline of two billing cycles ; the FTC clearly outlines our rights as consumers and states if this violation occurs, we are not responsible for owing the charge to Citibank- regardless of the dispute status. Citibank refuses to acknowledge FTC guidelines or our consumer rights when prompted. 

Bottom line- we have been scammed by XXXX and our credit card company is not backing us & in violation of FTC guidelines. We request enforcement of these guidelines and removal of the {$6700.00} from our credit card.

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