Consumer complaint received 2022-03-24
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MD
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:
XX/XX/XXXX Inre : Problems with Citibank 's Dispute Resolution process XXXX XXXX, CEO Citibank XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, New York XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX As the victim of three embezzlements ( two of them for more than {$100000.00}, a third for {$90000.00}, plus the theft of my identify ) I am especially wary about being victimized by fraud yet again. My resolve to stand up to crooks has has led to victories in two major lawsuits and in a XXXX criminal trial that landed a Michigan swindler ( who embezzled {$90000.00} from me ) in prison for up to 20 years. Because fraud is epidemic these days, I have permanently frozen my credit and make it point to pay off my credit bill every month so that it is easier for me to detect whether hackers, unscrupulous auto billers and other fraudsters have posted unjustified charges to my account, Despite these precautions, I became the victim of yet another swindle in XXXX of this year after using my Citicard to purchase a {$1700.00} air ticket to attend a travel conference in XXXX. After an XXXX XXXX supervisor at XXXX  XXXX XXXX declared my ticket illegaland refused to let me board my flight using it, I attempted without success to contact the rep at XXXX XXXXs who sold me the ticket and, because NO SERVICE WAS RENDERED and the TICKET itself was FRAUDULENT, have pressed this company without success to charge back my funds ever since. I made sure that Citibank knew about this fraud soon after it occurred, believing that Citi would go to bat for me, not drag its feet Once it became clear that XXXX XXXX had no intention of simply booking me on another flight to XXXX, as any legitimate ticketing agency would have quickly done, I booked a new ticket myself at an additional cost of {$2200.00}. To be clear, because my original ticket was fake, and therefore useless, and I needed to get to my conference, I was forced to buy another ticket for myself to the same destination at the same time at a combined cost of more that {$4000.00} - even more if the extra {$250.00} I had to pay for a new PCR test and miscellaneous travel expenses are factored in. In more than two months that have passed since XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I have yet to hear from anyone at XXXX XXXX, even though I also bought travel insurance from XXXX  that was supposed to cover cancelations, delays or other inconveniences during travel, but it, too, is apparently bogus. 

By XXXX  XXXX XXXX, it is easy to find scores of other XXXX XXXX victims who have posted videos documenting how they have been ripped off by this fraudulent company. The sheer numbers of these victims makes it highly likely that at least some of them used Citicards to consummate their own dealings with XXXX XXXX. This, along with U.S. consumer protection laws, obligates Citibank to have their backs, as well as my back. But rather than using its formidable international clout to charge back my money, as it should have done from start, Citibank has only shown its back to me, miring my claim in its convoluted, confusing, far flung disputes resolution process. This has made it difficult if not impossible for me to get in touch with anyone capable of quickly resolving this matter at the same time it has conferred legitimacy on an illegitimate company. Instead of assistance, I have gotten only XXXX numbers to nowhere and endless delays that appear predetermined to run out the clock on my claim. Eventually I got routed to Citibanks Executive Resolutions Unit in XXXX XXXX, South Dakota, but in my experience this operation is equally if not even more aloof and nonchalant about charging back my money. This became clear despite the myriad letters, emails and calls I sent/made trying to get the attention of someone at Citis ERU willing to move on my claim. Instead of getting a charge back, I got a letter from this unit stating without reason that the matter was not resolved in my favor- before I even got a chance to send my voluminous proof showing that my sole intent was to buy a legitimate ticket, not a fraudulent ticket. No one in their right mind would deliberately pay {$1700.00} for a fake ticket anymore than they would pay {$70000.00} for, say, a picture of a XXXX rather than an actual XXXX. If I did that, I would be subject to criminal prosecution. But Citibank up to now has opted to simply look the other way, refusing to understand that what I got for my {$1700.00} was no better than a photograph of a plane ticket, not a bonafide ticket that would get me to XXXX. And since no real ticket was provided to me and NO SERVICE WAS RENDERED, I can not be held liable for this fake, misrepresented ticket. 

Equally troubling, I emailed five letters to your personal attention in XXXX through the Executive Resolution Units email, after an XXXX employee named XXXX XXXX XXXX who initially was assigned to look into my case ) failed to call me even once, never spoke to me, and never live chatted or emailed me so that I could get her exactly the documents and/or information that she required. Most troubling, the five letters I emailed appraising you about the details of my situation also were ignored, leaving me so frustrated that I got into my car and drove two hours to the nearest Citibank branch. There an ethical Citi employee sympathetic to my plight gave me what she said were your email address and phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX ). When I called that number, a woman who answered gave me a number for XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) who she described as the main XXXX supervisor, and instructed me to call XXXX XXXX. I did, but that number turned out to be bad. When I called your number again, I got a sustained busy signal. The next day, I borrowed a friends phone to try your number once more, and this time quickly reached the same woman. However, when I asked her about why my number was being blocked, she immediately hung up. A little while later XXXX XXXX of Citibanks security team called my friends phone and asked for me, and I told him how Citibank clearly was stonewalling me and my efforts to resolve my complaint. XXXX was cordial, but seemed particularly keen on learning how I got your number, which made me suspect that Citi intended to punish the ethical employee who gave it to me. At the same time XXXX also put me in touch with XXXX XXXX, who actually gave me her last name and direct phone number. After talking with XXXX once or twice, however, her phone number, too, went unanswered and my case apparently got routed elsewhere. Where, I am still not sure. 

Whether intentional or not, Citibanks dispute resolutions system is hopelessly dysfunctional, and, at least in my experience, serves no purpose other than to give Citi an excuse to distance itself from troubling claims while at the same time conferring legitimacy and green lighting the shady practices of predators that falsely style themselves as real companies. It is as if the process itself is rigged, much like playing wack-a-mole with XXXX traps set up at every step of the way to insure that victims of fraud remain frustrated, unable to do anything about recouping their unjustified losses, and left to twist in the wind. The treatment I have received by Citibank is egregiously unconscionable, and illustrative of how powerless and exploited members of society become when they rely on large corporate entities to do what is right and have their backs on legitimate claims. Since this nightmare began, I feel whipsawed by the crooks at XXXX XXXX who illegally charged my card for a bogus ticket then vanished, but also Citibank itself, which by consumer law is supposed to protect the interests of its clients in cases of fraud, but whose disjointed dispute process and weaselly evasiveness amounts to turning its back on them. 

Kindly tell me, XXXX XXXX, when are you going to use the leverage of Citibank to support your cardholders in accordance with consumer law rather than turning your own back on them? 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks for your consideration in this pressing matter. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX CC : FCPB

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