Consumer complaint received 2021-12-10
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ
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 I made online purchase on website XXXX and paid {$580.00} for designer bags via XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I sent email to merchant ( XXXX, XXXX ) asking for invoice or any proof of transaction. No response from merchant XX/XX/XXXX I opened dispute with XXXX and Citi Bank and was given temporary refund Multiple days I called merchant at contact number on their website ( XXXX ) XXXX and heard message saying its a residential number not linked to any e-commerce website I called Citibank and reported the merchant as fraudulent XX/XX/XXXX Merchant shared USPS shipment tracking number with XXXX XXXX Citibank as XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I sent email asking merchant to confirm if the above shipment was for the goods I purchased. No response from merchant XX/XX/XXXX I received invoice from merchant for XXXX designer bags that I had purchased for {$580.00}. No shipment details linking to the above USPS package XX/XX/XXXX I received the USPS package shared by XXXXCiti with a USB cable ( NO DESIGNER BAGS ) I called Citibank and reported incorrect merchandise XX/XX/XXXX Investigation closed by Citibank NOT in my favor. I was charged back for {$580.00} XX/XX/XXXX '' I requested Citibank to reopen the investigation and provided documented proof : - Picture of USPS package I received with matching tracking number provided by merchant. The USPS label clearly read '1 USB cable ' - Picture of the opened USPS package and the USB cable inside instead of the designer bags I had purchased. 
- Invoice from merchant for {$580.00} purchase of designer bags- Website ( that I reported as fake ) showing pictures of designer bags- Contact details on merchant website with email ( unresponsive ) and phone number ( reported as a residential number with no connection to the website ) XX/XX/XXXX Citi bank asked for above proof again XX/XX/XXXX I sent email to Citi bank asking them to review above documents properly. I was told dispute will be resolved by XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Citibank acknowledged my dispute in an email. No further information provided on the resolution. 
XX/XX/XXXX I called Citibank to get a status update on the dispute since the XX/XX/XXXX timeline they had given had passed. I was told that the dispute was resolved on XX/XX/XXXX itself again NOT in my favor. I requested them to open the case again and forwarded an email that I sent to merchant now asking for correct merchandise. I had stopped contacting the merchant after I received incorrect merchandise thinking Citibank would handle it for me. 
XX/XX/XXXX I called the merchant on the phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX from their website. A woman answered saying she is not linked to that website and has reported abuse of her phone to multiple federal agencies. 
XX/XX/XXXX I sent email to merchant. Got standard reply saying above package was delivered. 
XX/XX/XXXX I sent email to merchant again stating delivery of incorrect merchandise and shared pictures of the package received. I forwarded those emails to Citibank to keep them informed about my attempts to connect with the merchant.

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