Consumer complaint received 2017-09-13
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: ME
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:
Complaint against Comenity Bank and XXXX XXXX Master Card On XXXX XXXX, XXXX the final day of my XXXX to the XXXX Land with the XXXX XXXX of Maine XXXX fellow travelers and I took a private tour with local guide XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX of the women in our group asked XXXX if he knew of a jewelry store where she could purchase XXXX cross. XXXX indicated that yes he did and agreed to take us to the store, XXXX & XXXX Gift as the last stop on our tour before taking me to a meeting of the XXXX XXXX XXXX and my friends back to our lodging at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Due to heavy traffic our arrival at the shop was delayed thus XXXX arranged for his brother, a local taxi operator, XXXX XXXX me to the XXXX meeting. Meanwhile I explored the shop and made a purchase, as well as paying for the tour, XXXX separate transactions on my XXXX card. My ride still had not arrived so I looked on as the store owner displayed a new set of cross pendants to my fellow travelers. XXXX made from rose gold caught my eye. I tried it on, negotiated a price that, although stretching my budget, was workable. For this purchase I tried to use my XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card. The charge came up as denied on the vendors credit card machine even though I knew that there were no issues with my credit or credit card. So at this point not knowing why the card was denied I once again used my XXXX credit card. The purchase was approved, a receipt was generated and signed. I have the customers copy of this receipt XXXX attached ). The transition took place at XXXX pm. By then my taxi ride to the XXXX meeting had arrived so I grabbed both of my purchases, waved good-bye to my friends leaving them to make their purchases and rushed from the store and headed to the XXXX meeting. 

I was shocked when I received my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX bill and saw a charge for {$2100.00}. The amount of the charge that was denied in my presence and the same amount that I subsequently charged on my XXXX credit card.. I immediately called customer service and questioned the charge. I was told that yes initially the charge was denied but ultimately approved. At this time I was told that I could dispute the charge which I did. I 've attached a copy off the original dispute filing. 
I also e-mailed XXXX asking that he speak to his friend at XXXX & XXXX Gift in XXXX regarding the duplicate, second charge ( samples of correspondence attached ). The response from the vendor was that only XXXX charge for {$2100.00} was processed. Please produce the second receipts, which I could not do because I only had a copy of the XXXX receipt, the only XXXX that I signed. I do have the XXXX credit card statements, XXXX and XXXX, reflecting the XXXX identical {$2100.00} charges for the same purchase. The XXXX bill, reflecting the legitimate charge, has been paid. In fact XXXX e-mailed me to ask if the charge was legitimate. My XXXX XXXX XXXX through Comenity Bank did not. 

My Comenity Bank claim was denied because the Comenity Banl/XXXX XXXX dispute department was able to contact the merchant, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, who produced a copy of a XXXX XXXX XXXX receipt that I had never seen nor signed. The receipt was printed at XXXX PM after I had left the shop. The signature although similar to mine had been forged. If you look at the signature on the XXXX receipt, although appearing to be a scribble it is XXXX fluid motion. The forged signature on the XXXX receipt is not mine. It has been traced using the signed XXXX credit card receipt. The middle portion is very different from my signature, an add-in using a second motion. 

When I received the charge dispute denial I once again called customer service and was told that I could, based upon the forged receipt, file a fraud claim, which I did XXXX see attached ). This claim was denied as well. Resulting in another call to customer service. The rational for the denial was that I had presented my credit card to the vendor and thus even though the card was initially denied, the charge ultimately went through and the vendor had a right to be paid. The person I spoke with indicated that such reversals happen on a regular basis and that I was lucky that it ( such a reversal ) hadnt happened to me before! My only recourse at this point according to the person in the Comenity Bank XXXX department was to take store to court. The person made me, their customer feel as though I was the XXXX committing a crime, not the merchant who was paid twice for the same purchase by XXXX separate credit card companies. Once by XXXX and then by XXXX. As you can see from the attached documents I paid my XXXX bill in full. I still have not paid the XXXX XXXX XXXX bill. I did not as they contend come back to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and make a second purchase for the same item a second time. 

The conversation was very unsatisfactory. How was I the customer and XXXX XXXX XXXX holder to know that a charge which was denied in my presence would be approved after the fact? I was in a foreign country without a telephone so there was no way that a member of the Comenity Bank team could have contacted me via the telephone to ask if the charge was legitimate. During XXXX of my conversations XXXX of the customer service representative did indicate that a call had been made and approval granted. I live alone. The answering machine was not on at my home so there was no way for a member of the Comenity Bank team to have spoken to someone at my residence or to have left a message. No e-mail was sent asking if the charge was legitimate. I do not have a cell phone, so once again a call could not have been made that way either. 

Before leaving the XXXX I had called XXXX Creeks customer service number to alert XXXX that I would be traveling internationally. Comenity Bank contends that because I had let them know that I was traveling internationally there was no reason to question a charge, even on that was much larger than anyone I had ever made before. 
Since our conversation was going round in circles the person in the fraud department transferred my call back to the dispute resolution department. At this point the suggestion was made that I file another charge dispute which I did asking the dispute resolution department to please once again review the materials and investigate the second, after the fact, foraged XXXX XXXX XXXX receipt. As one can see by the attached documentation Comenity Bank refused to review my second dispute claim. They have now referred my case to the Comenity Bank collections department. Each Saturday I receive an increasingly threatening call seeking payment for a purchase I did not make. The last call indicated that failure to pay would result in their looking into my employment and financial status. As a result of this dispute my consistently stellar credit rating XXXX 's has dropped to XXXX. 

After receiving a copy of the second forged receipt from Comenity Bank I attempted to recontact XXXX the tour guide via e-mail. My e-mail messages with the second forged receipt attached have been met with silence. 
Thank you for your assistance. 

I have not used my XXXX XXXX XXXX since this unauthorized transaction took place. I do not feel safe using /my Comenity Bank XXXX XXXX a card, where a charge can be denied and then approved without their customer/consumer knowing that the reversal has been made. This process that gives a vendor/merchant the opportunity to print out a receipt and to forge the customers signature by copying the signature from another charge does not make sense. In fact, XXXX 's fraud department indicated that because I had provided the vendor/merchant with my credit card, even without my signature the transaction could have and would have been processed. From this statement XXXX can infer that anytime I, in good faith hand my Comenity Bank XXXX to a vendor the vendor can add a purchase after the fact and I will be held responsible for the payment by the fact that I gave my credit card to that merchant. What happened to consumer protection? Certainly in this case their consumer was not protected. 

Due to your file size limitations I was not able to upload my entire Comenity Bank dispute resolution file which contains all of my documentation and correspondence with and from Comenity Bank. Please let me know how I can forward all of the paperwork to your attention. Thus I have just included the credit card statement, original and forged receipts as well as an example of my correspondence with the tour guide and Comenity Bank 's denial letters. Attempts to speak with the people who signed these letters were rebuffed. No such person or persons!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief