Consumer complaint received 2018-03-10
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: SC
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:
I disputed two separate charges on my credit card for a stay at XXXX  XXXX. The stay was not as expected and the company refused to make right on the issues and only continued to push the blame on myself for issues during booking that we chose to leave the hotel early. I disputed the original charge for the hotel $ XXXX and a fraudulent {$100.00} damage. I had been refunded $ XXXX for an overpayment and a discount I should have received related to the {$97.00} charge which I clearly outlined in all of the evidence I sent Citi when I first opened the claim. And I say fraudulent damage charge because XXXX XXXX refused to call me back to explain the charges, I was actually hung up on by the front desk girl twice because I, rightfully, got angry about the charge. Citi did a very poor investigation the closed my dispute for damage citing that the company gave me a {$19.00} refund. This refund, from the get go, had nothing to do with this charge. They clearly took whatever response from the vendor at face value and never even bothered to look into the case! We did not cause any damage, furthermore, my credit card company who should have done a better job investigating for their customer did nothing. This is my response to the dispute to Citi to go into more detail as to what happened in the initial dispute : " XXXX. Please reference this ID in the subject line of your email XXXX. 

This letter concerns the transaction described below made with card number XXXX : Date Amount Description XX/XX/XXXX {$100.00} XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX CT A copy of the merchant 's response is enclosed. We have investigated your dispute and found the merchant has credited your account {$19.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Based on the information available, we have closed our investigation and reversed our credit. If you continue to dispute this charge please provide : The details and date of each contact made with the merchant and their response to your attempt to resolve this matter. Provide any documentation indicate that you have made an attempt to resolve your dispute with the merchant. Proof of what was expected versus what was received. Examples of proof would be a sales slip, certificate of quality, newspaper advertisement, or an itemized bill. Cardmember Signature _______________________________ Date ____________ I am shocked that I need to continue this dispute any farther. I provided a very detailed list of what occurred. That {$19.00} has NOTHING to do with this damage transaction that {$19.00} was refunded because I was overcharged with a {$97.00} transaction for my stay. This charge for {$100.00} is a completely unrelated bogus damage charge. I will be attaching AGAIN all of the information from this claim which I initially faxed over to XXXX as well. XXXX did an extremely poor job looking into this matter and I am reconsidering which credit card company I choose to use from this point on. 

I was never made aware of a {$100.00} damage charge being applied to my account. From the start of my stay at XXXX XXXX I ran into issues. I have attached in much greater detail the events that occurred but will provide an abridged version here. Issues first arose when I had to book out hotel stay on the phone with XXXX XXXX, I told them I was staying XXXX adults, XXXX children, and XXXX dogs. As I always do when I stay at XXXX XXXX. I was later informed at checkout by the very rude un-attentive woman at the front desk that my account was never noted for dogs and began making a big deal out of the situation because our reserved room was on the second floor. Thinking this was convenience for me I reassured her we were fine on the second floor and was confused because as a dog friendly hotel with a XXXX dog maximum, of which I met the criteria, I failed to see the big deal. We were informed that NO OTHER ROOMS WERE AVAILABLE AND READY so we were told we were staying in the room we booked on the second floor. After a couple trips in the front desk woman stopped me to inform me we were moving. Clearly annoyed I had made several trips already I resisted but she told me I had no choice. I was further confused because maybe ten minutes prior I was told that we had no option but the second floor. When we finally moved I saw a room shottily put together and half the size of the one I booked and paid for! At this point I was livid and asked to speak with the manager. The front desk girl got off her personal cell phone long enough to attempt to call the manager then proceeded to book another clients room right in front of me. I asked again to speak with the manager and was assured that I would be getting a call that night. I never did hear back that night. At this point my issue was the fact the room was so small, I was being charged the same price for this smaller room. The fact that the bed was barely made and there was a dirty towel in the tub in the bathroom was a whole other issue that I didn't get the chance to voice my concerns about because I never got a call from the manager that night! The next day I spoke with the manager who refused to give us a discount for the room that we never booked and were paying for. She finally reluctantly gave us a discount THAT {$19.00} for the stay, NOT THE DAMAGE CHARGE I didn't find out about til later. The manager then started placing the blame on me saying she was doing me a favor I never told anyone I was coming with large dogs her hotel online says we need to call if we have dogs. That's all great but bottom line is I BOOKED MY STAY WITH XXXX   XXXX OVER THE PHONE, I GAVE THEM ALL THE INFORMATION, THEY ONLY NOTED XXXX ADULTS, not the XXXX adults, XXXX children and XXXX dogs. I WAS NEVER INFORMED AS XXXX XXXX TO CALL THE HOTEL WE WERE STAYING AT, WHY WOULD I HAVE LOOKED ONLINE IF I WAS TOLD EVERYTHING WAS ALL SET FOR MY STAY? Very annoyed with how we were treated throughout the process we decided to end our stay. When we spoke with the manger, she knew we were thousands of miles from home, so she was clearly surprised and sounded very annoyed when I said well can I check out without getting charged. Knowing we were away from the hotel she gave me a very short, ridiculous amount of time to get out of the hotel room. We stopped what we were doing and went in and removed all of our belongings so we could find other arrangements. I found out when I returned home that I had a damage charge. I was never told with the numerous unpleasant encounters with XXXX  XXXX. I am disgusted at the fact this company thinks, and are seemingly getting away with fraudulent charges thanks to citi 's poor investigation of the issue. My family and I were in the room just to sleep, I took all of our belongings. It is clear that this fraudulent charge is a way for XXXX XXXX to recoup some money because the manager attempted to call my bluff thinking I wasn't going to leave being so far from home. 

I am responding to the letter online and can not see the claimed damage but I will let you know that I have record and attempted to contact the hotel several times to see what this " damage '' was in a chance to resolve the matter amicably but unfortunately I was repeatedly hung up on and the corporate could not see ANY reason for the charge when I contacted two weeks after the charge went through which I was told was not a normal occurrence it should have been noted. Whatever they are claiming was not done by myself, in fact the way we left the room was probably better than how it was given to us considering no rooms were ready at the time and they were CLEARLY not ready to move us to a different room. I have attached all the information I faxed over at the onset of this dispute. PLEASE REVIEW THAT INFORMATION as it details even further what occurred. " I have attached some of the evidence I initially supplied to show the conflict and explain why the company would feel the need to charge us {$100.00} when we did nothing.

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