Consumer complaint received 2021-05-14
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
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:
XXXX purchase order number : XXXX date of purchase : XX/XX/2020 XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX I bought a XXXX watch from XXXX. The Seller contacted me as it was a local pickup. I said I am in NJ and that he would have to send it. He spoke in what seemed to be a XXXX accent. He said he was going out of town and that he would mail it while he is traveling which he eventually did via XXXX. There was no name or return address on the package. I thought this odd but paid no attention to it at the time. 

When I opened the package, I knew it was a fake watch. I took it to my jeweler/watch dealer XXXX and got paperwork from him stating it was fake. 

I filed a complaint with PAYPAL disputing the purchase because XXXX had failed miserably on three occasions regarding previous disputes. I thought PayPal would be more expedient, but they were not. They sat on this for WEEKS. I called weekly with an update and they had nothing for me. 
Because of their lax handling of my case, I called PAYPAL XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and had them reverse the charges and open a dispute for the {$1500.00}. 

Within a week, the bank issued me credit but within two weeks they put it back on my account stating that the merchant said I refused to return the watch for a refund. Which is preposterous. 
I do not know his name or have any contact info for this guy at all. I can not even send him a message via XXXX because they suspended my account for complaining too much and disputing this item. 

I told the bank that if you give me his contact info, I will be sure to send his merchandise back to him, but the bank said it is a privacy law that precludes them from sharing his contact info with me. 
I said that does not make sense. How am I supposed to return the item if I do not have an address? 
Pretty much they told me that is my problem. That bank XXXX In the interim, someone charges {$480.00} on my PayPal XXXX Account. I disputed that with the bank, and they said it was a re-charge from XXXX. I said what was it for and why didn't it go thru then? Who was the merchant? The bank could not answer any of the questions, so I said that is straight-up fraud. I am not paying for that. Even though both these items are still being disputed, the bank keeps charging me interest and late fees on the money ( roughly {$2000.00} XXXX even though they state in writing that they would not do that but when I ask them to adjust the account they refuse. 

This {$1500.00} issue has been going on since XXXX 2020. The bank keeps closing my dispute as resolved in favor of the merchant, but I keep reopening it. 

I am at my wit 's end! I need your help to get my money back. The seller is obviously a fraud.

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