Consumer complaint received 2020-08-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
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:
SUMMARY OF COMPLAINTS : Complaint 1 : Cardholder did everything properly to prevent disputed charges from occurring. Citi made a mistake. Cardholder is being dragged through a disputes process that should never have happened. 

Complaint 2 : Citi is refusing to make available the merchants response to my dispute. In fact, Citi is dragging their feet in every possible

w ay to prevent me from viewing the merchants response. Complaint 3 :
Citi did not provide any reasonable way for me to provide
documentation in advance to facilitate a determination in my favor in the original dispute, Complaint 4 : Citi is preventing me from having reasonable time to respond to the dispute determination. 

On XX/XX/2020, we began a formal dispute with an office co-working space. We provided a letter to the vendor which included formal notice to cease charging our card. 

On our attorney 's advice, I contacted Citi on XX/XX/XXXX to find out how to prevent the vendor ( XXXX XXXX ) from charging our CitiBusiness Select Mastercard in the future. Per the banker 's instructions, I authorized Citi to cancel and reissue the card. I was assured this would work and was the only way to achieve our desired outcome. <I now know that banker did NOT mark the new card to prevent 'automatic billing transfer'.> NOTE : Everything after this point is due to Citi 's initial mistake on the reissue of the 'new ' credit card by not preventing " automatic billing transfers '' XX/XX/XXXX CHARGES : Then, on XX/XX/XXXX two charges appeared on my 'new ' Citi credit card - one for {$27.00} and another for {$1000.00}. We detected these charges and initiated a dispute on XX/XX/XXXX. Citi gave me immediate credit for the {$27.00} and initiated merchant dispute process for the {$1000.00}. There was no way for me to show in advance that I have conclusive evidence that the charges were invalid. I still have not been able to provide that proof because I want to see the merchants response first & I want to make sure I have rebutted any claims they have made. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, Citi completed its review of the documents provided by the merchant and the dispute was " resolved in the merchant 's favor ''. I received a letter dated XX/XX/2020, in my online documents center notifying me of my rights in the matter. the letter also stated that a " copy of the merchant 's response is enclosed ''. I am required to respond by XX/XX/2020. 

In my document center, there is a link to view the merchant response, but it doesn't work. A message displays which says Looks like this document is temporarily unavailable right now. I spent 58 minutes on a call with Citi on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. That banker confirmed ( after reviewing the account notes ) that the bank made a mistake on XX/XX/XXXX in not preventing automatic billing transfer ; she also confirmed that I would be able to view the document online by midday Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. 
On Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX, I still could not view the document, so I called Citi again. This time, I was told that they could email the documents to me and that a rush would be put on it. On Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, I still could not view the document and called Citi again. This time, I was transferred 4 times, placed on hold and disconnected after 37 minutes. I then reached out to @ XXXX on XXXX  for help. They told me I would hear back within two business days. I replied that I would start a formal complaint process. Within 90 minutes, an agent called me to tell me it would take 72 hours to receive the email. 

I have now elected to start the complaint process. 

Complaint 1 : I did everything properly to prevent the charges from occurring. Citi made a mistake. But, I am being dragged through a disputes process that should never have happened. 

Complaint 2 : Citi is refusing to make available the merchants response to my dispute. In fact, Citi is dragging their feet in every possible way to prevent me from viewing the merchants response. 

Complaint 3 : Citi did not provide any reasonable way for me to provide documentation in advance to facilitate a determination in my favor in the original dispute, Complaint 4 : Citi is preventing me from having reasonable time to respond to the dispute determination. 

XX/XX/XXXX CHARGES : It is worth noting that two more identical charges form the same merchant appeared on my card on XX/XX/XXXX. I disputed those as well. Citi gave me immediate credit for the {$27.00} and initiated merchant dispute process for the {$1000.00}. I expect this entire storyline to play out again when Citi resolves that dispute.

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