Consumer complaint received 2020-02-12
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: KS
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 am writing regarding billing dispute XXXX. I am absolutely appalled at the documentation Citibank provided me. 

First of all, this item was purchased on XXXX for {$8.00}. I disputed it on XXXX for {$8.00}. In the dispute, I clearly wrote the tracking number, that the package was lost, and that I had filed a claim with the post office ( this would have been for the lost documents ). The receipt from XXXX clearly lists it is for postal service. You can see the total payment requested was {$45.00}. The amount they paid me was {$53.00}. I deposited the check on XXXX. The claim with the post office was filed on XXXX and the dispute was opened well over a week later on XXXX. I figured Citibank would work directly with XXXX since they are an authorized postal location to verify that the package was lost. XXXX provided no supporting documentation other than the receipt. Did Citibank even provide XXXX with the reason for the dispute? They should have cross-referenced the tracking number and it would have resolved the problem. And, Citibank clearly could have taken the tracking number, entered it into USPS tracking, and found that I wasnt lying about the lost package. It is a legitimate dispute. XXXX also should have done more work on their end to resolve the problem and should have provided you with better documentation. Did you even alert them to the tracking number and my filed claim with the post office? It is really listed in the dispute. 

In addition, the notes the Citibank dispute employee has written dont even make grammatical sense. It looks borderline illiterate. Why is Citibank employing people that dont even know how to properly write a sentence? 

Finally, I literally dont understand why I wasnt notified about this problem months ago. I could have gotten Citibank supporting documentation of the claim with the post office. It is Citibank 's ethical responsibility to follow up on disputes. Then, when Citibank paid it out and I realized they ( XXXX ) were actually reimbursed for the postage as well and not cross referencing my dispute with Citibank, I could have withdrawn it. Why in the world would Citibank issue me a credit, also pay the merchant, and then take the amount and write it off? Why is Citibank issuing me a credit, then a conditional credit, then a permanent credit with no documentation required? This implies Citibank has followed up with the merchant and they agree with the dispute, which Citibank did and still failed to reverse it. And, if the Citibank employee coded that what I did was against the law, why on earth would Citibank not alert me to the problem? I listed it as goods not expected/received. You list examples of goods/services not as expected on your website as receiving something different than what was ordered, being unhappy with the service, the terms and conditions of the sale are not met, or ordering a specific brand and receiving counterfeit items. If a customer is doing something incorrectly, especially if you are going to say it is illegal, Citibank has an obligation to alert the customer and not let it pile up. If the package was not delivered as agreed under the conditions of priority mail, it is totally valid. The only reason why I even found out about this was when I withdrew every dispute with XXXX  for the year because I wanted them to take accountability for false advertising, not properly processing refunds, and failing to issue refunds. I have addressed this in another CFPB complaint, XXXX is reimbursing me within the next week, they are working on fixing the problems within the store, especially the problems within their meat department chain-wide. I went as far to go to three different stores, took pictures of every step, and e-mailed it all to their district manager. Now he also gets to deal with this... 

Citibank 's dispute process totally needs to be reevaluated. I have never been so disillusioned with a company in my life.

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