Consumer complaint received 2016-09-29
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
Near the end of XXXX 2016 I opened a Citigold checking account with the promotion code : XXXX. The promotion offered XXXX AAdvantage miles after making {$1000.00} in debit card purchases and 1 or more qualifying bill payments for 2 consecutive calendar months. I completed the requirements on XXXX XXXX, 2016. A couple of weeks ago I realized that I still had not received my miles, so I called the Citigold customer service number. The service rep confirmed that the promotion was linked to my account and that I had met all of the requirements, but said that it could take up to 90 days ( after meeting requirements ) for the miles to post. That date would be XXXX/XXXX/16. On XXXX/XXXX/16 I still did not have the miles, so I called them again. The service rep could not figure out why I did not get the miles and escalated my case to be " investigated ''. Today I received an email from them stating that I was not " the individual to whom the offer was addressed ''. I called in again to ask about this and the customer service rep escalated my call to a supervisor ( XXXX, I think was his name ). I explained to him that I applied for the account online and even printed out the " Promotion Disclosures '' which stated all the terms and conditions. He asked if it had my name on it, because then perhaps he could make an exception for me, but obviously it did not ; it was just a pop-up window. I explained that I did not have any screenshots or anything of the application with my name on it because that would be an insanely unsafe thing to do! He put me on hold and came back with the same response I got from everyone before : that I was not targeted for the offer. I told him that I was literally holding a printout of the Disclosures and in the Terms and Conditions, it states " This offer is available to Citi/AAdvantage credit cardmembers who receive this communication. '' Well, at the time I had a Citi AAdvantage Gold XXXX, so everything seemed fine. XXXX told me that " this communication '' was referring to a targeted offer. WHAT THE HECK??? If I am literally reading something and it says " this communication '' without any other description, then the communication is what I am reading, right??? XXXX again told me No and that unfortunately the website ca n't tell who is or is n't the " targeted customer. '' So that 's my fault??? The worst part is that I had made plans based on receiving these miles. I also was paying $ XXXX/month for the account over the last two months, all the while being told I would receive the miles by XXXX/XXXX/16. XXXX told me that the best he could do is close my account today and make sure I 'm not charged another {$30.00} in two days. Gee thanks. 

While I was on the phone with them, I did a web search and found that many people received their miles/points using the exact same application process I did, but that earlier this year Citi started rejecting the promo as they did in my case. I heard from several people that filed a complaint with the CFPB and were able to get their promo bonus. I told this to XXXX hoping he would keep me from having to compose this complaint, and he told me that Citi was granting the bonuses after complaints earlier, but now they 're fighting back harder because it 's costing them too much. Wait a sec -- so you 're telling me that not only did you start granting the miles/points because it was the right thing to do, but instead of honoring the promotion, you went the other way and are now fighting this even harder because it 's costing your company too much??? Insane!!! 

PLEASE help me.

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 non-monetary relief