Consumer complaint received 2019-04-26
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Banking errors
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (NY)

So, without getting overly wordy, I will simply state the facts of the issue. 

I signed up for a checking account which had a bonus associated with. The bonus was tiered, in this case the higher the direct deposit received, the higher the bonus would be. 

The terms stated that if I opened the account in the month of XX/XX/2019 and received a single direct deposit of over {$2000.00} before XX/XX/2019 then I would receive a {$600.00} bonus by XX/XX/2019. There were also lower tier bonuses that would receive {$200.00} and {$400.00} bonuses for $ XXXX and $ XXXX direct deposits, respectively. 

I opened the account as stated in XX/XX/2019. A direct deposit then went into the account of {$1700.00} on XX/XX/2019. A direct deposit of {$2100.00} went into the account on XX/XX/2019. Since this was before the XX/XX/2019 deadline according to the terms, I imagined that I would receive a bonus of {$600.00} since I had gotten a single direct deposit of over {$2000.00}. For some reason, the bonus was actually paid out on XX/XX/2019 but I only received a bonus of {$400.00}. This went against my expectations ( based on the terms ) that the time limit to receive a qualifying direct deposit was by XX/XX/2019 and that the bonus would be paid out after this period ( by XX/XX/2019 ), again all according to the promotion 's terms. 

I wrote a message while logged onto the bank 's website explaining the issue on XX/XX/2019 but did not receive a reply except a system automated reply that my message was received. I then responded to this message acknowledgement asking if someone could please let me know what could be done. I received a response asking for more info in regards to the promotion or, the response advised, just to call the customer service number. 

I called on Friday XX/XX/2019 and spoke to a representative in regards to the issue. She put me on hold various times explaining that they could not find the promotion I had signed up for but to be patient. I was very courteous and understanding and the rep was also very friendly and courteous. After some time of her investigating with her supervisor, XXXX, she finally came back with an answer about the issue. However, it was more of a reason for which they believed I did not receive the {$600.00} bonus as I was expecting. She explained that, according to her supervisor, the terms and conditions state that only the first direct deposit qualifies for the bonus and that this was clearly written in the terms I had signed up for. I looked over the terms that I had screenshotted/printed and could not find any mention of the wording her supervisor was basing this decision on. I explained that nowhere in the terms that I saw did it have this wording so she asked me to wait and then connected me with her supervisor, XXXX ( as stated earlier ). 

XXXX almost instantly began explaining that the terms I had agreed to was that only the first deposit would be the qualifying one. I explained that the terms I saw and signed up for did not state that. She countered that she knew the promotion I was referring to and had seen that wording at the bottom there. I explained again that in the screenshots I had taken, it did not have any of this kind of wording and that furthermore it seemed like the system had given me the bonus earlier than expected. Had the system waited until after the qualifying period ( by XX/XX/2019 ), the higher bonus may have been paid out correctly. I then actually found the original web page that I had used to sign up ( complete with the terms and conditions ) still up and viewable on the CitizensBank.com web site ( XXXX XXXX   XXXX ). This should have been more than enough evidence for her to see the terms I had seen and signed-up for. I had offered to give this page to the rep I spoke with originally but she had not said one way or another if she wanted the link. I offered to give the link to XXXX and she agreed to take the link. She seemed like she was writing it down. Since it's a bit confusing to give a web address over the phone I offered to repeat it she she could verify she had the correct address. She said she did not need it again. I then explained, stating that I was not frustrated at her and in a very respectful manner, that it was frustrating as a customer to get so much pushback on a bonus which, in my opinion, I qualified for fairly. She disputed this saying that they had to be very rigid with the bonus wording and that the wording stated that only the first direct deposit counted toward the bonus ( something which she had repeated various times during the conversation ) to which I once again countered by saying that the terms on the web page she could see herself did not say anything like that. 

At this point, the following actions she took are something that made the situation more frustrating than it already was. When I explained that these terms were not present on the web page that I had provided to her she explicitly stated that yes she could see the terms and that she would be putting me on a brief 2-3 minute hold. I waited on hold for a few minutes and when she came back she asked me to send the printout/screenshot I had taken. I explained that I would be happy to do this but also explained that the web page I had given her had the same info as when I signed up for the promotion. At this point, she once again explained that they could not do anything because of the wording regarding the first direct deposit being the only one that would count. I was taken aback once again and calmly explained that nowhere in the terms on the page did it say that. She stated that I had not given her any web site. Feeling like I was in an episode of XXXX XXXX XXXX, I paused and then confusedly explained that I had given her the web page already. She stated that the web page had not come up for her. At this point, I was taken aback even more as she had explicitly stated earlier that she was able to see terms on the web page and she had even placed me on a brief hold to review them. Apparently, now she changed that story to saying she could not see the page at all. 

I politely offered to verify the page address with her. Turns out she had a few things incorrectly typed in which we clarified/fixed. Once she was able to see the page, she once again said the same as before : she would be looking into this and would be putting me on a brief 2-3 minute  hold, almost word for word what she had said earlier. 

When she came back, she stated that my only recourse was for me to see if the Marketing Team could help but that she could not do anything because of the wording that was in the terms and conditions ( for the 12th time or so, I had to explain again that this was not in the terms I saw and that I had signed up for and that she herself could see that ). 

This was an incredibly frustrating experience and I am simply amazed that rather than just look at the situation and say " hmm, it looks like the system made a small mistake because of the timing and due to the way it handled certain deposits ... we will just fix it and be done with it and have a happy customer. '' Instead, I am pointed to non-existent wording/terms as the reason why my issue can not be resolved. Furthermore, I will just add one more thing : the way that the initial rep came back excitedly over discovering the reason why ( they believed ) I had not received the bonus was very frustrating. Once she had given me the reason, she said nothing more and expected me to just go away I believe ( finding the reason was her resolution for me ). I work in XXXX and this would be almost as if someone came to me with a non-working laptop and asked for my help. After asking them to wait for almost an hour, I would come back to them and say " oh! it looks like the laptop is not working because the hard drive broke. Well, here 's your broken laptop back! ". Would they be satisfied with that resolution? No, of course not, they expect me to fix the issue ( a reason why it broke is sometimes desired but they didn't come to me for a reason, they came to me for a resolution ). 

Throughout the entire call, I was very polite and calm, but definitely very frustrated by what it seemed like was the bank 's way of trying any possible way they could to not have to help. 

I also just need to say, I am very sorry for the wordy explanation and also ... thank you very much for the help from everyone at the CFPB! This is my first time ever needing to get help through here and it has been a very painless experience thus far. Thank you so much for your service, once again.