Consumer complaint received 2024-11-17
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (WA)

Im formally filing a complaint against Citi Bank Credit Card because I believe that they have mishandled my dispute. On XX/XX/year>, I booked a car rental through XXXX  website for {$110.00} from XX/XX/year> to XX/XX/year> in XXXX, XXXX while travelling there. I went to pick up the car on XX/XX/year> at XXXX airports parking lot from XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, a company called XXXX. Upon arrival at the parking lot where the car was, I met a man from XXXX. He told me that he would need my credit card for security deposit. I gave him my XXXX credit card which was the card I used to book the rental on XXXX  website. He said my card was declined but I knew my card wasnt declined because I didnt get notification from XXXX. He then told me that he will wave the security deposit if I paid a fee of {$100.00}. I politely declined his offer and told him that wasnt part of the deal. He also wouldnt accept my XXXX XXXX or my XXXX XXXX  credit cards. He only accepted the Citi bank credit card. He charged my Citi bank credit card a security deposit of {$1500.00}. He told me that when I bring the car back, he would refund my security deposit I brought the car back on XX/XX/year> at XXXX. The same man and a woman were there at the parking lot. After briefly inspecting the car, the woman said that there was a new a damage to the car. I asked her to show me the damage because I couldnt see any damage. She then pointed to a small scratch less than 3 inches on the bottom side of the front bumper. This was very tiny, you have to know exactly where to look for it in order to see it. I told her that this damage wasnt a new damage. Luckily I took a video of the whole car before I checked out the car. I asked the woman to refund the security deposit. She said that ok give me your card. I gave her my card but instead of refunding the security deposit ( {$1500.00} ), she made a new charge on the card in the amount of {$1400.00}. She blatantly lied to me and told me that she was refunding my security deposit but instead made unauthorised charge. When I asked her why she made a charge that I didnt agree to it, she told me that I should make insurance claim. I never agreed to their damage claim. I had a proof that the damage was pre-existing. I immediately went to the police station to report the illegal unauthorised charge. I also immediately called Citi bank customer service and reported the unauthorised charge. They told me that they will open a fraud investigation. I also made claim to the insurance. The insurance asked me to send them the inspection video. The insurance then told me that they would not cover it as this was a pre-existing. Citi bank closed the fraud investigation after a week in favorite of the merchant. I called them and they told me that I gave the merchant my card and I received a service from the merchant. I told them that I didnt not authorise the charge and I paid for the rental car through XXXX website with my XXXX  credit card. I explained to them that the damage theyre claiming was pre-existing and that I had a video to proof it. They then told that they will open a dispute investigation. They closed the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX on favorite of the merchant. They sent me a letter detailing the dispute with the merchants response. After reading it, I was shocked. The merchant didnt prove that I authorised the charge. They just lied and said I accepted responsibility for the damage and gave them my card willingly. They have also contradicted on their response and added my hard written statement which states they are claiming a damage that Im not aware of. I called Citi bank dispute department and told them that they lied on their response letter. I told them that I didnt authorise the charge and that I never accepted their claim of the damage. Citi bank then told me that they will continue the dispute and sent me documents to sign in order to continue the dispute. I signed the document and faxed to them. Meanwhile Citi bank reversed the credit and billed me for this charge although the dispute was still open and not resolved. I called them again and told them that they billed me a charge in which the dispute still ongoing. The lady I spoke with told me that she would send a note to the person who was handling my dispute. But credit was never issued and Citi bank continued to bill me on the disputed charge while it was still unsolved. They mishandled this dispute very bad and I believe they breached their contract by billing me while the dispute was still under investigation. They sent me a letter on XX/XX/XXXX which was dated on XX/XX/XXXX informing me that they closed the dispute, once again in favour of the merchant. This was extremely frustrating. I was very disappointed and lost confidence on Citi bank. I felt like they already decided they were going to rule in favour of the merchant even before the investigation was complete. This impacted me greatly in my mental and physical health. I lost a lot of sleep over this and experienced a lot of stress to the point that I could rest at night. It was very sad because I knew 100 % that these people were scamming me yet I felt helpless because my credit card company failed to properly investigate. I have the evidence that debunks their claim of the damage. This crucial evidence was not even mentioned on the dispute result letter. Even now through the Citi app the dispute is still showing as no resolved although the bill is past due. The due date was XX/XX/year> but it reads 5 days past due as of XX/XX/year>.