Consumer complaint received 2021-07-19
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Opening an account — Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NC)

from my letter to them : In late XX/XX/2020, I opened a checking account through a special offer on your website to put the funds for our XXXX reunion that had been postponed due to Covid. It offered a {$200.00} bonus if I opened a checking account, deposited a required amount, kept that amount for 90 days etc. Please see the enclosed copy of the online offer for all details of the offer. Please note the section : Eligible Customers Checking Offer Eligible Customers are New-to-Citibank Checking Customers. New-to-Citibank Checking Customers have not been a signer on a Citibank checking account within the past 180 days. 

Not a word in that statement about having to have been specially invited to apply. 

Please note the web address and date on the printed pages. It is your website address, is it not? 

https : XXXXXXXXr Date is XX/XX/2020 ( the date I printed and read through all the criteria, and came back to that same site a few days later to apply ). 

After the required time period, having met the criteria listed, I expected to get the {$200.00}. It did not appear. I inquired, and was told that they would open an investigation. I just received the result letter of the investigation, in which it said I had not been invited to participate in the special offer so it did not apply. This information was nowhere in the online offer. I had never been informed when I applied through the offer that I did not qualify because I wasnt invited. The letter also said I could contest the decision, but could not send any copies of the online offer. Only a letter that specified the offer was directly to me would apply. Is this not deceptive banking practice? Offering something online but then not telling the customer they dont qualify, and when they inquire as to why you are not standing by your offer, saying no you dont qualify because we didnt send you a special letter? Why do you put these online, as you still are, if you are not taking applications for those accounts? 
( see https : XXXX? XXXX XXXX XXXX & XXXX : XXXX & XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) I called the number referenced in the letter, but got rude, difficult to hear ( are they all working from home on bad internet phone lines? ) unhelpful customer service reps that said essentially, well you got a letter too bad. Anything else I can do for you? I finally asked for the CEOs address and email, but they could only give me this address. So I am writing to you to ask, why do you put these offers online if you do not intend people to apply for them? And when they do, you do not inform them that they do not qualify for some reason that was not stated in the online offer ( if you have to have a letter, then why put the offer online at all? ) IS THAT NOT DECEPTIVE BANKING PRACTICE? 

I visited the Citi XXXX page, and made a comment about the issue, and was contacted by private message by your XXXX representative. We messaged back and forth and I explained to her ( XXXX ) what had happened, and sent her the printout of the offer I had applied through. She determined that it was through an advertisement that was on XXXX search, placed there obviously by Citi itself, as the link to apply actually did open up an account. But she couldnt locate an offer code on the papers. She did finally find an offer code to apply, and sent the information into your representatives, and applied the {$200.00} to my account, as she was confident that you would find in my favor. But then I received a letter denying the code, and removing the {$200.00}.