Consumer complaint received 2024-08-13
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: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (GA)

XX/XX/year> I bought XXXX items from shop XXXX. They often sell counterfeit goods and usually claim ignorance and offer a refund when they get called out for it, but this time they refused a refund. I provided proof from a 3rd party Authenticator that 1 of the 2 items was indeed counterfeit but they refused to continue to speak to me. I emailed XXXX and they basically said they cant force the regional XXXX to do a refund and said to submit a credit card dispute. 

So the dispute was opened, and I was told to wait to submit evidence because they didnt know if the merchant would respond or not. Well that was a lie, they actually just closed my dispute without notifying me, and I noticed because I saw a usual amount being charged to me account via XXXX. I say unusual, because it didnt match the temporary credit they had given me while the case was open. I realized that even though I filed a partial dispute for the XXXX item and got the temporary credit just for that, synchrony rebilled me for the full cost of both items. I spoke to several people there that were incapable of simple math, and finally got someone who realized what I pointed out. They offered a credit for the over charge, and then they also reopened my dispute as I mentioned I had tons of proof the item was counterfeit, that the merchant was refusing speaking to me, and that the corporate entity above them even said to file a credit card dispute. 

So I submit all this information to synchrony and my case is reopened. Over the next XXXX months, I occasionally call every couple weeks to check the state of the case because synchrony has {$360.00} of my money they owe me back for the counterfeit goods that I was sold from XXXX. Over this time I speak to the company 6-7 times including several managers. Well, after being told my dispute should be resolved by the start of XXXX, at the end of XXXX around the XXXX, I finally have someone with enough brains on the line to inform me that they actually never reopened my dispute after it was closed prematurely. 

So I demanded they just credit me the {$360.00} because of how badly theyd XXXX XXXX  and eat the loss as ownership for their bungling of this entire thing. They refused and stated the dispute was now open again and Id be due a response by XX/XX/year>. At this point cumulatively Id talked to synchrony for 12-14 hours via various calls and spoken to several managers, and not only had they given me incorrect instructions, theyd also over charged me, and never even reopened my dispute. Today, Im sitting 4.5 months after my dispute was originally filed with no resolution and Im being told I need to wait another 1.5 months. This is after Id talked to like 7 reps, including managers, about the specifics of the dispute including the dollar value, the details, and Id submitted tons of evidence. 


So several things to really report here : 1XXXX XXXX has a persistent issue with selling counterfeit goods and they dont show much interest in patrolling it. I literally help report items to them that I realize are counterfeit, for free, to try and help the marketplace and other buyers on the website.

2. Synchrony bypass their 90 day window to solve a dispute due to their own negligence, and have now pushed my dispute ever further out, despite my numerous calls reopening the dispute and talking with multiples reps and managers about the status.