Consumer complaint received 2024-02-13
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: Chime Financial Inc (CA)

I have a checking account and a XXXX debit card from Chime XXXX Inc. and XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. I had a transaction where I never received the service I paid for so I filed a dispute but Chime failed to investigate the issue in a good faith manner, didnt send me the documents I requested, refused to take Notice of Errors via email/in writing and said the only way to give these is via chat or over the phone, failed to issue a provisional credit during the investigation, failed to complete the investigation in a timely manner, and simply refuse to acknowledge the fact that a merchant is responsible for the goods and services they sell being actually delivered to the purchaser. 


I booked a hotel room with an XXXX XXXX XXXX called XXXX XXXX at XXXX for a hotel room. I showed up for the reservation but the hotel informed me they wouldnt be honoring the reservation and that it was cancelled and there were no other rooms. I contacted the merchant but couldnt get through to anyone. All calls repeatedly hang up automatically except for the sales dept but they hang up too when they hear you have an issue. I never received the refund that the hotel promised so I filed a dispute with Chime. 

Chime didnt issue a provisional credit and took more than 30 days to investigate the issue. They determined that no error occurred but failed to issue a written explanation for why they believed that I should have to pay for a hotel room I never was able to use. I requested the documents but never received them. I informed them I still continue to dispute it and they filed a rebuttal but that too was denied. After several requests Chime sent me a letter written to Chime by the merchant that they called compelling evidence. The letter just had unfinished sentences where it seemed like fill in the blanks for specific details would go, generic stock sentences that didnt really apply to the circumstances, screenshots of generic receipts and webpages showing hotels, and links to their cancellation policy which says no refunds if I cancel ( but Im not the one who cancelled the reservation ). 

It became obvious that Chime was failing to do a proper investigation in good faith into the dispute because there were no critical pieces of the picture like the refund/transaction receipts that the hotel and the merchant had exchanged and Chime failed to honor the XXXX XXXX XXXX that require a merchant to deliver any services they deliver. XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX also require a merchant provide specific pieces of compelling evidence into the XXXX XXXX Resolve Online platform but no actual specific items XXXX lists as acceptable forms of compelling evidence were included with what the merchant provided under that title. 

Its pretty obvious that a merchant cant just refuse to issue a refund after they sell someone a hotel room then have their agent, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, cancel the reservation upon the guests arrival and refund the merchant the money that the merchant paid to the hotels for the reservation. What suspicious is why exactly Chime decided to act in this manner. 

I suspect that Chime has a pre-established relationship with the merchant or other undisclosed bias or that the merchant utilized some sort of chargeback prevention service that is making Chime with total disregard for whats obviously right and dismiss the need to do their duties on under Regulation E and XXXX XXXX XXXX Ive requested numerous times the documents that they have from the merchant such as the XXXX platform data, additional transactions receipts, documentation from the hotel ( which the hotel wont provide to me ), a XXXX report that the merchant claims in their letter is the reason that the dispute cant go forward because it has something to do with fraud. As far as I can tell a XXXX report is related to the merchants chargeback volume allegeding that so many chargebacks must be friendly fraud and that they should be denied en masse but in this case that is absolutely not the case, XXXX XXXX is a racket that doesnt feel the need to make good on the reservations they sell and further claims that they dont even sell reservations but access to deals instead. 

Chime and XXXXXXXX XXXX shouldnt be treating their customers this way but this whole dispute process really shows how poorly handled Chimes disputes are and their willingness to disregard Regulation Es various requirements reflects a general attitude at Chime that they for some reason dont need to follow all the rules because they are not a real bank.