Consumer complaint received 2024-04-14
Product: Prepaid card — General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer — Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer
Company: Chime Financial Inc (CA)

I am seeking any help available for a chime debit card dispute that they lied to me about and then denied. They are not following Regulation E in this matter and refuse to do anything to fix it. 
On XX/XX/24 at XXXX I came across an ad for a brand new, sealed in box, XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, unlocked for any carrier on XXXX XXXX. The seller was listed as " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. He answered my inquiry at XXXX XXXX  and agreed to come and meet me to show me the phone. He was asking {$800.00} for it but said I could just pay {$600.00}. XXXX met me at XXXX XXXX by my house and showed me the box which was sealed and we looked up the IMEI number on XXXX  website and again on another site. I was able to confirm the warranty and clean record. I specifically told XXXX I did not want a phone that was stolen, unauthentic, or a refurbished device. He reassured me that it was a 100 % brand new authentic XXXX  from XXXX and he wanted me to pay him cash. I refused to pay cash because my mother always taught me there is a protection when you use a card for a purchase so I offered to use XXXX XXXX to debit my chime card then he gave me his mother 's XXXX XXXX name ( or so he said ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The transaction was initiated at XXXX. By XXXX I began to notice odd things about the phone and the software. Words were misspelled and features and buttons not working even after I reset the device. At XXXX I called XXXX  and sat on the phone with them for an hour and 26 minutes trying to figure out what the problem was which they then told me I needed to bring the device in to a store to be examined. At around XXXX I was informed by the XXXX  technician that I had been scammed and my device was not authentic, it was a counterfeit phone made to resemble an XXXX. The technician advised that I call my bank card company right away and inform them what had happened. I called chime at XXXX and spoke to a representative who told me not to worry, she checked and the payment was still pending, and that they put a hold on purchases of that amount that seem fishy just in case this happened. She told me I had to contact XXXX XXXX to stop the payment and that I needed to report the scam, request a refund, and block the merchants account which would stop all payment transactions. At XXXX I did exactly as I was told and the site confirmed everything like she had said, but XXXX XXXX was not available to contact directly until the following business day. I was so worried I went into XXXX and wrote XXXX XXXX a long detailed message with all the proof and information I had including the letter XXXX wrote for me to give them confirming their findings of the device. At around XXXX I had noticed an email from chime asking me about a new card I did not order, so I contacted them immediately through chat which asked me to call and when we spoke they reassured me there was no additional card sent and also they checked again to make sure the payment was still pending with XXXX XXXX. I was told that it was stopped in time, that I would just have to wait for the 4-5 days when the pending status would fall off and the money would be returned to my account. I was reassured that everything was fine and I sent them another message in chat thanking them for " saving me from the scammers '' as you can see in my evidence. I had assumed everything was okay until I contacted XXXX XXXX and they acted as if they had no idea what I was talking about, the money was gone and it was too late. I immediately went to chime to find out what the heck was going on and they also tried to pretend they didn't know what I was talking about at first but after going off on them through phone call at XXXX on XX/XX/24 the phone representative XXXX told me he would file a dispute for me through their end as the card company and he told me it would be taken care of in 9 days. I recorded the last XXXX minutes of the call where I reconfirmed everything he was saying to me. I felt very uncomfortable and untrusting about how both XXXX XXXX and chime were handling everything so at XXXX XX/XX/24, I went to the FTC website and filed a report and downloaded their step by step guide to handling fraud and scammers with your card issuer. I then followed the guides letter example and wrote an official letter to both XXXX XXXX and chime XX/XX/24 and sent it both by email and through they're chat on their apps. Chime called me again and told me it would now be 90 days for them to investigate and return then money to me. They also said I did not qualify for a provisional credit in the mean time. I was extremely angry they had lied again and I was stuck without a phone. On XX/XX/24 I decided to have the phone appraised by a business that buys broken phones for parts and even they responded back saying the phone was worthless and my only option would be to have them recycle it. I don't understand how chime could honestly say that anyone would choose to waste {$600.00} on a counterfeit worthless phone. I was a victim to fraudulent sales tactic and even tho I caught it with in 12 hours, my bank card company refuses to honor regulation E.