Consumer complaint received 2017-05-18
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (MD)

Citi st aff provided me incorrect information, inducing me to make purchases on my card I would not otherwise have made. A fair resolution of this request would be to credit an additional {$380.00} in Dividend Dollars to my card, as detailed below.     On  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , I received an email to sign up for my quarterly bonus to earn 5 % cash back at the Home Depot and furniture stores from  XXXX  through  XXXX   XXXX  ; I signed up immediately. I then called and used the online chat twice to ask  Citi t he following questions about rewards.     First, I asked if authorized users could receive reward benefits, and I was told authorized users could, indeed, earn award benefits for their purchases on my card. Second, I asked if the 5 % reward bonus purchases were subject to the {$300.00} annual Dividend Dollar limit, or if that limit applied only to purchases under the standard 1 % rate. I was told that that the 5 % quarterly bonus was NOT subject to the {$300.00} annual limit. ( That is, purchases of items within the 5 % quarterly bonus categories could earn more than {$300.00} Dividend Dollars per year. ) I thus charged {$5800.00}, {$6100.00}, and {$450.00} at furniture stores during the award period. I noticed when I received my  XXXX  statement that I had {$330.00} in available rewards, representing ( I deduced ) roughly {$30.00} from the prior year and {$300.00} from this year.     On  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , I called  Citicards  to enquire why I did not receive the 5 % bonus for the entire {$12000.00}. The first person I spoke with said that the 5 % bonus was subject to the {$300.00} limit, but I was transferred to a supervisor who assured me that the entire purchase was eligible for the 5 % bonus. The supervisor offered to open a dispute and stated I would get written confirmation of this dispute, and that it should be resolved in  5-7 business days. The phone call took over 23  minutes.     I called back on  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , and was told that the dispute was still ongoing, but I received a {$10.00} statement credit for the delay. I called back again on  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , and spoke to  XXXX , who also told me he could find no record of a dispute ( I had never received written confirmation ). He said he would open an investigation, and that I should call back i n 3-5 busi ness days.     I called again on  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , and spoke to  XXXX , a supervisor who was based out of the Kentucky office, who told me it was not yet resolved despite being over  XXXX  month since my initial phone call. At least  one  of the individuals on the  XXXX  conference calls also confirmed that the entire purchase should be eligible for the bonus.     This weekend, I received a letter, dated  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , stating that the 5 % quarterly bonus is limited to {$300.00} per year. While I appreciate finally receiving written correspondence, this was an unacceptable answer. At least  three different Citi s taff members told me that there was no limit to the amount of Dividend Dollars that could be awarded due to the quarterly bonus. Had I known there was a limitation, I never would have charged the second and third furniture purchases of {$6100.00} or {$450.00} on my  Citi card. I have other credit cards that would have provided cash back at rates better than 1 % but not reaching 5 %, so there was no reason to make these purchases on my Citi  card to earn {$0.00} in rewards.     Since my purchases were made based on possibly erroneous information from your staff, which was then confirmed by  two  other staff members, I sent  Citi a letter ( and fax )  requesting the additional Dividend Dollars I should have earned, which I calculate as {$380.00}. I understand I will not receive further Dividend Dollars this year.   ( Calculations to arrive at {$380.00} : I spent {$160.00} in  XXXX , earning {$1.00} in Dividend Dollars. I thus assume that of the {$300.00} I earned this year, that $  XXXX  {$1.00} = {$290.00} was from the furniture, which was my next purchase. The amount I believe I should receive from the quarterly bonus is {$12000.00}  XXXX  5 % = {$620.00}. $  XXXX  {$290.00} = {$320.00}, the amount of Dividend dollars that I am owed. ) I received a letter back stating only " Thank you for contacting our Customer Service Team. The yearly cap of {$300.00} was met on  XXXX / XXXX / XXXX . We are unable to award any reward dollars once the yearly cap has been met. '' This is not an acceptable response ; it does not address the multiple employees who provided different information. An acceptable response would be the issuing of reward dollars or a statement credit.  (  The latter was proposed by  XXXX  in  XXXX . )