Consumer complaint received 2024-06-11
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NC)

On XX/XX/2024, I utilized travel rewards points for a hotel stay in XXXX, Georgia for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. This travel was associated with my attendance to a family funeral on XX/XX/XXXX. My mode of transportation was via personal vehicle which would result in my arriving late at the hotel. I contacted XXXX XXXX in XXXX to confirm my reservation and to notify them of my late check-in arrival. The hotel representative indicated that due to my making the reservation so close to my date, hotel records would not confirm my arrival. On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Citibank travel to confirm that my hotel confirmation would be honored for a late arrival. Citibank travel could not confirm and indicated that they would reach out to the hotel. The Citibank XXXX representative kept me on hold for over XXXX minutes and returned to the line to gather my contact information so that she could call me back. I never received a return phone call from Citibank travel so I called again around XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX. The Citibank XXXX representative was able to confirm my arrival through their third party XXXX, XXXX and provided me my hotel confirmation number XXXX that was compatible with the XXXX ID XXXX. I arrived at the hotel on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX. The hotel representative confirm that my hotel was done by a third party XXXX and that my fees would be paid through that reservation. Due to my late arrival, I went to bed and awoke prepared to go to the funeral the next morning. I checked out of the hotel on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX.. I requested the hotel representative to provide me with a receipt so that I could confirm that payment was honored. I had to place a credit card on file to cover the parking fees of the hotel which amounted to {$20.00} per night. The hotel representative indicated that she was unable to print a receipt due to printer error but would email my receipt to me when their system closed out and they received payment via XXXX. I attended the family funeral and drove home which was XXXX hours away and arrived late into the evening. I checked my email at XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX only to discover that Citibank had emailed me at XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX indicating that my reservation had been canceled. The next email that I received was from XXXX XXXX indicating that they had charged my credit card that was on file to pay for my {$20.00} parking the entire fees associated with my hotel stay that amounted to over {$270.00}. At XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX I followed up with Citibank travel to uncover what had happened. The Citibank XXXX representative was unable to provide a clear explanation as to why the hotel reservation was canceled and initially indicated that I had canceled the reservation. I clarified that due to the time of XXXX, the reservation, I was not able to cancel the utilization of the rewards program due to the Citibank policy nor did I need to cancel because I was attending a funeral on XX/XX/XXXX. The Citibank representative reviewed her information further and discovered that communications had occurred between Citibank travel, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX regarding this arrangement and somehow, the XXXX parties ended up canceling my reservation without notifying me up on my arrival to the hotel. I explained that when the email was submitted notify me of the hotel cancellation at XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/XXXX, I was sound asleep at the hotel for which they could have confirmed with Embassy Suites or simply called me while I was at the facility. The Citibank rep shared that their internal communications got caught in their spam folders and upon acknowledgement, they began points reimbursements. The Citibank XXXX representative indicated that she could reimburse My Rewards points for which I responded that they would not pay for the {$270.00} charge that I had incurred due to their error. I requested to speak with a supervisor for additional remedies. The representative took my phone and email address and indicated that I would receive a return call from the supervisor that was reportedly in a meeting. I did not receive a return phone call on the morning of the XX/XX/XXXX I received an email at XXXX indicating that my rewards points would be reinstated. I called back to Citibank travel to speak with the supervisor and spoke with a gentleman by the name of XXXX. He reviewed the information that was on file from my original call and the email that was submitted. Unfortunately, the record was not correct and I communicated clarification on each of the events. XXXX reviewed and corrected the file and I requested an explanation as to what I could have done differently to avoid this debacle. The Citibank supervisor, XXXX, also understood that I was requesting a full refund by a check mailed to me so that I could pay the other credit card that was on file with XXXX XXXX to cover the {$20.00} parking fees. The Citibank XXXX supervisor indicated that he would have to check with others to confirm that this could be accomplished. He additionally indicated that he would call me back between XXXX and 5 days of receiving this concern. XXXX followed up immediately with a call requesting a copy of the invoice from XXXX XXXX. I emailed this to him and we both apologize for not fulfilling this request during our original phone call. I never received a return phone call from XXXX as promised and followed up with another phone call to Citibank travel on XX/XX/XXXX. During this call, I spoke with a representative named XXXX and walked through the events with her and my original request. She indicated that the supervisor I spoke with, XXXX, was able to honor that request and she tried to contact him during our call. He was not available. XXXX requested that I called back at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to speak with the authorizing supervisor, XXXX. I called back at the requested time on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX. She was unable to contact the authorizing supervisor after hearing my requests and instructions received through the other Citibank XXXX XXXX. Again, she took my information and indicated that I receive a phone call between XXXX and XXXX hours later. Again, I received no phone call thus I reached out again on XX/XX/XXXX. The Citibank representative, XXXX, stated that the Citibank supervisors had been receiving a large call volume and had been unable to address all of the concerns. She took my information and indicated that I would receive a return phone call from XXXX. I shared that blase was to have returned my phone call by XX/XX/XXXX. She provided no explanation but looked in my file and saw that a credit was being issued to my city card in the amount of {$270.00}. I shared with her that I did not request a refund for my Citibank card but a check due to the fact that the cost incurred due to Citibank travel errors impacted another credit card that was on file with XXXX XXXX and XXXX that they had no access to. I explained to XXXX that I would like to receive a phone call from a supervisor explaining how this could be resolved due to this being no fault of my own. I had read the XXXX XXXX publication dated XX/XX/XXXX and recognize that this Rewards program is so similar to other consumer errors that are reported in Section XXXX of your report