Consumer complaint received 2017-08-03
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — Store credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (CA)

On XXXX XXXX 2017 I went into the XXXX XXXX Best Buy store to buy a laptop for the upcoming school year ( I am starting XXXX XXXX in the fall ). I found the laptop I wanted and went to purchase it. The employee helping me told me there was a promotion going on where I could open a Best Buy Credit Card and pay no interest and no payments for up to 12 months. This was a perfect as I was expecting a stipend in XXXX that would be paying for the computer purchase. So, I opened the credit card and when the card came in the mail I put it in a safe place so that when I was ready to pay in XXXX I would know where it was. Then In XXXX I started receiving phone calls from Best Buy urging me to log in online to look at my account. Yesterday, XXXX XXXX 2017, I logged in and saw that my account was past due. I was shocked because this was contradictory to what the sales person explained as the terms and conditions of this credit card. I clicked to read my " Promotional Balance Details '' and it showed " Minimum payment due {$0.00} '' this was a relief because I had only made this one purchase on my card and it was a Promotional Purchase so it seemed clear that the " Promotional Balance Details '' would be what apply to my account.
I started a chat with a customer service representative to explain the misunderstanding and accidentally closed the window so the chat ended with no resolution. I started a second chat with another customer service representative who continued to repeat to me that my bill was past due and that they were unable to see where I was reading read my " Promotional Balance Details '' and " Minimum payment due {$0.00} ''. I explained that I understood that my account says past due but that I was informed that I would not owe payments or be charged interest for 12-months but the cycle of repetition continued. I asked the representative to have someone call me and they said they were unable to do that but gave me a XXXX number to call myself.
I called the number and was connected to a customer service representative who repeated the same facts to me, my account was past due and they were unable to access my online account to see what i was reading about " Minimum payment due {$0.00} ''. I then asked to be transferred to someone who could access my account online and see what I was reading to explain to me why it says " Minimum payment due {$0.00} '' if thats not true. This customer service represetnative connected me to a technical support representative. I explained my dilemma to this representative who repeated that I owed money and added that they did not have access to my online account details and would not be able to see my online account details ( despite that being the reason I was sent to technical support in the first place ).
I was then connected to another representative who finally admitted that my account does read " Promotional Balance Details '' and " Minimum payment due {$0.00} '' but that my Promotional Balance and Card Balance are not the same thing. This felt very misleading to me as I had only made one purchase on the card and it was a Promotional Purchase. The representative agreed that it was a confusing statement but insisted that I pay the money owed. I expressed how dissatisfied I felt and all she did was apologize. I ended up paying the bill for fear of being reported to collections and ruining my credit but I feel as though Best Buy was misleading in how they advertised the credit card to me and the online account was also misleading by reading read " Minimum payment due {$0.00} ''