Consumer complaint received 2024-03-07
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. (NY)

On XX/XX/XXXX I booked flight tickets through CitiTravel, which I purchased using partially on my credit card ( {$460.00} ) and the other portion was paid for with XXXX Citi ThankYou Rewards points ( equivalent to {$920.00} ). Within the XXXX hour window for cancellation I realized I needed to change my flights, and the only way to do so was the cancel the booking, which I did promptly and well within the XXXX hour window. 

I was promptly refunded the {$460.00} back to my credit card, but I never received the ThankYou Rewards points back to my account. I called CitiBank on XX/XX/XXXX to find out why my points had not been reinstated and I was told that it would take up to 30 days for the refund to be processed from the date of that phone call ( XX/XX/XXXX ), not XX/XX/XXXX, the day of the cancellation, because the department was " backed up, '' and that there was " only one person processing all Citi ThankYou Rewards point refunds '' for the whole company. 

Because I no longer had the XXXX rewards points available to me, I had to pay out of pocket to re-book my flights which was an burdensome expense I had not expected to have to pay when planning my trip that was originally booked using Rewards Points. XXXX  days later the points were still not refunded and I contact CitiTravel again. I was told to wait another XXXX  days.

It has now been XXXX  days since I cancelled my original flight booking and I am trying to plan another trip, for which I would like to use the XXXX points that I accrued throughout XXXX, and which should have been refunded upon cancelling my booking within the XXXX hour window on XX/XX/XXXX. The sum of money that those points are equivalent to, {$920.00}, is quite a lot of money for me. That amount of money could cover the entire cost of travel for me, but I am unable to use those points because Citi has not refunded them to me. 

This week ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I spoke to another representative from CitiTravel for what I believe was the XXXX time since XX/XX/XXXX ( I have lost count of how many representatives I've spoken to at this point ) who requested my credit card statements from XXXX through XXXX for proof that my Citi ThankYou Rewards were never refunded, and that I would hear back in XXXX hours. I sent my statements as requested, as well as documentation of the booking ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and the cancellation ( XX/XX/XXXX ) of my flights, with the amount credited back to my card that had been paid out of pocket, but no indication that Rewards points were ever reinstated. 

Since that last exchange, XXXX hours have passed. It has been 78 days since I cancelled my flight. I am still missing the refund from my flight cancellation on XX/XX/XXXX for a total of XXXX Citi ThankYou Rewards and I am unable to book another flight without them.

The failure of the Citi Travel Department andThankYou Rewards department to refund the Thank You Rewards Points that I accrued over time is entirely unacceptable. The fact that nobody has been able to connect me to a supervisor, or was willing or able to escalate the issue represents a systemic issue within the department. Citibank, by failing to refund me XXXX in a timely manner, has essentially withholding {$920.00} from me in Rewards Points since XX/XX/XXXX, without appropriate explanation or action to resolve this issue.