Consumer complaint received 2023-01-26
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX I was charged {$270.00} from XXXX Rewards. All three charges were in error and no purchase was completed from XXXX rewards. 

I disputed the charge from XX/XX/XXXX Successfully and received a credit from Citi. 

XXXX Rewards also refunded one charge on XX/XX/XXXX. 

This leaves one outstanding charge for {$170.00} that has yet to be corrected. However after Multiple attempts Citi has failed to even open a dispute for one {$270.00} charge from XXXX Rewards on XX/XX/XXXX I have spoken to MANY customer service reps on the phone who have al told me that they would open a dispute, yet one never gets opened. They say that someone will contact me within 10 business days. but even then I only receive a form email saying that my dispute from XX/XX/XXXX ( the wrong charge ) has already been resolved. 

Recently on XX/XX/XXXX I engaged their chat service for help and was told that a dispute would be open and that I would receive conditional credit within 48 hours. The following Tuesday I had still not received credit and in their online banking site the dispute is nowhere to be found. 

I contacted them again on XX/XX/XXXX to advise them that the dispute was not opened. The chat agent confirmed that the agent from the prior week did NOT open a dispute and said that they would get it opened. when asked for a case id they were not able to give me one but told me that I would again receive conditional credit and the dispute woudl appear online within 48 hours.

It is now 48 hours later, the dispute has not appeared, and I am chatting with a third agent who I have no doubt will fail in the same way. 

I believe there exists some systemic issue because of their being multiple similar charges and amounts that the agents are not even able to open a dispute. I'm not even able to open it myself online ( which I normally can ). 

What is worse is there is not way to contact a person who can actually resolve the situation. The contact center agents have no escalation point that leads to a live person to communicate with so that I can properly explain the situation. Only a group that reviews the account in a vacuum and sends a form letter within 10 days that they call " Account review '' I would like for someone at citi to contact me personally, via phone or email, who can actually resolve this situation and not simply follow a script that has led to no resolution so far. 

Unfortunately if this is not resolved my best/only recourse is probably small claims court, which is a burden I should not have to undertake given the requirement that they properly investigate disputed amounts. 

I am enclosing my statement for the period with this additional context : During the same time period, when I was trying to transact with XXXX, I gave up and did successfully transact for the same product/price with XXXX. Unfortunately when trying to clear all of this up i opened a dispute for the XXXX charge in error. Therefore there are additional conditional credits ( and a corresponding reversal ) for XXXX for the same amounts that somewhat muddy the water. So I will clarify each of the {$270.00} charges on the attached statement. 

XX/XX/XXXX - {$270.00} XXXX erroneous charge from XXXX Rewards ( Yellow ) XX/XX/XXXX - {$270.00} Legitimate charge from XXXX Rewards ( Blue ) XX/XX/XXXX - {$270.00} XXXX erroneous charge from XXXX Rewards ( Yellow ) XX/XX/XXXX - {$270.00} XXXX erroneous charge from XXXX Rewards ( Yellow ) XX/XX/XXXX - ( {$270.00} ) Refund directly from XXXX Rewards ( Yellow ) XX/XX/XXXX - ( {$270.00} ) Conditional credit for mistaken dispute of XXXX Rewards Charge ( Blue ) XX/XX/XXXX - {$270.00} Reversal of conditional Credit from mistaken XXXX dispute ( Blue ) XX/XX/XXXX - ( {$270.00} ) Conditional credit for XXXX rewards dispute on XX/XX/XXXX ( Yellow ) It is clear in the statement that I was charged 5 times, and only refunded 3 times for a purchase I only made once. Leaving a single outstanding charge as needing to be corrected. 

I am also enclosing a statement from XXXX for the time frame in question showing that there is not a single {$270.00} purchase. 

And lastly I enclose a record of the last chat with Citi. Confirming their repeated failure to properly open a dispute when asked and even giving me old/resolved Case numbers when I attempt to ask for a new one. Along with a screenshot of my dispute center from Citi proving that the case number give was resolved. 

There is clearly something systemic that is preventing the chat and phone agents from properly handling a complicated billing issue of this nature. And no system in place to escalate the issue to a competent team when needed.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation