Consumer complaint received 2025-12-01 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
I had a 2 % Cash-Back Synchrony Mastercard. I decided to cancel the card and called them on XX/XX/XXXX to cancel my card. The rep I spoke with offered me a 30 day promo of 3 % Cash-Back instead of my usual 2 % if I agreed to not cancel, with the promo being effective that day for the next 30 days. I accepted the offer and didn't cancel. I then charged {$10000.00} in purchases to the card within that 30 day period. My next statement ( XX/XX/XXXX ) reflected that I only received 2 % cash back on those purchases ( {$200.00} ) not the 3 % as I had been promised. I called them on XX/XX/XXXX to investigate and spoke with XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX confirmed that I should have gotten the 3 % and said she would submit a form to investigate what happened and that I would receive a response via email by XX/XX/XXXX. I did not receive an email as promised. I called again XX/XX/XXXX to follow up and spoke with XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX told me he would fix it and said he would submit the proper form so that the additional 1 % ( {$100.00} ) would be applied to my XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ) statement in the form of a credit. 

When I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement I saw that the credit was NOT applied as promised, so I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX ID # XXXX. I explained the situation and asked why I hadn't received the credit of {$100.00}. She placed me on hold to speak with a supervisor. According to XXXX and her XXXX, per the notes on my account left by XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, he never actually filed the form for the {$100.00} credit because according to him, our call was disconnected. This was a lie, our call was not disconnected, and I was promised the credit on that call. And even if it were true that the call was disconnected, that's no excuse to not issue the promised credit. The solution to the situation offered by XXXX and her XXXX was to file for the account credit now, for real this time, but they said it would take XXXX more billing cycle to be applied and would be applied to my next ( XX/XX/XXXX ) statement. Per that phone call I made a payment to my card but intentionally left an outstanding balance of {$100.00} with the idea being that the pending promised credit of {$100.00} would take care of it bringing my balance to {$0.00}. I then called them again on XX/XX/XXXX just to confirm that everything I had been told by the previous the agent on XX/XX/XXXX was true and that I hadn't been lied to. XXXX with XXXX XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX confirmed that it was all true, and confirmed that the 3 % Cash-Back promo I was promised was indeed a real and valid offer that I was entitled to, and confirmed that the {$100.00} adjustment was in-process and would be applied to my XX/XX/XXXX statement as promised. She also told me that she pushed out the due-date of my payment cycle so the credit would have a chance to wipe out my outstanding balance of {$100.00} before I would be hit with interest and late fees. She confirmed that the matter should be completely resolved, with no further action on my part necessary. I also closed the account. 

When I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement I saw that the {$100.00} credit had not been issued as promised + a {$2.00} interest fee was applied. I called them again on XX/XX/XXXX, spoke with supervisor XXXX ID # XXXX. She told me the credit had not been applied because they needed further info from me. I was never contacted with any request for further info. Per XXXX the info they needed from me was a copy of the 3 % Cash-Back offer, and receipts for all the purchases I made where I received just 2 % and not 3 %. I explained that I didn't have a copy of the offer because the offer was made to me over the phone by their phone rep on XX/XX/XXXX, and that there were notes left on my account by that rep to verify this. I also explained that they shouldn't need receipts for the purchases because they have all the purchase info as the purchases were made on their card and every transaction was visible on the XXXX statement. XXXX agreed with me that the credit shouldn't have been held up as they already had everything they needed to process it. She told me she was writing them a note explaining this and telling them to go ahead and issue the credit. She confirmed the amount of the credit as {$100.00}. She also agreed to remove the {$2.00} interest charge. This plus the pending credit of {$100.00} would bring my balance to {$0.00} and the matter should be resolved. 

I then received a letter from Synchrony on XX/XX/XXXX asking me to provide additional information, but the letter didn't specify what info was needed. I called the number provided in the letter XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX XXXX, the letter was a mistake as it was auto generated and that no additional info was needed. She told me per the notes on the account that the refund of {$100.00} was approved and that it would be applied to my next ( XX/XX/XXXX ) statement. 

Well guess what, I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement and once again the credit never happened, and I am now getting collection calls, texts, and emails from Synchrony. Also, a late fee of {$30.00} and an interest fee of {$2.00} have been applied. I called them again XXXX. Spoke with XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX placed me on hold and contacted a XXXX. When she came back she informed me that she was unable to resolve the issue that day but that XXXX more days were needed so that they could go back and listen to the original phone call from XX/XX/XXXX in which I had been offered the 3 % Cash Back. She explained that the rep had inputed the offer code incorrectly in their system which was the cause of the problem, and for some reason they needed to review to the actual phone call. She said after reviewing the phone call I'd be issued the credit within 10 days. None of this made sense to me and I felt I was being lied to and that they were just trying to get me off the phone, as multiple people including several supervisors over the last several months of phone calls had already investigated the issue and had promised me the refund. I asked to speak with a XXXX. I was transferred to XXXX XXXX ID # XXXX. XXXX offered no solutions and just reiterated what XXXX ID # XXXX had told me. I was understandably frustrated and the call became heated when I demanded a resolution right then, and she hung up on me. 

In my opinion it's obviously no accident that my refund keeps never happening and that someone at Synchrony is making the decision to not issue the due refund and that they are intentionally ripping me off.

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 monetary relief