Consumer complaint received 2025-11-17 00:00:00
Product: Credit 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.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
Hello, The attached documents provide evidence in support of my billing dispute with XXXX XXXX XXXX and their effort to scam me ( and unfortunately many other women ) by luring us into signing a contract for a several thousand dollar XXXX XXXX under the guise of offering a complimentary XXXX package in exchange for an agreement allowing the studio to use our photos in their social media campaign. Ultimately, I am requesting that my transaction ( {$190.00} ) be fully refunded to reverse the effects of this scam. Here, I will describe the situation in more detail with supporting documentation. I initially responded to an XXXX  ad about a fully complimentary XXXX package. Then, in " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam initial communication following response to XXXX ad '' on XX/XX/year>, I received further confirmation about this " exclusive deal. '' However, the deal asks for individuals to pay for a " deposit '' of {$190.00} to the studio and states that this will contribute to additional photos. Later, I learned from the scam contract in " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam contract '' that each individual photo costs upwards of {$500.00}, and the contract is extremely predatory and cedes all of the individual 's rights to recourse in case of the photoshoot going less than perfectly. Furthermore, the contract does not make it clear that the individual would receive a fully complimentary XXXX package as was detailed in the original communication. Instead, the contract is very detailed about a $ XXXX photoshoot and photo collection packages upwards of {$3000.00}. As a result of receiving this contract, I had questions. " XXXX  XXXX XXXX  scam email communications '' shows my attempts to get my questions answered by XXXX XXXX over email . I wanted to get clarity on the contract and why the contract talks about these very expensive photo packages, when I was initially responding to an " exclusive '' photo deal that would be free. XXXX XXXX also attempted to text me to get me to have a " Welcome call. '' At this point, I was already suspicious of them, so I asked for clarification in writing. I determined that it would be unwise to sign any contracts or agree to anything further over the phone without having confirmation of the * original agreement * as outlined by the initial complimentary XXXX package deal. " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam text followup '' shows that XXXX XXXX is unwilling to provide additional written information over text communication. Furthermore, referencing " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam email communications '' shows that XXXX XXXX also ignored my queries for more information over email ( which is a very standard form of professional business communication ). On page 5 of " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam email communications '', you can also see that XXXX XXXX encourages people to sign up for a facebook group. I joined this XXXX XXXX, and I saw someone in the group who made a post about their experience with the business and is a friend of a friend in real life. I was suspicious of the situation since I had not received any more communication from XXXX XXXX, so I reached out to this previous client of XXXX XXXX, and I asked her for more information about her experience. " XXXX XXXX XXXX scam private chat with former client '' shows my private chat with this former XXXX XXXX client, and she specifically mentions how XXXX XXXX was " confusing '' and disingenuous in their representation of the * original agreement * for a fully complimentary XXXX package. She was effectively coerced into buying a package, but I have not signed any contract and I absolutely do not want to pay thousands of dollars for a photoshoot package. XXXX XXXX has continued to try scamming me by sending further messages ( see " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam followup email for prepay packages '' ) about photo packages that notably * do not include pricing *, and the very long contract ( " XXXX  XXXX XXXX scam contract '' ) would be the only place where someone could find the extremely high prices for the photos. I only was hoping to participate in the complimentary experience in exchange for allowing social media use of some photos, but all of this clearly shows that the vendor is not acting in good faith and will not be providing the services that they originally advertised. I would like my transaction ( {$190.00} ) fully refunded, and I appreciate your assistance so that other women/people do not fall into this trap. Since then, I have also investigated further and found other clients who later posted reviews of the merchant XXXX XXXX that also reflect the experience that I am having -- being manipulated and deceived into signing contracts that then compel the individual to pay for multithousand dollar photo packages. These reviews by the other customers also indicate that the merchant XXXX XXXX is refusing to release photos to the customers unless they post a positive and glowing review of the business on XXXX or in a " secret XXXX page '' that the studio is running. This is a very manipulative scammy business practice that should be stopped. Thank you so much for your investigation of this scam and for helping me and other women to avoid the trap further and prevent these people from being successful in their predatory practices. Thank you for any help you can provide to make my argument to the credit card company, because from all the evidence provided, I believe that I am entitled to get my deposit fully refunded by the merchant.

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