Consumer complaint received 2026-04-29 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: CA

Complaint narrative:
XXXX. Initial Dispute against " XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX '' I disputed a {$870.00} charge for a Business Class upgrade that was never fulfilled originally back on XX/XX/XXXX. I tried calling the merchant to get an update on my status and because the phone line was invalid, I assumed I was scammed and filed the dispute. The purchase went through on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX. Evidence of Merchant Misrepresentation & Deception Impersonation : The merchant sent a " Flight Reservation Authorization '' document using the header " XXXX XXXX FLIGHT RESERVATION AUTHRIZATION ''. They required me to authorize payment to " XXXX XXXXXXXX and XXXX XXXX, '' clearly intended to mimic the official carrier. Hidden Identity : The fine print reveals the merchant is actually a third party named " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '', a name not used in their primary communications. Invalid Documentation : The " e-ticket '' provided by the merchant ( XXXX ) lacks a standard XXXX airline ticket number ( which must start with XXXX for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX It contains contradictory claims that the booking is " confirmed ''. XXXX. Evidence of Merchant Non-Performance & Necessary Self-Rescue Broken Contact Line : XXXX weeks prior to departure, I attempted to contact the merchant at their provided number ( XXXX ). The line was out of service/disconnected. Again this is when I filed the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX as I thought I was scammed. Necessary Self-Rescue : Because the merchant was unreachable and had failed to provide a confirmed Business Class seat, I secured our own travel directly through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX ). My actual travel was completed in XXXX XXXX on a separate transaction I paid for myself. Unearned Revenue : The merchant is holding {$870.00} in cash for a service they never delivered. My personal use of airline miles on a separate, direct booking does not entitle the merchant to keep a cash payment for unrendered services. XXXX. Evidence of Merchant Coercion ( Voicemail Transcript ) On XX/XX/XXXX ( while we were in XXXX ), the merchant ( identifying as " XXXX from the reservation desk '' ) left a voicemail explicitly threatening to cancel my flight due to the credit card dispute. The transcript states : " In this situation now, your flight will be automatically canceled. If you want to avoid any kind of inconvenience, call us back... or drop an email ... to drop the dispute. '' After seeing the email and speaking with XXXX, I withdrew the initial dispute on XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX time, XXXX ) under extreme duress solely to ensure my family and I could return to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( again with at 15 month old ). I saw his voicemail as a threat and felt forced to cancel my initial dispute. He again on the phone call claimed our flight could be canceled due to the dispute. This is a violation of merchant processing agreements. XXXX. Attempted to contact merchant after return I reached out on both XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX to the merchant to ask for my refund back as promised by XXXX ( he stated after the dispute was withdrawn that we will still either get upgraded or get a refund if the upgrade failed ). I was given many excuses that XXXX was unavailable to speak on XX/XX/XXXX, and on XX/XX/XXXX spoke with a dispute supervisor named XXXX who said he was still figuring out the refund approval with the " quality team '' and needed another " XXXX hours ''. He also stated due to the initial dispute the company was charged a penalty and that I will be responsible for that penalty and it would be taken out of my refund. This is when I called Citi again to re-open my dispute, as they continue to stall my refund processing. XXXX. Attempt to reconcile with Citi Bank I called Citi Bank on XXXX ( after giving merchant time to refund me ) and asked for my dispute to be re-opened. I was told by the agent I spoke with that he re-opened my case and that the merchant as 45 days to dispute back before any further change is taken. I then emailed Citi Bank the next day this letter as well as documentation ( including the voicemail screenshot XXXX left me ) explaining why I had to cancel my initial dispute and why my dispute should be re-opened. I then called multiple times after to check up on the status, and each time was told merchant has 45 days to reply. Then due to being gone on vacation, I checked my mail and found out Citi bank will not reopen my case. Even though I talked to an agent after this letter was sent and still given misinformation that my case was reopened and waiting for the merchant to reply in 45 days. Multiple agents misled me with Citi Bank ultimately saying because I canceled the dispute myself, there was nothing else they could do ( despite evidence as to why I had to cancel it ). I also can not contact the merchant myself because they have blocked me. If Citi Bank initially did not mislead me into thinking the case was reopened, I would have continued to contact the merchant and try to get my money back, but now that so much time has passed they have blocked me and I have no way to contact them. XXXX. Conclusion The merchant provided no service and used threats to obstruct a legitimate dispute process. They are now stalling to refund my cash for something I did not receive and Citi Bank is unwilling to reopen my case. I request a full chargeback of {$870.00} for Services Not Received. I have attached the the voicemail transcript screenshot detailing how our flight would be " automatically canceled '' if the dispute was not settled. I can send other documentation too but those have our personal information on it so I have not uploaded them for now.

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