Consumer complaint received 2023-12-10 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/2023 I called into Citibank to sign up for an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I had seen a promotion in the XXXX XXXX XXXX for XXXX bonus miles for {$7000.00} spend over 3 months. I went on the website and saw the same promotion online. I called Citibank, they said I qualified and would be sending me my card soon. As the promotion was one of the reasons I was signing up I verified with the agent that I would be receiving my XXXX bonus miles after spending {$7000.00} within 3 months and she verified this. Well after receiving my card I had some questions regarding tracking of loyalty points and spoke with the XXXX XXXX loyalty program and she mentioned that they could see my new Citibank card and the promotion for {$10000.00} spend over 3 months and XXXX bonus miles. I was shocked I said I didn't sign up for that, it's another {$3000.00} spend over the promotion I had signed up for and nobody informed me of that. Another {$3000.00} dollars is a big deal and I would have had second thoughts if I had been truthfully told that my promotion was spending {$10000.00} within 3 months for XXXX miles. Citibank is an unethical bank and they need to be punished, I am not the first person to get this bait and switch scam run on them, as I did my research and found many people have endured the same scam. Citibank is clearly signing consumers up for promotions that they are not aware of that are at a higher spend for 3 months and not informing them and not providing any information in the welcome packet and hoping that the consumer doesn't find out and ends up missing out totally on the promotion miles because they have underspent the hidden promotion minimum spend. This card has an annual fee of {$590.00} and provides some perks that I want but I signed up because I would spend about {$7000.00} within 3 months but {$10000.00} is a stretch. I spent time on the phone with Citibank which kept blaming XXXX XXXX and XXXX clarified that indeed it is Citibank that is responsible for promotions. After being told by Citibank there was nothing that could be done, they finally gave me an email address XXXX that I could write to and complain. I sent an email to them explaining the situation and I was sent a letter that said that I was enrolled in the XXXX bonus miles for spending {$10000.00} within the first 3 months. I feel that at every point they have had a chance to do the right thing, we are not talking about a mistake, we are talking about an intentional misleading of consumers and Citibank needs to be punished. At this point I am so livid they should have to give me XXXX miles for wasting my time, misleading me and intentionally trying to hide what they have done so that consumers miss out on Bonus points totally.

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 non-monetary relief