Consumer complaint received 2026-07-05 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: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>XXXX I placed an order through XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX {$71.00} on XX/XX/year>XXXX ). The order was a blue porcelain one piece with skirt swimsuit set ( see attached image titled XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) Order : XXXX Porcelain Floral Print One Piece and Skirt Swimsuit Set As shown / L {$53.00} XXXX : XXXX Material : Polyester/Spandex Style : XXXX XXXX : Yes ( Elastic ) Tracking number : XXXX However, the company did not send me the correct item. Here is what they sent instead ( see attached image XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) : XXXX : XXXX Material : Polyester/Spandex Style : XXXX XXXX : Yes ( Elastic ) The incorrect item arrived on XX/XX/year>, and I immediately sent an email message to the merchant ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) outlining the incorrect order and sending them all requested information. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I engaged in back and forth email exchanges with the merchant where the merchant outright lied stating that the item they sent exactly matched what I ordered and admitted no wrongdoing. They offered compensation of {$5.00}, {$10.00}, and then finally {$12.00} before stating that I would have to incur shipping costs and send it back on my own dime, and end up with no item. I eventually sent the item back to the address where the package was addressed from ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX il XXXX ). Citi opened a dispute on XX/XX/year>XXXX ( see attached document " Citi dispute opened - XXXXXXXX ) and provided them with the same information I provided XXXX, in that I received the incorrect item, and the merchant was acting in bad faith by outright lying to me and refusing to work with me to either return the item and receive the correct one ( where the merchant should have paid the cost of the return for their " professional '' mistake. Under no circumstance should I have been forced to pay for additional shipping charges when they messed up ). Citi reached out to the Merchant on XX/XX/year>XXXX and received a response from the Merchant on XX/XX/year>. Citi did not provide me with the response from the Merchant so I had no idea what the Merchant said at this point. However, at this time Citi reversed the provisional credit of {$71.00}. At this time, I called Citi bank to find out more information. It was on this call that a Citi representative said that per documentation received from the merchant, Citi believed that the item sent match the item ordered. I explained to the Citi representative that the items did not match over the phone and that the documentation Citi received from the merchant is an outright lie because I have photographic proof and different XXXX numbers to physically disprove the merchant 's statements. The Citi representative informed me that even if that was the case, I would still be held responsible for the charge because I still had physical possession of the item. I then explained to the Citi representative that I had tried to work with the merchant to return the item but the merchant was insisting that I would have to pay for the return out of my own pocket. I asked the Citi representative if I should be responsible for paying for the return and he said no, the company should pay for it and they should provide a return shipping label ( WHICH THE MERCHANT NEVER DID ). In response to this call with the Citi representative, I then forwarded XXXX email chains to Citi 's billing dispute team on XX/XX/year>. These emails referenced the open dispute case number with Citi XXXX XXXX ) so they could correctly tie the email exchanges to the existing open dispute. These email chains were the back and forth between myself and the merchant proving the merchant outright lies on written documentation. This also provided Citi with the mis-matched XXXX numbers , and physical evidence that the item received DID NOT match the item that was ordered ). Additionally, because the representative stated that I would be responsible for an incorrect item being sent while I still had possession of the item, I sent the item back to the only address I had which was ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX il XXXX ). Please keep in mind, the merchant did not provide me with a return address, nor any kind of a shipping label. All I did was return to sender from where the package was originally addressed from. It's at this point I'm out approximately {$12.00} at XXXX for having to send the incorrect item back to XXXX. I no longer have the item, and Citi is now aware of my efforts to work with the merchant. Citi knows I no longer have the incorrect item, that the items DID NOT MATCH, and that the merchant lies. It is at this point that Citi has evidence and documentation that the XXXX numbers do not match, and that information presented by the merchant on written documentation is objectively false. The merchant materially lied on a form submitted to Citi. Citi then takes XXXX weeks to review my submitted documentation and finalizes their decision on XX/XX/year>XXXX stating that I as the consumer should be responsible for this charge. I did not know Citi decided in the Merchant 's favor until XX/XX/XXXX when I logged into my Citi bank account and found that there was a notification for an update on my dispute. It's at this point I discover that Citi decided in the Merchant 's favor and thinks I should be responsible for this charge. I immediately called Citi and spoke to a representative on XX/XX/year> stating that I no longer had the item. Citi reopened the case on XX/XX/year>. Citi then ruled in favor of the Merchant again on XX/XX/year>XXXX but at this point I received no additional notifications. I still believed up until this point that I had the provisional credit of {$71.00}. It wasn't until XX/XX/XXXX that I decided to check my online purchase history and proactively check in on the status of the dispute, only to discover that the dispute history stated that Citi found I'm responsible. Once again, upon discovering this information, I immediately called Citi on XX/XX/year>XXXX to reopen the case. It's at this point the new Citi representative stated to me on the phone that they would reopen the case and review all information including the documentation I submitted on XX/XX/year>. I've now checked again on XX/XX/year>, and Citi immediately closed the dispute on XX/XX/XXXX once again resolving it in the Merchant 's favor even though I stressed to the agent I no longer had the incorrect item. My perception at this point is that Citi simply doesn't care. They know the items don't match, but they're willing to bury their heads in the sand and place blame on the consumer because it's incredibly difficult to fight a XXXX company that's willing to lie on written forms. I understand I'm just one person. But if you use copilot to conduct an aggregated assessment of dbvacay as a merchant, they're routinely rated as an untrustworthy merchant with return departments that are notoriously difficult to work with. In addition to my experience working with the vendor ( and subsequently Citi with whom my complaint is against ), here 's what other consumers are saying about the vendor which Citi seems to place so much XXXX in ... ( XXXX out of XXXX stars based on XXXX ratings ) " Dbvacay.com is a fraudulent online store that you should avoid at all costs. This scam website claims to sell various products at very low prices, but will either send you counterfeit or inferior goods, or nothing at all. '' " Nothing at all The most common outcome. Orders go unfulfilled and simply disappear after payments are processed. Knock-off or inferior substitutes Victims may receive cheap replicas made with poor-quality materials that do not match the original product descriptions. Used, damaged, or tampered goods In some cases, victims report receiving items that are clearly used, broken, or otherwise tampered with, showing that no new products are being shipped. Completely wrong items Some orders arrive with products that are completely different from what was ordered, demonstrating no order accuracy. '' XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

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