I was very happy to find this site to warn other consumers about Citifinancial Retail Services. I am a very savvy credit card user. I pay all of my bills the month they are due and always pay off same as cash credit cards at least 2 months in advance of the due date.
I have been paying this way for 12 years and have perfect credit. I had to laugh when I read some comments regarding being an educated consumer because I am certain I could memorize and abide by the fine print for this company and still have major issues. I purchased furniture on a 3 year same as cash plan from Furniture Express in December. Literally I went into labor the day we purchased the furniture (within hours).
Therefore the following week while I was in the hospital the bill arrived without me having any idea. I have never purchased a large purchase on a same as cash plan and received a billing statement within 7 days before so I was not looking for it. After recuperating from the birth I started going through a stack of mail and found the bill.
I was very upset because the minimum payment was due the day before I found it. Therefore I immediately made the payment (electronically) plus the following month's payment (3 weeks in advance) and called the company to explain what had happened. After walking them through the situation for 20 minutes they said they could not speak with me to give a one time courtesy credit but needed to speak with my husband. So he had to call back and go through all the menus and they credited us back late fees etc.
I then made the next month's payment a whole month in advance since I try to pay everything 3-4 weeks before it is due. Approximately 2 weeks after that it became apparent that our furniture was not coming from the store we purchased it from. We had waited since December and they did not anticipate shipment for another month so we cancelled the furniture. The furniture company said they would credit Citifinancial and then we would receive out $261 back that we already paid on furniture we never received and were no longer going to receive.
I then started calling Citifinancial 2 weeks later to ensure that our account was updated and find out when we were going to receive out money back. Between my husband and me, we have spoken with "Customer Service" 10 times in the last 3 weeks. WE have spent at least 12 hours on the phone with them.
Each time we call we are given a different story. Then we were applying for a home equity line of credit and when they pulled the credit report it said we paid everything late. Even though it was one late payment that was waived and the subsequent payments were 3 weeks to one month early. A couple of days ago I was told by someone in Customer Service that we were going to get a check for $261 and gave me her ID number to confirm.
The very next day the furniture company called and said we were getting a credit of approx $210 - That we were being charged late fees because we never paid on time. I was furious. When I called back and tried to speak to the person I had talked to the day before she was "unavailable." The person I spoke with on that day said nothing was paid off etc. Etc. As of today they are saying we have a balance of $69.46. It is absolutely un-real. They owe us $261 for furniture we have never received nor will we ever but we owe them $69.
I have spoken with supervisors and numerous customer service people and can NOT get this resolved. Yesterday the supervisor told me that it does not say we are late on any payments to them even though I said it was on our credit report. She said I don't know what to tell you there is nothing on our end. I pay my bills on-line so I have proof of when and how much I paid and when they received payment. Each person I speak with is rude and un-helpful. Unfortunately, we financed 6 months same as cash on our new furniture not knowing citifinancial was the company.
I am going to pay in full ASAP well before the expiration date. I took the time to post this because I would love to be part of a class action law suit against this company for the nightmare we have been put through. I have never sued of thought of suing anyone in my life but I truly believe this company is crooked. I intend to look into small claims court options and who I can send a letter to high up the chain. Hope this helps someone who reads it!
My advice is to keep good payment records, call frequently and document names and conversations!!
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