Citibank is my bank. I also have a Citibank Visa Card. I found, while checking my credit card account, that a charge of $119.95 had been posted on 5/5 by Essential Gold. Since I had been out of the country since Feb 27 and returned on May 11 and had not used that account while I was away I called Citibank Visa to file a claim for fraudulent usage of my card.
As soon as I gave the name of Essentials the employee told me to wait and just tranfered me. Then I had someone representing Essentials on the line. It seems Essentials works with Citibank and sending advertisement to all cardholders. I really don't know what they are selling. As mentioned above I was not in the country at the time it was received and thrown in the gabbage with all the junk we receive. The gall of these people is that the person on the line from Essentials was telling I had accepted their offer and the charge valid.
Eventually, she told me the charge will be credited to my account within two working days. I am flabbergasted that Citibank is part of this scheme. I should trust my bank to protect me against credit card frauds and they seem to encourage it. I can't believe I am the only one with unauthorized charges from Essentials and when you consider that Citibank has millions of credit cardholders Essentials might be making a lot of money. Furthermore, my problem and probably others is that since I stay out of the country for several months I might not see my bank statement for a long time and not be able to file a claim within the required time. Then what would happen? Will I be stuck with the charge? Will Citibank still accept my dispute? What about cardholders who might not even look at their statements?
Having worked in the an industry as a fraud prevention officer and fought many battles with Citiban to protect my company when we had claims from customers disputing their charges and I know of the millions of dollars lost due to frauds I still can't believe Citibank, my bank for the last 12 years, is helping crooked companies to defraud customers.
0 comments