I need some help and opinions on a dispute I currently have with citi that has been going on for months. I purchased a Louis Vuitton handbag from this website LV-outlet.com with my chase freedom card about a month prior to purchasing another handbag from the same website but in a different color with my citi card. When I received the handbag purchased with my chase card I took it to my local Louis Vuitton store to ask if it was authentic and was told it was not, although it looks very close. I then went home and instantly emailed LV-outlet.com and asked why they are advertising authentic items when my local Louis Vuitton told me that bag was not authentic and that I wanted a refund. I waited about a week and got no response.
I then emailed them again with my order number for the other handbag I had purchased on my citi card and asked them to please send me their return address and process my return on the item even though I had not received it yet but I would send it back instantly once I received it since it wasn't authentic. Of course I again received no response from the company.
In the mean time, I called chase to dispute that other purse and told them that it wasn't authentic. Gave me a temp credit and about 2 weeks later that dispute was taken care of without question. YES chase is awesome so far from experience.
I then went to call citi about the other not authentic purse and told them the same story I told chase. They gave me a temp credit. They sent me a form in which I had to fill out about this order and take a picture of the website I purchased from and the email showing i tried to return the item and send that in as proof. That was happening within the last few months. Fast forward to A few weeks ago, I called them to follow up on the dispute and to see if that was all the information that was needed and they said "yes since we are not getting a response from the company we will just go ahead and issue you the permanent credit and close this dispute case." Fast forward to last night, I went and looked at my citi account and I see the charge there again.... Really???
So I called this morning and spoke to the billing dispute dept and they told me that there was nothing that they could do because I had not returned the item. I said, "I tried to email them and received no response on a return address" pretty much, I ended up talking to a manager and that manager's manager wasn't available so I couldn't continue up the chain of command. Those folks at citi dispute dept were completely useless pretty much telling me I'm SOL. I refuse to pay for this bag because it's not what I ordered originally and citi is failing to keep their end of the bargain. So here we are today, charged for the purchase in which it was not the description in which I ordered and citi doesn't care.
I personally feel that I might want to close both cards i have with citi if I'm forced to pay for this purchase. I cannot confidently shop online anymore with any citi cards because I know if you get something you did not order they will not help you. Under their dispute section, it says if any unauthorized purchases were made with your citi card or you purchase something and it does not match what you ordered that qualifies for a dispute. Obviously they are full of it and are no help what so ever.
Anyone had a similar situation? Whats the next step if any? Or should I just give in and pay for this bag?
I REALLY REALLY appreciate all the responses, especially since I've never been stuck in this situation before. I did try tweeting @AskCiti and they said they would like to take a look at my account so I dmed then my number and the time to call. As far as all that info about that account you guys found, wow I never knew about how to do that, that is good info but I don't know how I'll be able to do anything with it. I will however go ahead and also try calling the citi retention dept. Thank You guys once again.
@ksprouse I do have a zync and bcp from amex, however I was only able to pay with a Visa or MasterCard at checkout on that particular website.
btw that's probably another hint of a suspicious website, they won't usually except Amex or Discover, I guess those 2 networks don't deal with stuff like this.
Anyway I will keep everyone updated, thank you again.