Citi Dispute Resolved Instantly? *Interesting Update*

[Anonymous]

I read through past posts but only one from 2013 really went over this with much less value. Well, I purchased a hoverboard and the heat it is generating is scary when charging (cant even touch it) I called Citi and they told me to reach back out to the merchant in China. They said the product is safe despite all that is going on. I Submitted a dispute on my Prestige after the merchant wouldnt help and got this message:

A permanent credit for the disputed amount will be applied to your account within 2 business days.

Please contact us if you have resolved the dispute with the merchant directly.

We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the future.

Does this mean its a done deal and ive been credited? What does the second line mean in regards to the dispute and the merchant versus traditional back and forth via the issuer. I have never had a dispute with Citi and very rarely any other cards and this was by far the easiest process especially when I was worried Id be out the money by the time I had to ship this heavy thing back to China. The transaction amount was around $250. Thanks!

[barbaralee]

Key word here is "permanent" as opposed to "provisional". Citi must have a very high threshold for what they write off in a dispute. I have spoke with a few people who worked at Chase corporate cards disputes, and their threshold for permanent credits was $10! Stingy!! Even the smallest perm. credit for the financial institutions that I work with is $24.99 for merchant disputes. They may have decided to not pursue a chargeback because the merchant is international. 

The second line means if you resolved with the merchant and they are issuing credit or you have no more grievances with the product then Citi will take their credit back (that is what my job means when we use verbage like that). 

I work primarily with debit card disputes, and their regulations are a tad different than credit cards, but that is my guess. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info! So its safe at this point to dispose of the item?

[barbaralee]

If they are not going to move forward with a chargeback then it is safe (which it sounds like the bank is just willing to take the loss). At this point they would have already asked you to return the item if they wanted, but they just asked for a good faith effort, and it sounds like Citi is satisfied with that. 

I would still hang on to it, just for safety sake, but it sounds like you should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Just got an email:

The dispute was resolved in your favor. The credit on your account is considered permanent.

Thanks again for all your help!

[Dalmus]

Could also have helped that it was a Hoverboard...  They've been in the news lately with a LOT of them bursting into flames while charging.  Amazon even pulled them from the website for a while until vendors showed "proof" that they were manufactured to proper US safety standards.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to give everyone a very interesting update. I got a notice from Aliexpress today that I initiated a dispute with my credit card company (Citi Prestige). I called up citi and esentially what I was told is they still go through the dispute process in full but they do not fight like a normal dispute if the merchant does not cooperate. What I was told is if they are able to recover the money from the merchant its not a loss for the bank. If not Citi just takes the loss. Im sure its situation depending but this was the first chargeback I have had to do out of my 3 Citi cards.

[Callandra]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to give everyone a very interesting update. I got a notice from Aliexpress today that I initiated a dispute with my credit card company (Citi Prestige). I called up citi and esentially what I was told is they still go through the dispute process in full but they do not fight like a normal dispute if the merchant does not cooperate. What I was told is if they are able to recover the money from the merchant its not a loss for the bank. If not Citi just takes the loss. Im sure its situation depending but this was the first chargeback I have had to do out of my 3 Citi cards.

---

I wonder if this depends on the deal the merchant has with their merchant company because when I worked for an online business, the banks would just take the money immediately out of our reserve account with the merchant account when someone did a chargeback and we had to fight for it back. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Callandra wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to give everyone a very interesting update. I got a notice from Aliexpress today that I initiated a dispute with my credit card company (Citi Prestige). I called up citi and esentially what I was told is they still go through the dispute process in full but they do not fight like a normal dispute if the merchant does not cooperate. What I was told is if they are able to recover the money from the merchant its not a loss for the bank. If not Citi just takes the loss. Im sure its situation depending but this was the first chargeback I have had to do out of my 3 Citi cards.

---

I wonder if this depends on the deal the merchant has with their merchant company because when I worked for an online business, the banks would just take the money immediately out of our reserve account with the merchant account when someone did a chargeback and we had to fight for it back. 

---

I agree and have similar experience as well. The difference I am finding with this situation is that 9 times out of 10 the customer is able to win. I was told that even if the merchant did not respond in this case they would not lose the dispute. They said it was done as I am a valued customer and that they wanted the expereince to be the best it could and not have to wait and go back and forth and that Citi will take the loss if they need to.....How special do I feel...and im sure every other premium cardholder 

[Anonymous]

It sure helps your confidence to pay AF for a credit card for better service. I am going through the dispute process for a couple of event tickets bought on my CSP and will post the experience once I make some progress with it. The charge is fairly large ($500) and the reason for dispute is that the venue refuses to refund because of their no refund policy even though they didn't deliver all of their promises in the advertisement. I guess going to court or some sort of government consumer protection is a better way to deal with it, but maybe Chase will be more eager to protect their customers.