Introduction
I had mentioned a while back that I was unsure of whether to CFPB Citi for my 50K AA promo or not, but after hearing from successes from others, I decided to do it. Remember, this was for the Citigold bonus from last November 2015.
CFPB Submission
I submitted my complaint in early August saying:
I opened up a CitiGold checking account back in November 2015 using a promotion that would give me 50,000 American Airline miles once I’ve made 2 bill pays and $1,000 in purchases on my debit card. I completed the requirements and hadn’t seen my points post yet. I submitted a secure message around February 2016 and the rep confirmed that I would see the miles posting within 60 days. It has been over 4 months and I still have not received my miles.
Citi’s response
Then 2 weeks later, they wrote back:
Vinh, please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience you described. Our goal is to ensure that all of our clients are provided with the highest level of service and we regret that you had cause for dissatisfaction under any circumstance. I assure you that our marketing strategies are certainly not intended to mislead you. Citibank, like other banks, periodically offers promotional bonuses to deposit account applicants to attract new clients. In order to conduct our promotions in a manner consistent with sound business, we may customize offers by direct mail campaign initiatives to select individuals, in addition to the requirement of the standard terms and conditions that Citibank discloses for its promotions.
In our review we found that the offer in question, promotional code XXXXXXXXX, was not directed to you. However, Citibank fully respects any obligations made to you in an online message dated March XX, 2016. Therefore, we are honoring your request and the 50,000 AAdvantage miles will be applied to your AAdvantage account within 60 days.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond to your concerns.
Miles Posting
Then 2 days later, I checked my AA account:
Lessons Learned
If you still haven’t gotten your Citigold bonus and have a SM saying they will give you the points, then you should CFPB them. I didn’t actually attach the SM since that login was deleted when I closed my account. They were able to find it just fine.
How exactly did you submit the CFPB? Will need to try this. I failed in many phone conversations trying to get the miles, and then mailed a letter to Citi’s customer service office in Texas with printouts of screenshots that I had from a chat session where a rep confirmed the bonus, and threatening CFPB. That was well over a month ago, never heard back.
I don’t want to circles and arrows it, but it’s very self explanatory and easy once you go through the process.
Fair enough. This was super easy and super successful. After close to a year since opening the account, and countless hours, phonecalls, secure messages, even mailing a long letter as I mentioned, this got the job done and the 50k AA miles in the account in less than a week. Thanks for the tip, much appreciated.
Glad to hear it worked out for you.
I had the same exact experience and even Citi’s response was identical except substitute AA for TY points.
https://pointscentric.com/2016/05/31/citi-responds-to-my-cfpb-complaint-posts-the-50k-thankyou-points/
I remember reading your article. That’s what got me thinking of doing it.