How to Make the Citibank Corporate Office Listen

It is all too easy to feel like David fighting Goliath when a big financial company like CitiBank doesn’t follow through on their word.

This is particularly true when it’s CitiBank responsible for the mistake, but your wallet that pays for it. 

Phone calls with CitiBank employees who don’t have the power to do anything are nothing but frustrating and send you in circles. Email complaints with CitiBank are presumably the next level of elevation in these situations but there’s never any evidence that they are received and even if they are received they usually don’t give you an adequate response. Requests to speak with someone who has the power to fix the problem at the CitiBank corporate office can be ignored or take far too long. What’s worse is when you’re told that CitiBank will fix the problem but they never do.

So what are your options?

Use Arbitration to Settle Your Complaint with CitiBank

Doing business with banks this large can often leave you feeling powerless and frustrated. Many banks and other financial institutions will include a clause in the contract called forced arbitration. This prevents you from taking them to court if they do something wrong.

A lot of people are forced to do business with whatever credit card or bank institutions are available in their town even if they know that the company has bad customer service standards or unresponsive staff. What’s more, if you have things like extended line of credit with the company, it’s not like you can just walk away. You still have to work with them and settle that balance.

Thankfully, there are things you can do including arbitration. Arbitration is a great way to get a satisfactory solution to your issue with the company without having to sue them. Arbitration takes the control over the outcome out of the bank’s hands and puts it into the hands of a third-party arbitrator. This is an impartial third-party individual, someone familiar with the situation, and they look at the facts presented by both sides and then make a binding decision.

Arbitration is Fair, Just, Reasonable, and Transparent

Arbitrations handled by the American Arbitration Association® is an option which complies with the Statement of Principles of the Consumer Due Process Protocol, which means:

• The process must be fundamentally fair for everyone involved, yourself included, and that means everyone should have a fair appointment of an impartial, competent, and qualified arbitrator who conducts fair hearings.
• A reasonable standard is applied to the process, and that just means you should have access to any relevant information, a good time and place for the hearing, at an affordable cost.
• The transparency standard means that the arbitration agreements have to be clear, easy to understand, and include all the necessary information and provide you and the other party with the ability to hire an attorney if you decide.
• An alternative to arbitration, which takes the form of small claims court and, in some cases, mediation, has to be available.
• The process should be just and allow the arbitrator to award you the same outcome you could get in the courtroom, an award which is a legally binding decision.

Arbitration Gives You Leverage

As soon as you have notified the company that you’re pursuing arbitration they know immediately that their expenses have gone up. Not only do they stand to lose the issue and have to give you the money you’re asking for but they might have to incur additional expenses for the arbitration process. Once they realize they’re going to have to pay more money they become much more willing to meet your demands.

If they don’t, you have access to a fair, transparent, and just hearing without having to spend any money. With our FairShake process we help you file for arbitration and it won’t cost you anything unless you win.

Leverage Leads to Faster Settlements

Once you start this process, the company no longer has the advantage. They aren’t the large, looming faceless Corporation anymore. You guys are on equal footing and there’s a neutral arbitrator who’s treating you both the same way.

You need leverage to resolve your complaint and the first step is to formally raise the issue with the company. At FairShake we help you do this. We send a demand letter to the corporate office to start the process of resolving your case before you file arbitration.  We typically give them a 30-day window during which time they can settle and resolve the process, but the length of this window is contingent upon the terms of your arbitration clause.

In about half of the cases, headquarters gives an acceptable settlement during this time and the issue is resolved. It’s as simple as that. If it’s not resolved, the next step is simply file the appropriate paperwork with the American Arbitration Association. FairShake will put together all the official arbitration paperwork for you and guide you through the next steps.

Do I need an Attorney to go through Independent Arbitration?

If your case goes to arbitration, you might question whether or not you need an attorney. In legal terms, if you don’t have an attorney with you that means you are bringing your claim “pro se”. If you decide that you want to go forward without an attorney, check out some information from The American Arbitration Association’s Pro Se Case Administration Team.

Realistically there are a lot of common complaints that most people have which fall under very specific laws and these complaints are easy to receive high compensation for because of how common they are. However, if you have a more complicated complaint against a company like illegal debt collection tactics or robocalls, it might be in your best interest to have an attorney in there to help you maximize the potential value of your claim.

What can I do next?

To get started,  tell us what your issue is with CitiBank. With FairShake, we remove all of the frustration and simplify the process, guiding you through the steps it takes to get a solution. We give a 100% satisfaction guarantee which means if you aren’t completely satisfied with our service, you don’t owe us anything.