Quick stats:

• Days I haven’t had my money: 66
• Calls to Citi customer service: 18
• Total time on phone with Citi (including holds): 8hr 49m

It started with me trying to make a wire transfer for the downpayment on a house. The money was in a Citi savings account, and their online wire transfer page didn’t have enough fields for what the Escrow company needed. I called Citi customer service for help and got their automated phone system. The conversation went something like this: (quotes are paraphrased and/or from memory)

>[Citi]: Welcome to Citi…please tell me in a few words what you need, or choose from the following options.
>
>[A couple of minutes verifying myself, wrestling with endless menu options, and trying to talk to a human]
>
>…finally…
>
>[Me]: I need to talk to a representative to get help making a wire transfer.
>
>[Citi]: OK, what kind of transfer do you want to make?
>
>[Me]: A wire transfer.
>
>[Citi]: OK, your Citi Accelerate Savings, ending in XXXX. The available balance in that account is $XX,XXX.XX. Is that the account you want to transfer money from? You can say Yes or No.
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>[Me]: Yes.
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>[Citi]: How much would you like to pay?
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>[Me]: $63,xxx.xx
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>[Citi]: You want to transfer $63,xxx.xx from your Citi Accelerate Savings account…
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>[Me]: Yes.
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>[Citi]: …to your MasterCard Account, right?...
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>[Me]: No!
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>[Citi]: …You can say Yes or No.
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>[Me]: No. No. No!
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>[Citi]: OK, done.
>
>[Me]: No! Stop! No!
>
>[Citi]: The confirmation number is XXXXXX, would you like to hear that again? You can say Yes or No.

They had transferred the money to my Citi Double Cash credit card. Over the next 24 hours I called various Citi departments 5 more times, spending around 2 hours on the phone trying to get the transfer reversed. All they could tell me was that I would have to wait for an investigation that would take 7-10 business days and only then could they reverse the transfer.

10 days later, I called back to see how the investigation was going. Same deal. They couldn’t find an investigation, so they started one and asked me to wait 7-10 business days.

30 days after the original mistake, I saw a $63k debit from my (ridiculously positive) credit card balance with the description “REFUND PROCESS”. Yay!

50 days after the mistake, the refund hasn’t appeared yet. I call again. “We sent a check to your address on file. Since you haven’t received it, I’ll open an investigation that will take 7-10 business days.” I’m out of town with a hold on my mail, so I don’t actually know if the check has arrived or not.

57 days after the mistake, I’m back home. I check my mail and there’s no check. I call in and they say “We sent a check to your address on file and it looks like the check has been cashed.” I pressed for details and managed to find out that they sent the check to a P.O. Box in Texas. (I don’t live in Texas.) I tell her this and she says that there is an ongoing investigation from my previous call, so I should wait 7-10 business days from the date of that call and then call back. She promises to put a note on the investigation to expedite the investigation.

62 days after the mistake, I call back to check on the investigation. After over 2 hours of waiting on hold, they tell me the investigation is ongoing and still within the 7-10 business day window, and to call back later.

63 days after the mistake, I call back. They say that there is no investigation, and claim that I received and endorsed the check but that they can’t give me any details about it. I escalate to a supervisor who also can’t tell me anything but who says he will open a new investigation and that I need to wait 7-10 business days for the investigation to complete.

64 days after the mistake, I call back and I’m told that the investigation was only opened “today” and that I need to wait 7-10 business days. This supervisor was more helpful than the last one, and was able to tell me the dates that the check was sent out and cashed.

66 days after the mistake (today). I just received my first written communication from Citi about the incident. It says,

>“As requested, we’ve looked into the status of the refund check we sent you for your Citi Double Cash Mastercard account. The check has been cashed and appears to have been endorsed by you. We’ve enclosed a copy of the refund check for your review.”

Attached is a scan of a check for $63,xxx.xx made out to a corporation that’s not me, with the back showing that it was deposited electronically into their Wells Fargo account.

Pure speculation:

My own research suggests the company that received my check is a fintech corporation. Maybe Citi contracts with to handle their in-house credit card payments? I assume that Citi accidentally grabbed their name and address instead of mine when they went to make out the refund check. (There’s nothing on the check indicating that it was to be forwarded on to me, and it's been nearly a month since the company deposited the check.) The dates between the check issue and deposit make it look like the corporation held it for about a week and then shrugged and deposited it.