Goodbye Citibank Mastercard
Written: Nov 12 '02 (Updated Nov 13 '02)
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Pros: Widely accepted
Cons: Poor customer support
The Bottom Line: Citibank advertises customer support and protection as a major benefit, but does not come through you invoke their help. Take your credit card business elsewhere!
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| wmerwi's Full Review: Citibank |
Here are the current specifications on the Citibank Platinum Select Mastercard according to the Citibank website:
Save with a 0% APR on balance transfers with no balance transfer fee.*
Generous credit line
No annual fee
$1,000,000 automatic travel accident insurance
Dedicated 24-hour customer service
Convenient online credit card account management
- See current balance
- Review past statements
- Check unbilled activity
Personal information protected by our Privacy Promise
Citi Photocard
*See Terms & Conditions for details
I am cutting up my Citibank Platinum Select Mastercard as are several other people I know. I have had this card since 1998. Citibank widely advertises consumer protection and support as a major reason to choose their company. Don't believe them. It's a nightmare if you actually try to invoke their help.
After about two years with the card, I saw a charge on my bill for a company I did not recognize. I called Citibank to see if they had any further information on the company. They said no, but that they were going to mark the charge as disputed and if I determined it was a legitimate charge I could have it undone. I said fine. Two days later, after going through records and doing some internet research, I determined that the unknown company was the parent company of someone from whom I had made a purchase. I called Citibank right away and was told that the dispute was removed. I didn’t think any more about it for weeks until I got my next bill and it said that the dispute was resolved in my favor. I was shocked. I had removed the dispute! Several phone calls later, I had been met mostly with incredulity that I was trying to reverse a finding in my favor and one for only a few dollars at that. I was treated as though I was wasting their time. Eventually I gave up. It is so difficult to make any progress, I am sure that many people give up.
A little over four months ago, I had a problem with a merchant that billed me for services not provided. I had taken my vehicle to a repair station because it was making a sound that made me feel that the engine was going to fall out at any moment. The service representative for the station called me and told me what the problem was. I said great, fix it. He called me back later to say that they had also found a piece that needed to be welded or eventually the problem would happen again, but that they couldn’t do it until the next day. I was told I could come get the car to run errands and bring it back the next day. My boyfriend arrived at the station before I did and was told that it was fixed and could be driven for 3 years or so without the welding before the problem would reappear. I paid (with my Citibank card) to get my keys back, but didn’t drive 3 feet before the car made the same noise. The representative had left for the day while I was paying, so I left the car and the keys with the staff and said to try the welding if they thought that would fix it. Needless to say, they bungled their second chance at the repair as I found out after paying (with the Citibank card) to get my keys back the next day. The technician agreed that it wasn’t fixed and said he understood that I wanted my money refunded while I took the car elsewhere. He said he’d talk to the owner and someone would call me the next day.
I took the car somewhere else where it was fixed in a matter of hours. The problem was simply that the piece repair shop #1 claimed to have welded was still off. The first repair they had done had been totally irrelevant and the second was not done at all (or else was done in such an incompetent fashion that it might as well have not been done at all). Repair shop #1 didn’t call me either. My boyfriend called them. They were rude and even lied. They said they had told me that the welding would not work, but that I authorized it anyway and that they would not refund my money unless repair shop #2 found the problem to be something different entirely. Why would I authorize something I was told would not work? Besides, repair shop #2 had just done that same welding and fixed the problem without blinking an eye! It was obvious that repair shop #1 was not going to cooperate and for some reason seemed to believe that I should pay them almost $300 to have not fixed my car. I realized I would need to dispute the charges with Citibank.
Citibank treated each of the two charges from repair shop #1 separately despite the fact that they were part of the same issue. I wrote the required responses to their investigation letters over and over again. At one point Citibank sent me a letter claiming that they weren’t going to help with the first charge because I had not made a good faith effort to resolve it with the merchant. So I had only made a good faith effort for one of the two charges? That didn’t make sense. The letter did not say that I could send a rebuttal letter. I only found out about that option after talking to several service representatives at Citibank. At one point, the owner of repair shop #1 sent me a check for the amount I had paid repair shop #2, a very small fraction of the amount I had paid repair shop #1 which was not at all satisfactory. Four months and countless letters reiterating the problem later, I received a letter from Citibank claiming my most recent response had arrived after their deadline and they were dropping the investigation of the first charge with no chance for me to reopen the investigation again. That charge was put back on my bill. The response had been mailed well before the deadline. I called Citibank and the representative gave me a date on which he said my letter had arrived. When I provided evidence as to the impossibility of that, he gave me a different date, but still after the deadline. He was very condescending. Yesterday I received another letter from Citibank giving a third date for the arrival of my response! I have not heard anything about the second charge in well over a month. I have no idea what is going on there. Four months of hassle only to get nowhere is unacceptable. A credit card company that keeps changing its story is also unacceptable. I am waiting for my new credit card to arrive (from a different company, of course) and then I will be cutting my Citibank card into tiny pieces and canceling my account.
I will be taking my problem with repair shop #1 to the Better Business Bureau and my credit card business elsewhere. I recommend you do likewise.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
wmerwi
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Member: Whitney
Location: Madison, WI
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 2 members
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