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I app'd online for a Cit Forward Student Card, was initially denied due to what Citi said in my denial letter was a collection on my report. Since I have no collections on any of my 3 reports, I was able to successfully recon. Card was sent, but for the past week and a half, when I try to sign up on the TY part of the website, it tells me that the site is unavailable, try again later. I got tired of this today, and called in to see if they could take care of this manually.
I casually mentioned that I wanted to make sure that I was signed up so that I could be sure that I would receive my 5 points/$1 for frequenting restaurants, movies, and bookstores (including Amazon!). The CSR told me that my card did not have that benefit. Since the link that I clicked through was on Citi's own website, and it advertised these benefits, I was peeved to hear this. The CSR told me that all that I would get was credit for paying my bill on time. I explained about this not matching what they're currently advertising on their website, and he told me that the 5 points / $1 is just for a certain amount of time. I said that I never got it for ANY amount of time. He said, "Ma'am, I'll tell you what. How about I give you 5,000 TY points? There's nothing that can be done to add this to your card." I said no, that was not nearly good enough---it's legally violative of them to advertise something, and then fail to offer it. I took a hard pull presuming that this card's benefits matched the benefits that they're claiming on their website right now! I asked to speak to his manager.
I was put on hold for a very long time. Manager comes on the phone, I have to re-explain the whole entire situation from the very beginning.-- why didn't the first CSR prep him, fill him in? Ridiculous.
I told the manager my beef, he put me on hold for a long, long, time, and next thing you know, I am listening to a dial tone. I later get a call on my personal cell phone from him saying that he has entered a dispute into their system about my card.
I don't know if my experiences have been atypical, but from what I've experienced with them so far, Citi has sucked grapefruits and lemons.
Other than taking the requisite screenshots of their current website, is there anything else that I should do? Is there a Citi higher power to whom I might be able to take this?
hmmm thats odd, i had the same problem with my forward not getting 5 points at first. I called in and they fixed it within a day for me, even calling me later on to tell me they put the 5 point "promotion" on my card. I guess citi's CSR is really YMMV because i felt they were very courteous and speedy.
Hmm...I have never had a problem getting the 5 bonus points but will definitely take a closer look at my next statement. OP I would suggest you wait it out and see if you actually get those points posted on your first statement. Citi posts TY points the same day the statement generates. I believe I had to wait until my first statement before I could access my TY account so that may be what you are experiencing.
Yeah, I was interested in the Citi Forward student card--until I had to deal with Citi's customer service. No thanks.
@trishdadish wrote:I app'd online for a Cit Forward Student Card, was initially denied due to what Citi said in my denial letter was a collection on my report. Since I have no collections on any of my 3 reports, I was able to successfully recon. Card was sent, but for the past week and a half, when I try to sign up on the TY part of the website, it tells me that the site is unavailable, try again later. I got tired of this today, and called in to see if they could take care of this manually.
I casually mentioned that I wanted to make sure that I was signed up so that I could be sure that I would receive my 5 points/$1 for frequenting restaurants, movies, and bookstores (including Amazon!). The CSR told me that my card did not have that benefit. Since the link that I clicked through was on Citi's own website, and it advertised these benefits, I was peeved to hear this. The CSR told me that all that I would get was credit for paying my bill on time. I explained about this not matching what they're currently advertising on their website, and he told me that the 5 points / $1 is just for a certain amount of time. I said that I never got it for ANY amount of time. He said, "Ma'am, I'll tell you what. How about I give you 5,000 TY points? There's nothing that can be done to add this to your card." I said no, that was not nearly good enough---it's legally violative of them to advertise something, and then fail to offer it. I took a hard pull presuming that this card's benefits matched the benefits that they're claiming on their website right now! I asked to speak to his manager.
I was put on hold for a very long time. Manager comes on the phone, I have to re-explain the whole entire situation from the very beginning.-- why didn't the first CSR prep him, fill him in? Ridiculous.
I told the manager my beef, he put me on hold for a long, long, time, and next thing you know, I am listening to a dial tone. I later get a call on my personal cell phone from him saying that he has entered a dispute into their system about my card.
I don't know if my experiences have been atypical, but from what I've experienced with them so far, Citi has sucked grapefruits and lemons.
Other than taking the requisite screenshots of their current website, is there anything else that I should do? Is there a Citi higher power to whom I might be able to take this?
Here's an idea, place to make a formal complaint. That's just wrong.
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ Here's the direct link. The one above has a good accompanying article.
Something else to watch for, in your email. You're likely to get an auto-generated "customer satisfaction survey" from CITI! I get them every time I call in and have an interaction with them (had a problem getting my Diamond Preferred card with the EMV chip). Anyway, they sent me a link to a survey! I'm gonna be honest with them, their service what not up to par with their competitors.
Sorry that happened to you OP. Citi has generally given me good CS.
I have always had trouble with Citi's customer service.
CSR rankings in my life:
AMEX Plat
AMEX Blue Preferred
AMEX Hilton Surplus
Discover (may be tied, and after a few more good experiences may surpass AMEX very impressed with the IT team)
Bank of America 123, not bad, but never go above and beyond
Enter any future cards I may apply for.......
My Dog
Citi
I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for the both the commisseration and the sound advice!
One thing that I've decided to do is go back to their website and see if there is a way to fill out a formal e-mail complaint. Who knows if they'll ever get back to me, or not? I want documentation that I brought this issue to their attention.
If this were a mom-n-pop operation, I could be more sympathetic about this. But this is a BIG BANK, they have resources. The one poster said that he got his card, and it did not have the promised features, and that he had to call to have them applied to his card. IMO, his card should have arrived ready to use and with all of the features that they advertised. He should not have had to call them for this at all! Even if it didn't take them that long to fix the problem, what a corporate fail!
And I spent all that time on the phone yesterday, explaining and re-explaining things about their products that THEY should have known. Like I said....ridiculous.
Anyway, I'll let you all know when I receive a response, and what the final disposition ends up being. One thing's for sure, though: I am NOT accepting a measly 5,000 TY points in lieu of the 5% off of the categories that they promised. I will fight until I either get it, or I reach a wall and have to sue or report them to the appropriate authorities for doing what they're doing.
And @pdog661: Thanks for the belly-laugh! "My Dog," indeeed!!!