@Anonymous wrote:Just got back from a 2 week vacation in the UK. I was staying in hostels most of the trip to save money as we were staying in a different city every night and hotels were at least twice the price.
Anyway, one of our final nights in Scotland, I was growing tired of dirty hostels and remembered I had like 60K thankyou points left over from my signup bonus I had never touched. So I wanted to blow this on a decent hotel for all of us to stay in, sounded simple.
With only a slow internet connection in the middle of the Scottish Highlands I called the number on the back of my card and expected them to handle this in a matter of maybe 20 minutes or so.
I was on hold initially for 30 minutes (which seemed odd, as I pay more than 4x times less for my Chase card and someone always answers within 30 seconds).
Fine, maybe it was a busy night, no problem.
Finally someone answers, I explain what I want and I get transferred to someone else, more hold time, I hang up and just try to book it on my phone.
I book two rooms at some fancy hotel, one room is confirmed and the other mentions I have an error with my booking so I have to call back.
I am on the phone again, transferred at least another half dozen times, then told the room was fully booked, and they would be more than happy to book me another hotel for the second room, as the first one was non refundable. So I would have to stay in one hotel and my mother and sister would have to spend it in another hotel. After getting transferred to a manager I was able to have this sorted out though.
I agree to them booking another hotel for us all to stay in. Thank god my Mom asked me what time they would accept us checking in a few hours later. I called the hotel directly and they said they have been fully booked for over a week for every room and they have no idea how I could of reserved a room, with my name not being on file.
This was then followed by another TWO HOURS of sitting on the phone trying to ask for my points to be refunded to me as the booking was obviously not going to be accepted upon arrival, and them admitting that it was an error on their behalf. I ended up hanging up, pleading with the guy to please refund the rest of my points as I could not spend any more time on the phone due to racking up a lot of roaming charges at this point. I did end up getting refunded which I found out when I got back home, but I am sure I wouldn't of been if I had not spend that much time on the phone and spoke to three managers. I ended up paying for a hotel on booking.com with another credit card in full in the end........
The next day I woke up to an email explaining that Citi were nerfing the rewards to the Prestige card, I was in fits of laughter.
I wouldn't keep/use this card if the annual fee was $0 next year. They couldn't handle a simple hotel booking, one of the most basic requests for a $450 travel card.
Interested to know if I am alone with this one? Has anyone else here had similar experiences with Citi or their 'Prestige' department.
Just found out Chase recently released a similar card with even better rewards, which will most likely be its replacement next year.
I had much worse incident with an unrelated subject which was T-Mobile but plenty of people still swear by them ( I will never go back). IMHO you probably just got a bad rep? I am still planning on apping for this card next year fully knowing of the nerf... Still a good card for me.
@Anonymous wrote:
Well I have this card till March next year. I will be cancelling it. I was approved for CSR and I have the Ritz for all my marriott hotel stays. I had the prestige for airport lounge access but since they dropped it is have 2 cards with PP access.
Points are worth more and easier to get on the new CSR.
I hope they give some NEED benefits now that CSR is top notch. I don't WANT to cancel this card but they are going to force me too.
Points would be easier to get on the prestige considering its 3X for Air travel and hotels, 2X on dining and enterainment and 1X on everything else... Unless majority of your travel is based on car rentals and gas and you do no entertainemtn the presitige wins IMO based off a point to point basis.... Points can be valued more with Chases UR but thats only if you use their partners. I don't and as such Value 1 UR point as $0.01 per point...
As far as Citi boosting the card they have basically a year ( Ok 10 months but whos counting...) to add benefits to replace the nerf perhaps? I wouldn't overreact imo.
@Anonymous wrote:
@jsucool76 wrote:
Prestige still easily trumps CSR with the 4th night free.
Ritz and prestige are a winning combo for marriott stays. Get the gold status from ritz, and use it to pay for all 1-3 night stays, and prestige to pay for all 4+ night stays.
Sorry to hear about your problems Tyrex. It likely stemmed from the fact that you were overseas, so you called the number on the back of the card collect rather than being charged a metrick bleep-ton for the phone call directly to thankyou points concierge.
I save all the numbers in my phone so I'm always safe, but in the future, if you're ever in a situation like this again, call (collect) 1-859-283-8016 which is the direct number to thankyou rewards. This should prevent you from needing to be transferred a billion times.
If this is who you did call, then what happened to you just sucks, and i'm sorry. Also, you should not have racked up any phone charges. When overseas you need to call COLLECT to the bank, and the bank pays the cost of the call.
I too made this mistake when calling JPM Priority Services from germany, but being chase, they credited me for the $31 charge AT&T gave me for the call.If one were to apply and try to decide between the two...
$1,500 sign on bonus with CSR > $532 flight sign on bonus with the Prestige (both when redeemed for travel).
Metal card design > Plastic.
4.5x points per dollar on dining and travel + 1.5x points per dollar on all other purchases < 3.99x points on travel and hotels, 2.66x points on dining and entertainment, and 1.33x points per dollar on all other purchases.
TSA credit = TSA credit.
Visa Infiite Benefits > World Elite MasterCard benefits.
$300 annual airline credit > $200 annual airline credit.
Visa Infinite Concierge > Citi Concierge.
Basic, non-automated price protection < Citi Price Rewind
Chase Dispute Resolution > Citi Dispute Resolution.
Dedicated CSR direct customer service line (American) > Foreign idiots that make up Citi's customer service.
I'll give the nod to the CSR, and during the first year it isn't even close. I do get what you're saying about hotel credits, but that's going to be nerfed next year along with many other features of the Prestige.
A lot of that is opinionated ....
The CSR base signup bonus is $1,000 not $1,500 ( Can be valued higher IF you value UR points that high which i don't)
Metal ( Bonded .....) vs plastic is trival and i don't really care....
At base it is 3X points for Dining and travel vs 3X on Travel and hotels, 2X on Entertainment and Dining and 1X on everything else and as i said prior based on what you value each....
Citi Price rewind just is plain better...
As before it is an opinion and I like citi better than Chase
I have called CSP reps and they are one of the ruddest reps I have met ... Not sure on CSR since i don't have it but Citi I have never had any issues with before.... They even lowered my AAdvantage plat APR to 13% down from 23% or whatever it was when i apped for it.
I value UR at 1 point = $0.01 so its not exactly a "win" for the CSR. The only category it wins is the Credit .
@jsucool76 wrote:
Agree with you 100% that chase trumps Citi (and every other lender) when it comes to customer service.
Like I said, I forgot to call collect and ended up with a $31 charge, which is totally my fault, and chase gave me the money. I don't think Citi would ever do something like that.
I feel quite the opposite lol to the point where I have SD all my Chase cards or closed them with the exception of my Freedom because it is 5% at Costco atm. Citi has been far better to me than Chase has ever have.