The Citi never sleeps...or so they claim. But last night, the Citi actually slept.
I called in CitiBank aka ShittyBank last night to do a very simple balance transfer. After navigating the annoying number-picking jungle of selecting your service pressing 1, 2, 3, 4 or *0, I finally got to the phone banking operator. Then when I requested for a fund transfer, they said sorry, couldn't do cos their system is down, please call back the next day. Damn it! But okay, fine. System is fried and screwed up, nobody wants that to happen.
But when I called in this morning, and after pressing a series of 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 and *0 to get to the operator to request for my fund transfer. Guess what? The phone banking operator said she gotta get someone to call me back the next day. Why? Because she's a trainee and couldn't do it. WTF????? You put someone who can't do shit and perform simple banking processes on the phone? What's the point? And they have to call me back the next day? Hello, it's 9am in the morning and the trainee said they're all busy and I just have to wait. Not a couple of hours, not half a day, but a full working day! Shitty service!
But my little balance transfer woe is nothing compared to what HL experienced. Half a year ago, her ShittyBank credit card got hacked and there's an online fraud of $800. HL freaked out and called the Citi hotline at 830am, reporting the fraud incident, only to have the phone person told her that, AGAIN, they've got to call her back and mind you, this is a fraud case. So HL requested to have them called her before noon cos for all you know, the fraud might continue and the hacker might still be using her card. Guess what? They didn't call and HL had to call them in the late afternoon!
And once they're at her case at about 5pm, she got the most ridiculous answer. She is told: "Please download online dispute form and fax it to us". Hell, this is a fraud case and fine, even if that's what she's got to do, couldn't the very first operator she spoke to tell her that? And what if I don't have a printer and a fax machine at hand?
Then, SHE herself had to ask them to block the card cos the operator didn't even offer to block the card for her. Isn't that common sense that is someone is hacking your card, you would automatically cut the card?
And when she finally got her case through, they said the investigation will take some time and it's been half a year since and she still hasn't heard back from them!!!
Verdict? SHITTY BANK! And according to HL, AMEX is the way to go cos they've got the best service!
12 comments:
i think citi has grown so big and is so focused on market share that it doesn't care about customer service...
to clarify, i actually had the good sense to tell the officer to block the card on my first call at 8.30am coz she didn't offer to. best response ever to that? 'but we would have to send you a replacement card and you wouldn't be able to use the card in the meantime.' hmm.r.i.g.h.t.
i'm going to cancel all my citi cards if they make me pay for that shit; after all i even made police report! i love citibank promos but not if the service keeps giving me grief!
when i tell friends about the episode, they inevitable shake their heads and go 'i know...' and then tell me about their lousy citi experience. my brother got so fed up, he canceled all their cards
totally, amex is the way to go, even if you have to pay for it. think of it as an investment--you'll get less white hairs in the long run.
-hl
ops to errors. i need a copy editor. -hl
I AGREE they are shitty. In fact, i was so unsatisfied with their service. I terminated my credit cards. When they asked for the reason for termination, I told them it's because of lousy service.
Looks like time to get an AMEX for me!! And slowly phase out my Shiti cards! Oh must redeem all my points first of course!
What can you expect when the bank is run by Indian Chief?
While i am not defending Citi nor condone these episodes of shoddy service,suggest that you apply for their internet banking platform, saves a shitload of grief.Their tie-ups with merchants are kind of hard to beat and their borderlinx platform for US/UK online shopping is lovely! Sorry to hear about all that B-S you had to endure, both HL and B! Quite pathetic really!
Well with or without internet banking with them, their phone service should not be this bad! Amex it is! HL said they've got impeccable service and the peeps actually speak good English. Yesterday when they finally called me back, I couldn't make out half of what the guy was mumbling...mehhh..
i agree that citi's internet messaging service is the way to go since you wouldn't be talking to them (and thus tearing your hair out in frustration); but there are times when u actually -need- to speak to someone urgently...that's when customer service actually counts and means something (like when your card is hacked...) -hl
i told my husband this morning regarding Bmuses rebranding of Citibank to Shitty, he looked so hard and told me you are so humourous. so a compilment to lessen the blow from this Shitty bank la :P
aaaaaaa...my husband seldom laugh one ok. we both think you are very creative de wor!
sorry, typo. not "looked" is laughed so hard..
Worst credit card company EVER. I had been a customer for over 10 years. This was the go to card in my wallet. I would spend thousands and pay off thousands every month – primarily because I wanted the mileage credits on American Airlines. They got to charge a little interest so they were still making money off of me. I had a 6.9% interest rate and a credit score of 830 which is extremely good. Then when the sh-t hit the fan in 2008 they f’d me over good by raising the interest on my card to 29.99% just .01% less than the max limit set by the Feds. When I called to complain they basically said screw you if you don’t like it close the account. Well I did – and I paid it off. So Shittybank how smart was that – you lost any interest you would have made off of me in the future as I will never never do business with you again and not only that I’ve made sure everyone I know (only a few thousand people) will also never do business with you. Next step – a little conversation with American Airlines execs about how it’s not a good idea to use Shittybank as their mileage card. How stupid of Shittybank- so greedy for a few bucks off of me because you couldn’t manage your own business and underwrote bad loans and now you’ve lost thousands of dollars by pissing me off. The people that run this schmuck bank have to be the stupidest people on the planet. Why would they think those of us with sterling credit ratings are going to sit around and get raped by them because they couldn’t manage their own business. Do not do business with these guys EVER.
hey anon9.11,
Wow, sounds like you had it pretty bad with ShittyBank. Yes, they're bloody idiots and it just keeps getting worse these days. Super bad management with lousy incompetent and inflexible staff.
They have really bad rep now cos I haven't heard any one saying anything good about them and comments about them are mostly, if not all, negative. Sucks though cos they're big and I doubt it'll get any better unless something major hit them. Their service simply doesn't match up to the premium image they portray and I would believe if you tell me the bank is run by a bunch of chimpanzees.
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