I love Citibank...
Okay, I know they just laid off, like, 50,000 people, but as customer service from a credit card company goes, they really are fantastic.
I just called this evening about a questionable transaction. It appears that these magazines for which I bought a one-year subscription last December have decided to automatically renew themselves, despite the fact that I clearly indicated I did not want my credit card number to be kept on file for such purposes. Last month, after I carefully scrutinized my transactions (I am trying to pay off my cards, after all), I saw a charge I know I didn't authorize. So, I immediately called Citi, who then almost immediately reversed the charges (pending my dispute, of course) and the associated finance charges. (Bank of America, BTW, did not do this for me - which is why I don't use that card anymore.)
Well, my November statement will be closing soon, so I wanted to get a peek at what my current balance and monthly activity has been. And, much to my surprise, there was another charge from the same magazine company dated last week, this time in a much larger amount. So, I called Citi right away and filed my dispute without any problems. Moreover, my on-hold wait time was non-existant.
Anyway, if this magazine company charges me again, I'm going to file another dispute and then request new cards. This is a very shady practice, and I wonder how many people let them get away with it. Moreover, the subscription price is non-refundable, and it's not cheap. So I would be absolutely livid if I was unknowingly paying $80 a year for a subscription and couldn't even get my money back if/when I chose to cancel the remaining issues!
Needless to say, I won't be subscribing to any of the magazines offered by this company any time soon. Or, rather, if I do, I'll pay by money order.
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Back in 2005 when I moved, I called them up to change my address. For some reason, they changed everything except for my zip code. So the post office couldn't deliver the bills. I hadn't noticed because I don't use my card every month and I always paid my bills in full online and looked at my statements online. So, when Citibank got a bill returned to them by the post office, they froze my account. I found this out when I was out to eat and had my card rejected. When I called Citibank about why my card was rejected, they explained to me. I asked them why they did not contact me for an address correction or at the very least to let me know that they froze my card. They said they didn't because they didn't have a correct address to contact me with. Never mind that they had on file my home phone number, my work phone number, and my email address. Apparently, those are just for looks and they don't actually know how to use any of those methods to contact customers about issues. They should have at least sent out an automated email or phone call asking me to call the number on my card to fix my address.
Strangely enough, even though I've closed my bank account with Citibank several years ago (I kept the card), the bank part of their company still sends me emails telling me about their bank online features. Or when we were looking to open a HELOC for emergencies, their mortgage group (which our mortgage was with) thought we were looking for rates to refinance instead and sent us one item via registered mail and made two phone calls begging us to stay with them, that they would give us a lower rate on our mortgage. So the company as a whole is quite capable of contacting customers when they want to.