. I got my Citi Dividend World Class Master Card in the mail today and activated it. While I had the rep on the phone, I figured I'd confirm the $200 cash back offer (if you spend $500 in the 1st 3 months) as it's not stated anywhere on the application or on the website, which makes me nervous.
Actually, the website says something entirely different: $150 cash back if you spend $750 in the 1st 3 months. Well, which is it?
Sure enough, the rep said oh no, but she proceeds to tell me that "my" offer is for $100 cash back. I pointed out that their website which i was looking at as we spoke indicated there was a $150 cash back offer.
I wrangled with her a bit, and then she put an account manager on the phone. I usually bookmark credit card offers, but i think i stopped doing that becus if the offer expires later, the link could then be dead and i'd have no proof of the original offer. So i started taking Screen Captures and saving it as a jpg, but i couldn't find the Citi card anywhere.
So i did a simple online search and found multiple $200 cash back offers for this card. I told him I was on one in particular, and i said, can i send you the link. He said,no, we don't have email here Can you fax it? You don't have email??? I don't own a fax; they're practically obsolete.
So i gave him the web address and walked him through finding it online. He finally got there and after reading the terms and conditions, saw that the offer was still current, so he said he would do whatever needed to be done to ensure I got the $200 offer, and that I'd get an email confirmation of that in a few days. (Let's see how that goes.)
But I mean, C'mon! Why should i have to renegotiate the whole thing? He kept saying, there are hundreds of offers we have out there, and they're all different. Well, gee, is it any wonder you get disgruntled customers when they learn that other customers are getting better deals than they are? I mean, the offers aren't even based on anything logical, like credit scores; they're simply different deals and if you find a better one, god bless, otherwise, too bad.
So he keeps saying, by way of excuse, that Citi has hundreds of offers out there and it's hard to keep track of them. I mean, you would think if anyone should be able to keep it straight, it would be the company making the offers. But no, he had to put me on hold, yada yada yada.
I only got the $200 offer because i was able to walk him through finding it online to verify. If I had taken the first rep at her word, I would have gotten only $100 cash back.
Buyer beware, and be your own advocate, and take screen captures of everything.
A bit of a battle to get Citi to honor its $200 cash back offer
October 21st, 2011 at 08:41 pm
October 21st, 2011 at 08:51 pm 1319230267
I too would be extremely frustrated that they don't take e-mail for this kind of thing. Gah.
Sorry they were so annoying. For reference, I have had much better luck with e-mailing this last week. My dh called about a couple of issues on the phone where they were rather useless, but e-mailing got thorough results (plus everything in WRITING). I kind of prefer e-mail anyway, but now I am really sold, as far as dealing with Citi, Chase, etc. You may want to follow up under their secure e-mail messaging system and get it in writing.
If all these rewards were this hassle-y, I personally wouldn't do them. Thankfully, they usually aren't.
October 21st, 2011 at 08:53 pm 1319230429
October 21st, 2011 at 09:49 pm 1319233779
November 6th, 2011 at 01:02 am 1320541345
I tried to find evidence of the big Discover card bonus I'd signed up for and I can't find it anywhere on their site, which makes me doubtful I'll get it. Grrrr!