Citibank - hopeless

anadin_2

My wife & I opened a joint account with Citibank a while ago, planning to transfer all our business to them from HSBC, because of the better rate of interest.

It's just been a catalogue of mistakes.

Firstly, they sent the pin number correspondence... with no pin numbers printed on them.

Then they sent statements addressed only to myself - even though it's a joint account. When I phoned up to ask them to include my wife, the overseas call centre operative, though very polite, had no grasp of the meaning of the word "married" or "wife" and just kept repeating them uncomprehendingly. Needless to say, the statements kept coming addressed only to me.

Today I logged on to transfer all funds out, prior to closing the wretched thing. I jumped through all the hoops, making up usernames, passwords, security questions - looking at the balance of my account, entering all the details required to transfer the money... only to be faced by a bald statement that they "could not perform this action".

So, I phoned up and spoke to a very polite, but almost totally incomprehensibly-accented woman who told me that the account has been made inactive. I had never been notified of this.

Just do not trust this bank with your money and all of life's essential financial transactions - the very thought sends shivers down my spine.

aris

I've had bad experiences with Citibank too. I'll never consider them again.

Did you know that the Japanese word for Citibank is Sh!tibanku? :-)

Altarf

Citibank are not hopeless, they are far far worse than that.

It always amused me when the overseas call centre, rather than say "No", would always say "I cannot assist you at this time". To which my response was "When can you assist me", to which they would respond "I cannot assist you at this time" and round and round in circles we would go.

anadin_2

Thanks Altarf and aris. Good to know I'm not the only one.

albo2002

it's frightening to think that 6 years on they are, possibly, even worse.

This is my experience with them so far in 2011:

January 3: Could not access online account. Called Citibank to be told that card had expired and that they had sent me a new one in November. I told them I had not received it and was told a new one would be sent which would be received in 5 to 7 working days. Also sent a new PIN. Explained I needed to transfer money by middle of the month. Was told I could only send a fax or visit a branch (nearest one is 25 miles away).

January 5: New PIN received.

January 12: 7th working day - called Citibank to ask where card was. Told it would arrive by tomorrow.

January 13: Still no card - called Citibank again and was told it would arrive by tomorrow.

January 14: Still no card. I faxed through a transfer. I called Citibank to make sure fax had been acted upon. I was told they had not received the fax and that I should send a fax to a new number instead. I faxed the details to that number.

January 15: Still no card. I called again to see what happened with the most recent fax and was told the second fax was not received either and that i should not have been given the second number. I was told the original fax number was correct but that the fax machine was broken, although it had now been fixed. I was told a customer services personnel would call me back to explain more on Monday, Jan 17. I was told I should never have been told it was 5-7 working days, it was in fact 9 working days for the card to arrive, and it would definitely arrive by the Monday.

January 17: Still no card. But I received a call from Citibank explaining they had received one of the two faxes after all. They agreed to do a same day transfer for free, given the problems I had been experiencing. No call from the customer services personnel. I check with the recipient of the transfer if they have received the money by the end of the day, and they have not.

January 18: I call Citibank to ask why the transfer did not go through. I'm told the transfer did go through and I should check with the recipient's bank. I explain that I've had so many problems with Citibank that I suspect the problem is actually with them. He investigates. He comes back and reveals that yes, it is a problem with Citibank, that there was a 'problem with the recipient's name' which meant the transfer did not go through. I'm not given a reason why I was not informed about this. I'm assured the transfer will go through today. Still no card.