Hello everyone,
I’d like to share a mixed (sweet sour) experience with Citibank customer care. After handover to Axis, I believed that the quality of services of Citi will deteriorate and will come at par with Axis. However, I was really wrong about it and I am happy to be wrong.
Earlier, I had little interest in Credit Cards. I was pretty much happy with my HDFC Regalia Credit Card. I did not bother with other banks cards as my spends were minimal and I believed that the Reward Points which I earned were enough.
I was aware of the perks of Citibank Card as it was listed for cashbacks whenever I made my purchases at Amazon. Since Citibank was not serviceable in my location, I had to use my brother’s card (he had one) everytime whenever I wanted any discount, which was a bit cumbersome.
It was around some 4 years ago, when I visited Mumbai (name changed) and I was strolling around at a Shoppers Stop store in some Mall. I was approached by one of the Citibank employees and asked if I wanted to apply for a Citibank credit card. I said yes to him but I informed him that it would not be possible as my city was not serviceable by Citibank.
He asked me to give my friends address in Mumbai as my work address. He told me to inform my friend that my card would be delivered there. No issues, everything went around fine and my friend sent the card to me after he received it.
That card had a yearly fee of Rs 590/- but a fee waiver on spends of Rs 30k. I spent this much, just for the sake of avoiding annual fees. I don’t have any Shoppers Stop stores at my place, so this card was almost worthless except during the Amazon Festive Sale.
So, since the card was almost of no use, I decided to get it swapped with some variant from Axis Bank. All other variants of Citibank did not suit me owing to their spends and rewards programmes.
So, I called up Citibank customer care, now managed by Axis and to my surprise, I was greeted with someone quite knowledgeable and who understood what I wanted to say, without any glitch.
I asked the person on the other side to swap the card with some Axis variant but she said that this was not an option as of now but I could swap it with some other variant of Citibank. Seeing no other option, I decided to go for the Citibank Indian Oil Credit Card (Citi IOC).
She informed me that the new card will be Life Time Free (LTF) with no spend limit criteria. Well, I was happy then, thinking that at least I could use it on Indian Oil bunks and gain something while not losing anything at the same time.
Now, before doing any transactions, I have a habit of reading the literature thoroughly, so I went through the terms and conditions that shook my head again.
If used, the Citi IOC reward points would accrue only at select outlets of major cities (some less than 100 fuel pumps) and not everywhere. Also, there was no fuel surcharge waiver on fuel pumps which were not Indian Oil Fuel Stations.
I called up customer care again and asked them if it was possible to swap the card again. They said that now the swap programme is discontinued and they are not swapping any cards anymore.
Ok fine then, I asked to the customer representative about my spend criteria expecting LTF with no spend limit criteria. However, I was informed that this card carried an annual fee of Rs 1180/- with a spend waiver of Rs 30k. Annual fees to be due in next 2 months and no amount of spend has been registered on this card yet.
I felt like a fool. I was better off with the Shoppers Stop Card. I decided that to cancel this Citi IOC card, if it had an annual fee of Rs 1180/- with a spend waiver of Rs 30k.
Now, I decided to double confirm the actual card criteria with the Citibank Customer Care Team on email. I stated my issue and the disparity in the statements of their customer care representatives.
They apologized and confirmed that the card was Life Time Free (LTF) with no spend limit criteria.
Now, what I conclude from this –
Hit a Like if you enjoyed this.
Thanks!!
Ravi.
I’d like to share a mixed (sweet sour) experience with Citibank customer care. After handover to Axis, I believed that the quality of services of Citi will deteriorate and will come at par with Axis. However, I was really wrong about it and I am happy to be wrong.
Earlier, I had little interest in Credit Cards. I was pretty much happy with my HDFC Regalia Credit Card. I did not bother with other banks cards as my spends were minimal and I believed that the Reward Points which I earned were enough.
I was aware of the perks of Citibank Card as it was listed for cashbacks whenever I made my purchases at Amazon. Since Citibank was not serviceable in my location, I had to use my brother’s card (he had one) everytime whenever I wanted any discount, which was a bit cumbersome.
I procured the card.
It was around some 4 years ago, when I visited Mumbai (name changed) and I was strolling around at a Shoppers Stop store in some Mall. I was approached by one of the Citibank employees and asked if I wanted to apply for a Citibank credit card. I said yes to him but I informed him that it would not be possible as my city was not serviceable by Citibank.
He asked me to give my friends address in Mumbai as my work address. He told me to inform my friend that my card would be delivered there. No issues, everything went around fine and my friend sent the card to me after he received it.
That card had a yearly fee of Rs 590/- but a fee waiver on spends of Rs 30k. I spent this much, just for the sake of avoiding annual fees. I don’t have any Shoppers Stop stores at my place, so this card was almost worthless except during the Amazon Festive Sale.
Now, Axis Bank is the management partner of Citibank
So, since the card was almost of no use, I decided to get it swapped with some variant from Axis Bank. All other variants of Citibank did not suit me owing to their spends and rewards programmes.
So, I called up Citibank customer care, now managed by Axis and to my surprise, I was greeted with someone quite knowledgeable and who understood what I wanted to say, without any glitch.
I asked the person on the other side to swap the card with some Axis variant but she said that this was not an option as of now but I could swap it with some other variant of Citibank. Seeing no other option, I decided to go for the Citibank Indian Oil Credit Card (Citi IOC).
She informed me that the new card will be Life Time Free (LTF) with no spend limit criteria. Well, I was happy then, thinking that at least I could use it on Indian Oil bunks and gain something while not losing anything at the same time.
To my dismay
Now, before doing any transactions, I have a habit of reading the literature thoroughly, so I went through the terms and conditions that shook my head again.
If used, the Citi IOC reward points would accrue only at select outlets of major cities (some less than 100 fuel pumps) and not everywhere. Also, there was no fuel surcharge waiver on fuel pumps which were not Indian Oil Fuel Stations.
I called up customer care again and asked them if it was possible to swap the card again. They said that now the swap programme is discontinued and they are not swapping any cards anymore.
Ok fine then, I asked to the customer representative about my spend criteria expecting LTF with no spend limit criteria. However, I was informed that this card carried an annual fee of Rs 1180/- with a spend waiver of Rs 30k. Annual fees to be due in next 2 months and no amount of spend has been registered on this card yet.
I felt like a fool. I was better off with the Shoppers Stop Card. I decided that to cancel this Citi IOC card, if it had an annual fee of Rs 1180/- with a spend waiver of Rs 30k.
Email for confirmation
Now, I decided to double confirm the actual card criteria with the Citibank Customer Care Team on email. I stated my issue and the disparity in the statements of their customer care representatives.
They apologized and confirmed that the card was Life Time Free (LTF) with no spend limit criteria.
Final Thoughts
Now, what I conclude from this –
- Citibank customer care is still great
- The world is full of idiots who will blabber anything without cross checking. Har Shaakh pe ullu baitha hai.
- Double and triple confirm preferably on email before taking any decision. Most customer care executives have not been trained to handle complex cases.
Hit a Like if you enjoyed this.
Thanks!!
Ravi.
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