If they are no longer allowed to charged what they were for forx they may be looking to offset that loss of revenue elsewhere.
The Amex settlement has little to do with how much they charged for conversion, but rather Amex's curiously poor disclosure. Amex (& Visa & MC) now provide statements which are much more explicit about actual $ conversion rates and their fee for the service.
The Amex settlement has little to do with how much they charged for conversion, but rather Amex's curiously poor disclosure. Amex (& Visa & MC) now provide statements which are much more explicit about actual $ conversion rates and their fee for the service.
Is there an Amex settlement as well? I know about the Visa/MC settlement, and got a mailing about it a week ago. Will be filing once I find out an old account number
Haven't heard anything about an Amex settlement, though.
When Citibank sent me an email offering me a free Citi AAdvantage American Express card for as long as I had my current Citi Aadvantage Master Card, I was happy to accept the offer, which also would give me 5000 bonus miles and a 20% bonus for the first year of the Amex card. It sounded like a great deal.
Then my first bill came, with an $85 annual fee, not free as promised. A call to their customer service (Brandon) got me some sympathy and a promise of a return call with resolution within two days. When this didn't happen, I called back and spoke to Faith, who spoke a supervisor, who told that Citi never made this offer. (I still have the original email) When I spoke with supervisor Michelle, she was very sympathetic and offered a courtesy $25 credit for my $85 annual fee loss, saying that even though I have the email offer, and the terms are quite clear, the computers would not allow her to refund the fee and honor their advertisement. Nothing I said to explain that giving back only $25 of an $85 overcharge did not resolve the issue would influence her. She offered to close the new Citi Amex and existing Citi Mastercard for me, which I asked her to do. Hopefully she did.
When I tried to escalate past the supervisor, she would not connect me with anyone.
Very disappointing, even though the supervisor said they would not take back the 5000 sign-up bonus miles. I really could have used the 20% bonus miles.
I still have that email as well... to be precise, it says:
Quote:
No annual fee on your Citi® / AAdvantage® American Express® card as long as your Citi® / AAdvantage® MasterCard® account remains open and the mileage cap is shared.
There are two footnotes:
Quote:
The combined maximum number of AAdvantage® miles you can earn from purchases using your Citi® / AAdvantage® cards is 60,000 AAdvantage® miles per calendar year (recorded on your Jan.-Dec. billing statements). Any AAdvantage® bonus miles earned are excluded from this mileage cap.
AAdvantage Executive Platinum® members, AAdvantage Platinum® members, and AAdvantage Gold® members are also excluded from this limit. AAdvantage® miles are earned on purchases except returned goods and services, cash advances, convenience checks, transferred balances, credits, fees and finance charges.
... and ...
Quote:
As of November 3, 2007, standard variable APR for purchases - 17.49%; standard variable APR for cash advances - 22.49%. However, if you default under any Card Agreement, Citi® may automatically increase the rate on balances (including promotional balances) to a variable default rate of 31.49%. The annual fee is $0 as long as your Citi® Gold / AAdvantage® World MasterCard® account remains open and the mileage cap is shared. Otherwise, you will be billed an annual membership fee of $50 for the Citi® / AAdvantage® American Express® card. Minimum finance charge - $.50. Foreign purchase transaction fee – 3.0% of purchase amount after its conversion into U.S. dollars. Cash advance fee – 3.0% of cash advance amount, $5 minimum. Balance transfer fee – 3.0% of balance transfer amount, minimum $5
Neither of the footnotes suggest there are special hoops to jump through to get the deal.
Programs: DL PM, .6MM; AA Plat; Marriott Platinum Premier
Posts: 4,464
Quote:
Originally Posted by ESpen36
If it sounds too good to be true....it probably is.
Sorry, but this is completely not applicable with Citi cards on AA. The 40k bonus deal for opening platinum world MCs certainly sounded too good to be true... but I already have 30k of the miles and will get an additional 10k after my first yr completes and I spend $10k on the card in the second year (easy to do, as i use the card for biz expenses).
I guess it is too late since the OP has already closed both accounts, but I would have taken a different approach. I would have called to dispute the charge, and then provided the email as documentation. Might have gotten the same result, but this is completely rotten customer-no-service. I was considering dumping my DL amex and switching to the AA Citi one for this offer, but now am not so sure.
but this is completely rotten customer-no-service.
I disagree here. In general, I am very underwhelmed with Citi's customer service, but it seems that the agents, for the most part, were sympathetic and tried to help as much as they could within the limitations they had. It's a program glitch, to be sure, but the agent can't do much if the system won't let them.
I just don't buy the "system limitation" argument. I understand telling the front line staff and their direct supervisors that there is a limitation in the system so that they aren't given carte blanche to grant special favors, but any system without a manual override at some point along the chain of command is in dire need of a re-design.
No, there is someone higher than the sup the OP spoke with who could have made this happen.
I disagree here. In general, I am very underwhelmed with Citi's customer service, but it seems that the agents, for the most part, were sympathetic and tried to help as much as they could within the limitations they had. It's a program glitch, to be sure, but the agent can't do much if the system won't let them.
Cheers.
And glitches need to be reported to IT. The agent didn't do that... or at least failed to inform the OP that would, or even could, happen. If the service department provides the agents with crappy tools, it doesn't really matter how pleasant and sympathetic the agents are. It's just crappy service with a smile.
When AA first came up with a first year fee free card, they charged me the fee, I then sent them screen prints of the offer and they refunded it. I'd say argue it.
The annual fee for the Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard®, the Citi Select(SM) / AAdvantage® American Express® card and the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® MasterCard® is $0 for the first twelve months and $85, $85 and $75, respectively, thereafter.
Seems pretty clear to me. Cancelling the accts was unnecessary. I would have kept pressing this issue out of principle until it was resolved. THEN I'd cancel the accounts if you didn't want them.
Programs: DL PM, .6MM; AA Plat; Marriott Platinum Premier
Posts: 4,464
Quote:
Originally Posted by oneant
Seems pretty clear to me. Cancelling the accts was unnecessary. I would have kept pressing this issue out of principle until it was resolved. THEN I'd cancel the accounts if you didn't want them.
The T&Cs which you quote are the original T&Cs for Citi cards; the email which the OP received (and I also received) stated that there would NEVER be an annual fee for the Citi Amex so long as both it and the MC were active.
I have been a Citi customer for 20 years and have never had anything but good service from them (including most recently when $5k of merchandise was charged to my account from someone in Northern California; hey, brp, that wasn't you, was it? ).
Clearly Citi screwed up, but based on my experience I would have expected them to clear up the mistake more readily.
The T&Cs which you quote are the original T&Cs for Citi cards; the email which the OP received (and I also received) stated that there would NEVER be an annual fee for the Citi Amex so long as both it and the MC were active.
Wow! So the OP is covered by this advertisement AND specifically by another one. Either way, the refund of the fee should have been forthcoming.
Doesn't closing the accounts defeat the purpose of trying to get both of these cards in the first place?
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