musicdude91

So I signed up for the aadvantage card April 29th and got instant approval. I got a call on May 4th saying I was officially approved. Card was supoposedly mailed out on May 8th (Monday) and I was told 5-7 business days, so May 15th is the latest I should receive my card. May 15th and still no card, so I call and talk to a CSR and they pretty much just told me the card was mailed on the 8th and now it was 7-10 business days, not 5-7 like I was originally told, so I should receive the card no later than the 19th. May 19th and still no card, so I call and talk to another CSR. He said he would get a new card shipped and I would receive it in no later than 48 hours. Card was shipped the 20th, so 48 hours would be Monday the 22nd. Monday and still no card. So I call and talk to another CSR and they said since it is a new card they could not expedite ship it ( so the CSR who told me 48 hours was apparently blowing smoke). They told me it would be another 5-7 business days.

I told them I didnt care if it would cost $100, expedite ship my card. They said they couldn't do that since "it was a new account."

So it's going to take ~4 weeks to get the card. That cut a whole month off getting the aadvantage sign on bonus. I also have a trip the 24th-28th and was hoping to use the card for that. But that won't be happening.

So yeah, not impressed with Citi at all. Once I receive the card I will be cancelling my account with them.

Aristophanes80

Saturday and Sunday are not business days. Also, Citi pads the 3 month spending period for sign up bonuses by a few weeks. If you call and ask when your spending deadline is, they will tell you the exact date.

Gig103

That's a pretty bad start to a banking relationship. I had an issue with that card as well; a banking error paid them twice for my statement balance ($6k for flights and the min spend) and Citi took almost 3 weeks to send me my money (electronically, not a check). They gave me 10k AAdvantage miles for my trouble.

The moral is, I didn't renew the card, and enjoyed my 60k miles. Maybe a supervisor can hook you up with an apology Aadvantage boost.

garykung

What exactly do you expect from Citi when Citi is practically the worst issuer among major issuers per 2016 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power?

It does not matter when OP's card did not show up for almost a month.

sdsearch

Well, welcome to FlyerTalk, musicdude91, but if you'd been reading the main thread on this card:
for a while, you'd know that this is not that unusual for Citi. In fact, something very similar happened to me before (except that I didn't need the miles right away in my case.) But I applied again after that, and it didn't happen a seoond time. Or a third time. Or a fourth time.

In other words you were unlucky, and Citi does this sometimes, but they don't do it the majority of the time.

The moral of the story is: You need more planning than that to use miles credit cards successfully. If you're going to give up earning 50k or whatever AA miles just because you're mad at Citi, isn't that like "cutting your nose to spite your face"? Aren't you ever going to need AA miles again?

If you cancel, you not only won't get the bonus now, you also won't be able to get a bonus for 24 months (should you reconsider later).

So if you were planning to only apply for miles cards right before you need to use the miles, I suggest you re-think that strategy. I recommend you stock up on miles in advance of having a specific use for them, so that all you'll need credit cards for after that is to "replenish" miles you just used up, rather than "get" the miles you're about to need. If you're always going to be "miles short" and needing everything to work perfectly, you're likely to have more than just this one glitch mess your plans.

If they take a whole month off, you still have 2.5 months or so. That's because Citi says you have "3 months", but because of some expected delays (though not as much as in your case), they've actually padded it by about 14 days. That's why if it takes a month to get your card, you'll still have about 2.5 months to go.

krazykanuck

But at the same time, Citi's incompetence gives back, as well as takes away. I mean in the past few months:

I have managed to get an extra 60k AA miles because they leaked a public application without the normal 24 month bonus restrictions, got a free 1,000 TYP because they accidentally mailed the wrong T&Cs to a huge number of Prestige cardholders and gave everybody 1k TYP to apologize, and was paid $95 to keep my Premier card for the past year instead of paying $95 because they double credited back my fee like 4 months apart with no explanation.

garykung

I bet J.D. Power never asked for your opinion.

FWIW - while you have been successfully prevailing in all instances against Citi's incompetence, it does not mean Citi's incompetence is not a thing.

IkeEsq

Sorry, but your story makes no sense.

You applied on April 29 and were instantly approved. So why did they call you to tell you that you were approved a week later? I have never been called by Citi to say that I was approved and my wife and I have gotten 14 cards between us since October 2016. We generally get an email within a few minutes of being approved.

Cards normally arrive 7-10 business days from approval, which they state whenever I apply.

Citi never expedites shipping on AA Platinum cards (they used to on Executive cards, not sure if they still do).

If they sent you two cards that long ago and you didn't get either, it seems like you might have some mail issues. Did you get the welcome letter saying you were approved and listing the bonus?

If, when you receive the card, you contact them and explain that you just got it, they will extend the 3-month window, I had this happen on a lost card.

If you just want to be mad at Citi over this and never deal with them again, that is cool. But you are missing out on a potential gold mine of AA points if you know how to work the system.

garykung

I am not OP. But it does make sense.

It is possible that OP applied in a branch and the call was originated from the branch.

Never getting a call does not mean it does not happen.

Also - it is not mandatory to provide an email address for the application.

The keyword is "normally". OP's situation, I believe, can be classified as "atypical".

Yes. This has been confirmed by OP (as OP claimed who said that was apparently blowing smoke).

It is possible. But it does not mean what was claimed by OP re: Citi's imcompetence is not valid.

There is no guarantee that Citi (and/or other issuers) may extend the window.

There is another issuer known as Barclays.

sdsearch

Well, I've applied for lots of Citi cards (both AA and HH) over the years, and while all but one I got in a reasonable time, one of them they claimed they'd sent it, and then when I hadn't gotten it almost two weeks later, they addmitted they hadn't yet sent it after all! (When they do send it, it takes over a week to get to me on the West Coast, and then I'm traveling most weeks Mon-Thu so can only check my [UPS Store] mailbox Fri & Sat, and that causes a lag in me realizing I haven't gotten the card when I was supposed to. So that's why it took my almost two weeks before I realized I hadn't gotten the card "on time".)

So it can be something other than the recipient's mail issues.

IkeEsq

That is obvious, because you are posting here. OP signed up so s/he could lambast Citi and then stopped signing in.

Yeah, lots of things are possible. But how many out-of-the-ordinary things can happen to one individual before it starts to become more likely that the person is making things up and exaggerating to make it sound worse than it actually was? The purpose of OP's post was not to inform it was to hurt Citi for their horrible customer service by getting others to stop using them. When that is the goal, one should be skeptical of the details.

And that is relevant to what? You've successfully gotten more than a half dozen Barclays waived-fee cards in the last 7 months for 60-75K bonus plus spend each?

garykung

I hope you know the meaning of "When the shxt hits the fan", as well as Murphy's law.

I believe my post objectively harms Citi more than OP, which was:

If OP is unhappy with Citi, OP can choose Barclays. No need to overthink.

mikesyr18

Citi's employees tend to be a little on the slow side. Not sure if it's a result of a power hungry VP team or what but they are definitely different than other banks.

I can't even remember the last time I felt satisfied with a result when hanging up the phone after calling them. Last time I called them was about five days ago when I wanted them to add my new ThankYou Premier card to my already made online banking profile... They couldn't even do that for me. Why do I need to wait for the card first? It should be done automatically based on social security number, and if not, the rep should be able to do it manually without an issue and with a smile on their face.

Why do they have customer service if they can never attend to any issue that's brought up? Who knows. Can't expedite cards, can't add cards to your online profile, can't solve technical issues, can't do product changes, nothing.

As to your card issue - April 29 is a Saturday and doesn't count as a bank business day. Your card should have been sent out on Monday the 1st like any other normal bank does and not the 8th. It shouldn't take six business days to mail a card.

Pardon my language but Citi customer service sucks. They're clumsy and don't do anything to help you. I feel your pain.

bigbuy

[QUOTE=garykung;28354540]What exactly do you expect from Citi when Citi is practically the worst issuer among major issuers per 2016 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power?

Looking at the "free" roadside assistance thread via the Citi Prestige card is always a fun read.

musicdude91

In bold