Citi Reveals Its Strangest Concierge Requests
Carly Zinderman December 29, 2017
As credit card companies compete against debit cards for business, credit card companies are upping the ante when it comes to finding ways to increase customers and boost appeal. One way is through offering concierge services. Citi is one card that shows how far concierge teams will go for members by telling a story about an Australian member’s request that ended up with a small jewelry store in Austin, Texas.
An Australian man spotted some unique earrings in Britney Spears’ “Criminal” music video and contacted his Citi concierge team to procure them for his girlfriend. Citi then began a long procedure to track down the earrings, contacting the production team, which lead to designers Pucci and Marchesa.
These leads proved to be false, which lead to exploring Chanel, but that also turned out to be false. Ultimately, it was found that earrings were from a small boutique in Austin, Texas and cost around $18. They were no longer in production, but the team managed to get a new batch made in time for the man to gift them to his girlfriend for her birthday.
It’s an extreme example of how hard and how far concierge teams go to make customers’ requests come true. The concierge services aren’t available for just any card holders. To use the service, members must hold a Prestige, Signature or Platinum card. Prestige customers must have a minimum income of $150,000 and pay an annual fee of $700. Signature customers must have a minimum income of $75,000 and pay a $395 annual fee. Platinum customers must have a minimum income of $35,000 and pay $149 a year in fees.
The team that handled the Britney Spears request is made of 30 “experts” in different fields. They typically answer around 650 requests a month and calls increase around holidays throughout the year, beginning in November and around Valentine’s Day and Easter.
Hard-to-find tickets, unique or sold-out toys, hotel stays, luxury limos and travel arrangements are the most common requests. But apparently one woman simply called in her family’s gift list and asked the Citi team to purchase the items.
Not only is the man Australian, but THE SPECIFIC CARDS YOU MENTIONED ARE AUSTRALIAN TOO! I"m not sure which US-issued Citi cards have concierge services, but the US-issued Citi Prestige card is $450 annual fee and has no specific income requirements, (In fact, I'm not aware of ANY US-issued card that has specific income requirements. AFAIK that's not how credit card issuing works in the US>) And Citi doesn't issue Signature or Platinum cards in the US (unless you count the Citi AA Platinum card). What a lazy FT article. I'ts fine to give the illustration of what the concierge service did from an Australian press article, but you should have done your OWN research into which Citi cards have concierge service, not just blindly copy come card names/info that were mentioned in the Australian press article (unless this article was for Australian readers only, but in that case that should have been made clear!).
Where did the data come from that the Prestige has a $700 annual fee. Its $450....