I had a similar experience with CIBC's lack of customer service. I was in vancouver in January of this year when it happened, and got my Aerogold ($20,000 limit) in August of last year. All my bills were paid on time. I got a message also stating to call the phone number and quote a reference number. The CSR was incredibly rude to me, and demanded that I fax them proof of my income before they would take a hold off my credit card. I asked her to speak to a supervisor, to which she replied that all of the supervisors were in a meeting. So I asked her when they would be finished. She stated she didn't know. So I asked her when the meeting started. She replied that she didn't know. Clearly a load of bullsh*t - she knew he was in a meeting, but didnt know when it started or finished lol... anyways, I told her she could just cancel my entire card, as I wouldn't be faxing any such proof of my income since they hadn't asked me for it when I first applied. I also demanded that since it was them putting a hold on my card, they refund the portion of my annual fee that would cover the next few months, until the card's renewal. I then hung up on her, and when I returned to Toronto I went to see my personal banker. Intrestingly enough, he already knew of the situation and told me that he was trying to handle it. I ended up getting $150 credit (the annual fee is only $120) and 2,500 aeroplan miles as their way of saying "sorry".

CIBC's customer service is pathetic. After that episode I decided just to go with the Avion - its not like you can even use the aeroplan miles to get any decent seats - all the seats I find seem to be for 70,000 points for economy on their "classic plus" program.