Originally Posted by
jhuck
I've not yet attempted a retention offer with Barclays. With Citi, I always just act like I'm determined to cancel and they always come through with an offer. For those of you with success with Barclays (specifically arrival) did you approach it this way, or just outright ask for a retention bonus? Citi has never called my bluff when I say I want to cancel, but I'm afraid Barclay's might.
I've called Barclay's retention about 2 cards in the past several months... for the Arrival, they went ahead and cancelled (see above post). For my USAirways card, at first they didn't seem willing to waive the annual fee, but I kept insisting on cancelling, and eventually they did waive it. In other words... YMMV.
If you aren't actually willing to cancel, you should try to word it in such a way that you are
thinking of cancelling, but back off before they actually cancel (usually they will confirm right before they actually close the account). However, there is some risk that the phone rep will misunderstand and close the card anyway.