I've had nothing but pleasant experiences when calling about my Citi Prestige card. My guess is that you were dealing with Citi's fraud prevention people - not their Citi Prestige customer service people. It doesn't excuse the poor service, but I'm not sure it speaks specifically to the service level for general inquiries to Citi Prestige reps. I recently had to submit an insurance claim under their rental car coverage. Easy call, they e-mailed the paperwork, and I had a check two weeks later.