I just wanted to let everyone know what I have experienced having this card a grand total of 3 1/2 months so those considering getting one will go into it with their eyes wide open. This is the card that Continental is pushing very hard right now - those people trying to flag you down in the concourses as you rush for your plane are trying to lure you in.

In Dec. of 2005, I called in to sign up for this card. Of course, I get someone on a crackly line located in Bombay that speaks middling to fair English. In any event, after listening to her read me the whole t&C spiel, I asked what the annual fee was. She said it was $85 but that it would be waived for the 1st year. So, I agreed to get the card and received it 2 weeks later. Much to my surprise, on my January statement was a charge for the $85 annual fee! When I called to ask if it could be removed per my agreement when signing up, I got all sorts of excuses such as we never agree to waive fees, did you get it in writing, etc... I responded with a suggestion that they listen to the taped call between me and their agent to hear what she promised me. In any event, it took me 4 solid weeks of emailing and calling Chase until they relented and agreed to honor their promise to waive the fee.

Next issue occurred 2 weeks ago when all of the sudden my card was declined. I have a very sizeable limit and had spent maybe 5% of that so I was astonished that my purchase of $200 was declined. I called Chase and they said that my recent purchase of an international business class ticket made them suspicious of "fraud" and so they suspended the account several days ago. They NEVER ONCE tried to contact me to let me know or even ask if the charges were valid. The agent I spoke with admitted that they had all of my correct contact info but she could not explain why no one bothered to contact me before suspending my account.

I have called and emailed Chase repeatedly for an explanation as to why no one contacted me prior to the suspension and of course, I keep getting the runaround. I even have the name of a guy in Chase's Card Member "Advocate Dept" (he called me after the 1st incident to apologize) and despite promising to look into it and promising to call me "that afternoon", he has not called and won't return my calls.

I have had it with Chase. I am going to use this card just for the 12 month period and then cancel it before they charge me the annual fee.

If you want to read about even more hair-raising stories about Chase, just look at Complaints.com under Chase.