crapz1

I struggle with the mag strip being on the front as well, but I hope the embossed letters don't make it back on the new design. I actually like that a lot of the newer cards are coming with printed names. Makes my wallet and stack of CCs a lot nicer to carry around since it stacks nicely.

xSTRIKEx6864

Places should be using the chip, not swiping. The Citi Prestige is ahead of its time in a sense in that aspect... but the thin plastic feels cheap. They should go metal card like Chase Sapphire Preferred is

dw

Even though the liability shift for EMV-capable cards is next week, we're still a long ways off from abandoning the mag strip here in the US... according to an article in today's NYTimes, only 27% of US merchants are expected to be ready for EMV next month.

That being said, on a recent trip to Europe, I did not have a SINGLE transaction where I didn't have to point out where the chip on the Prestige card is. It isn't where people expect for it to be, and with the visual clutter on the back of the card (the Mastercard hologram, the signature strip and all the text) people just didn't seem to notice it until I pointed it out.

pritomd

Care to explain this? Other cards have chips...and the Prestige/Premier's chip STILL confuses cashiers because their chip is on a different side than most credit card chips...

firemandan9

Interesting, I've never had anyone offer to run my chip card in Europe for me since they assume I will need to enter the pin. I've actually been chewed out when the signature slip prints out at some smaller shops.

Long past time the card gets fixed though, even cashiers I visit weekly still get confused almost every time.

josephstern

I'm in Tokyo now, and it's time to put this card away and just use a different card. Too painful. At almost every restaurant, the card comes back to the table at least once - and some never make it work. It started as amusing. We've now seen every variation of the problem. We give up.

How could a company like Citi make such a colossal mistake? Do none of their execs carry this card?

wvvm

Mostly lurker here, but I would like to chime in with my experience -- I just came back from a week in Ireland where I tried to use the card everywhere we went, but even handing it to a server with the chip facing up, they almost invariably got confused and couldn't figure out how to use it. Then would have major problems with the magnetic strip when they gave up on the chip. I thought that the chip was conspicuous enough that I wouldn't have problems like I do with the strip in the states, but alas it was worse.

We went to Ecuador earlier this year and couldn't use the card either of the hotels we stayed in because they required an imprint of the card and no raised text = no imprint.

Love the card's features, but hate hate hate the design and I'm very happy to hear that changes may be coming soon.

solewalker

My problem was with where the chip was located. Many places I went needed to input the last 4 digits of my card after slotting in the chip. Guess what gets covered when the card gets dipped into the slot for the chip? The last 4 digits of my card.

linglingfool

For chip use, I have started handing the card to the cashier, with my thumb pointing at the chip and covering the rest of the card. Works about 90% of the time without further explanation.

Sintaku

In London once they see you are paying with credit they bring the machine to you and insert the card in front of you. I remember my bank saying I was not to let the card out of my sight.

My prestige is nearly destroyed after a taco bell employee swiped it 30+ like a crazy person.

levilevi

I wish there were a way to email this thread to Citi decision makers.

wvvm

Oh, we tried pointing and saying "The chip is [here] on this card," mostly to no avail! I think that servers tend to be on autopilot with this stuff and are so used to feeding the card with the front of the card up and turned a certain way that they forget that it is the chip and not the rest of the card that needs to be fed in a certain way. We had such bad luck that I thought that maybe the chip was broken ... but then I remembered that it worked perfectly when I was the one inserting it.

Judging from how much trouble I have figuring how to swipe my card in the states -- and I use it all the time -- I can't blame anyone else (well, except Citi) for not being able to figure it out quickly!!!

pritomd

Agreed. I mean luckily it is being fixed for the better (minus the raised numbers thing, but that's old and not just Citicards these days) but whoever let the Prestige/Premier come out should get a slap on the wrist!!!

uscjeff

Same exact problem in Hong Kong. So frustrating. Just got the Premier and hoped its lighter color would be less of an issue than Prestige. Unfortunately not looking to be the case

Eonflux

I have to agree with you all, I recently got my premier card and nothing about the card is premier to me. Light plastic, and the mag strip is on the front, almost blended in with the gray colour of the card. My Amex and cap one card feels a lot better than this one. Good thing is most of the places around my area have terminals where can insert your chip enable card in instead of swiping so I've been using that. But I hope the new card design will move the mag strip to the back and the chip in front.