Refund of annual fee after downgrading Prestige
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 350
Refund of annual fee after downgrading Prestige
I downgraded my Prestige to a regular Citi card after the $450 annual fee posted. Citi is now saying the card takes 51 days to convert and they will post the annual fee refund adjustment when it is done. My question is will it actually charge me for the 51 days that I have no access to?
Thanks
Thanks
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
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I downgraded my Prestige to a regular Citi card after the $450 annual fee posted. Citi is now saying the card takes 51 days to convert and they will post the annual fee refund adjustment when it is done. My question is will it actually charge me for the 51 days that I have no access to?
I don't know what you mean by don't have access to it. You have full access to the card and benefits until the account actually changes over.
#4
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
TL;DR Citi product changes take longer than one would expect.
I did a product change from an ancient AA Gold to a ATT Access card this fall and that took like 3 weeks.
Also back in 2015 we converted the upper level Hhonors card to a Double Cash and it took Citi 6 mos to finalize that.
What sucked is we had requested the conversion before the fee became locked in....and they only gave us a partial prorate.
Those are data points for other products than TYP family, but I think they're still germane.
I did a product change from an ancient AA Gold to a ATT Access card this fall and that took like 3 weeks.
Also back in 2015 we converted the upper level Hhonors card to a Double Cash and it took Citi 6 mos to finalize that.
What sucked is we had requested the conversion before the fee became locked in....and they only gave us a partial prorate.
Those are data points for other products than TYP family, but I think they're still germane.
#5
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 84
I just call a Citi prestige rep, she said after 60 days of annual fee posting I cannot ask for a refund. Not even a pro-rated refund. My annual fee posted last September.
Anyone else have a similar experience? I am going to HUCA later.
Anyone else have a similar experience? I am going to HUCA later.
#6
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: *A
Posts: 1,390
HUCA. The agent is confused with the AA cards. I PC'd to rewards+. Got the new card pretty quickly but am still waiting for the pro rata refund.
#7
Join Date: May 2003
Location: LAX
Programs: DL-Plat, UA-Plat 2MM, AA-PlatPro, B6-Mosaic 3, AY-Plat, HY-Globalist, MR-LT Plat, HH-Gold
Posts: 1,235
I am in the middle of waiting on a PC from AA Exec to AA MileUp. I requested the change in Jan, about a month after the AF hit and the change is not effective until 2/27. I then decided that if I was going to have to pay for 1/4 of the AF anyway, I would just hold on to the card and maintain my ability to get a bonus on a new AA card before the next AF hits (I’m currently within 24 mos and they told me I would be getting a new account number, resetting the clock). When I called in, I asked first whether the prorated AF refund would be based on the Jan date I made the request or the end of Feb effective date and the rep insisted that it would be based on the Jan request date. That makes it a much tougher call, but also wanted to add the data point here and see if anyone can verify that this is accurate. Unfortunately, the language on the PC letter makes no mention of the prorated AF.
#8
Join Date: May 2003
Location: LAX
Programs: DL-Plat, UA-Plat 2MM, AA-PlatPro, B6-Mosaic 3, AY-Plat, HY-Globalist, MR-LT Plat, HH-Gold
Posts: 1,235
Updating my question above, note the craziness of Citi communications:
-Original request: was told unequivocally that I would receive a partial refund
-Follow-up call to Citi: was told my prorated refund would be based on my request date in Jan
-Online chat with Citi: was first told it would be based on the effective date of the change, but I could tell they were confused about the question and when I pressed for clarification, they told me I would need to call in
-Last call with Citi: was told I would get ZERO refund. The AA Exec card is the only card that after 37 days is completely non-refundable, no prorating at all. The person I spoke to was a supervisor and acknowledged that I must have received bad information (why would I ever PC to a lesser card if I wasn't getting ANY of the large AF back??). They gave me 5k in points since it was clear that I had repeatedly been given bad info and I cancelled the PC.
Embarrassingly bad customer service. Three different answers to an important question about a $450 fee.
-Original request: was told unequivocally that I would receive a partial refund
-Follow-up call to Citi: was told my prorated refund would be based on my request date in Jan
-Online chat with Citi: was first told it would be based on the effective date of the change, but I could tell they were confused about the question and when I pressed for clarification, they told me I would need to call in
-Last call with Citi: was told I would get ZERO refund. The AA Exec card is the only card that after 37 days is completely non-refundable, no prorating at all. The person I spoke to was a supervisor and acknowledged that I must have received bad information (why would I ever PC to a lesser card if I wasn't getting ANY of the large AF back??). They gave me 5k in points since it was clear that I had repeatedly been given bad info and I cancelled the PC.
Embarrassingly bad customer service. Three different answers to an important question about a $450 fee.
#9
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
That sucks. In general getting correct answers from the 1st tier of Citi CSR is rare/lucky.
It's better to search here, and if the topic hasn't been discussed, then post a question.
It's better to search here, and if the topic hasn't been discussed, then post a question.
#10
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
Programs: Navy A-4 Skyhawk, B727 FE/FO, S80 FO, B757/767 FO, B737 CA
Posts: 1,342
Updating my question above, note the craziness of Citi communications:
-Last call with Citi: was told I would get ZERO refund. The AA Exec card is the only card that after 37 days is completely non-refundable, no prorating at all. The person I spoke to was a supervisor and acknowledged that I must have received bad information (why would I ever PC to a lesser card if I wasn't getting ANY of the large AF back??). They gave me 5k in points since it was clear that I had repeatedly been given bad info and I cancelled the PC.
-Last call with Citi: was told I would get ZERO refund. The AA Exec card is the only card that after 37 days is completely non-refundable, no prorating at all. The person I spoke to was a supervisor and acknowledged that I must have received bad information (why would I ever PC to a lesser card if I wasn't getting ANY of the large AF back??). They gave me 5k in points since it was clear that I had repeatedly been given bad info and I cancelled the PC.
I guess if it's true that we won't get a prorated annual fee then it doesn't matter...but all the agents I chatted with said we would. Man, Citi sucks, lol.
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/1MM, DL DM/2 MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 11,971
Does anyone know if you can put this card on hold for a year? Or the Citi AA card? Basically, you tell card company, you don't want to cancel the card, but will be overseas for a year not using the card. Is there a way to avoid paying the annual fee if you plan not to use the card for a year without canceling?