fredc84

I'm one of those who can't even make requests by chat but is supposed to call a specialist by phone. I used the SM work-around when I received my last card to request the 15K bonus miles on Jan 7. The message I sent showed up in my conversation list on the normal SM page but it never got a response. My first cycle closed at midnight and the online statement shows 78K miles (60K orig bonus, 15K req'd bonus, 3K spend.) I never got a letter, email, call or SM about this request.

VegasGambler

This is exactly my situation, except that my statement hasn't closed yet (actually my first statement closed about 2 days after I got the physical card, before I made any spend. I need to wait until next month to see what bonus I'll get)

Based on this data point, I'll probably just wait though. If I get only the 50k (mine is 50+10) I'll try chat again.

NTP9766

It'd be nice if they had the new SM system ready before they decommissioned the old one. Never change, Citi.

Carl Christensen

My contribution to the community regarding SM:

• login to your account via private browsing (seems to prevent a few issues)
• click this link (or copy and paste as I do where I have it stored in my master excel spreadsheet) https://online.citi.com/US/NCAO/card...argetAOApp=cli
• then click this link https://accountonline.citi.com/cards...ssageCenter.do

It appears to me that that sequence is necessary. Trying just the second link doesn't work for me. However, clicking the first link seems to enable the second. This process is the same as navigating the menus as has been described but is for those that want a somewhat more straightforward process like I do.

xyc

Your method and the method in the wiki (Services --> Credit Card Services --> Request a Credit Limit Increase --> Request Your Card Agreement on the left of the page) now take me to a Secure Message Center page that sometimes takes about ten seconds to say, "We're sorry. We can't tell if you have any new messages, because the message system is currently unavailable." (This happens in Chrome and Firefox with no add-ons other than default ones.) If I keep refreshing, the page eventually instead takes about five seconds to show me my saved messages, but I can't send any new messages. Is this happening for everyone else now too?

I have a bank account with Citi, and secure messaging worked for me the old way as recently as mid-January, but now the old way also takes me to this new page where I can't send anything new. The Contact Us page invites me to chat with Citi or "Read Messages from Citi in the Secure Message Center" with a working link to the same page (where I can't send anything new).

MaxVO

This sequence worked for me, thanks! ^
As a point of reference, the previous description of the work around generated similar but not identical web page for me.

Carl Christensen

bobert24

This is great. Citi seems to have replaced the Request CLI and Request Card Agreement pages with newer versions (at least for my account). That means no SMs at all. But this works - the old pages obviously still exist, for now.

I'd take this change to mean that the end of SMs as we know them is near. I just hope they do have plans to get a new SM system in place at some point.

VegasGambler

I hit this once. Then I clicked away from the page, came back, got the old page, and sent my SM.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on. I'm not sure if it's a random load balancing thing (some of their deployments have the new page, and some have the old one) or if it's something else.

Carl Christensen

Happy

This happened to me occasionally too. I also notice that if I clicked away to other areas then returned, it was working again. It is so random!
Also the chat window sometimes I can move it to other area of the screen (but still confined by the Citi site's screen) but there are also times the window just got stuck at the bottom, meaning the box to type is just above the edge of the screen making it hard to read.
Still, we will put up with all these random glitches as long as the game continues!

cheaptom

I usually ask for a bonus miles match via SM, but I realized that SM was no longer available. So this time I asked via chat.
Just for the sake of asking, I began the chat by saying "I can't find the portal to send a Secure Message. Can you send me a link?" He replied by saying that Citi did away with SM as a "benefit to the customers." Sounds like they've been trained to say that. They eliminate a fast and secure method of communication, and it's to MY benefit?

Anyway, he says he'll be happy to help me on chat. So I asked for a match, and he asked me to hold and he'll look into it. He came back and said that he sees the offer I was referring to, but he is not authorized to give me the extra miles. Can I hold again? I said yes. A few minutes later, he came back to say that someone higher up will have to help me. He will have someone email or call me back within 24 hours.

So it's a week later, and no contact. I truied a new chat today. This time the chat guy looked into it says I don't qualify for the bonus miles. That's cool, and I can accept it if they won't give me more miles. BUT... I asked, "Is there any record of my chat last week? I've been waiting over a week for my answer, and no one contacted me." He tells me to hold again and he'll look into it. Next thing I know, the Survey pops up. I had been disconnected!

Such a difference between the skill set and permissions that the SM reps had and the chat reps have.

Beeb

Has anyone recently had luck closing an account with SM? I know about a month or so ago this was no longer possible... just looking for a way to avoid calling up and talking to an agent.

MaxVO

It's possible, but not always on the first try. If my cancellation request is ignored for several days, I would "confirm" it with a follow-up SM or online chat.

VegasGambler

I don't think it was ever "not possible", but it wouldn't work all the time.

By reading various threads about this, I think (though I'm not sure) that if you have retention offers you can't cancel without talking to a retention specialist.