Early Returns on BMO Takeover: Utter Disaster
 

I am currently on hold - its been 45+ minutes of hold time and arguing. After having restaurant charges declined last week, I made sure my payment had been credited and then began using the card again, with no problems. Today, the card was again rejected. I went online and saw that my payment had been credited and nothing was overdue. Further, my online statement said I owed $1200, even though I haven't spent more than $100 since my last statement. So, I called.

I was told that they had reversed my by $8000+ in payments (one of which was over a month ago) because they never received the funds from the bank. Now, I know this is complete BS - and some screw up by BMO Harris. They also wondered if I would like to request a credit increase. I asked what good that would do if they're not going to credit my payments.

So, while I was on hold again, they finally got to the bottom of the matter. They had taken my $8000 in payments and applied them to the CLUB PLUS ACCOUNT - you know, folks, that account that no longer exists? So, I had thousands of dollars in credit some place where it couldn't be used. They generously have agreed to transfer the money back to the the charge card account. :rolleyes:

The good news? 500 Club Rewards points for me! Too bad this didn't happen when I could still transfer them to AA! This transition is NOT going smoothly. :D

Oh, and another thing folks, I noticed that they had changed my payment due date. So be careful if you're making payments close to the due date. You could get screwed there too. :(

Hold time is so much longer now.

Where is the new call center at?

Full payment posted to card account ... Club Plus statement showed past due (but card account overpaid by plus account past due amount)... 63 minutes on hold and it took over 45 minutes to end up with "ignore that it says past due and just pay the amount by your next due date and it should be ok"... Call center was in Canada.

Oh great. This is not gong well at all.

Letter going out asking for annual fee refund. I've been a cardmember since 96... Considering alternatives now.

My statement normally closes mid-month, but the website has been acting really wacky for the past few days. My statement is two days overdue. In other words, it shows transaction activity, but no closed statement is should.

Of course, they had a "dump" of transactions that were delayed over this past weekend and hit all at once on the 15th. They are apparently struggling with the transition.

Early Returns on BMO Takeover: Utter Disaster
 

To those folks who looked forward to the changeover thinking it couldn't get worse than Citi: WRONG.
Made a DC web payment on 11/10. No payment shows on the DC website as of now (11/17). Nor does my bank reflect a payment was made. Called DC to inquire as to problem. Amateurish automated phone response with drawn out unnecessary time-wasting commentary from the recorded voice of a woman who sounds like a cashier at my local supermarket telling me to be sure to press the "number" sign, followed by a message telling me wait time would be in excess of 20 minutes. I know it's early in their game, but why should I spend one day enduring such incompetence?
Edited to add: Rather than wait "in excess of 20 minutes," I sent an email message via the DC website inquiring about my payment. As of noon the next day, no response.

Edited to add: Now two days later and no response from DC/BMO customer service.

I received my first statement today from the new company. Strangely enough, given what I posted above, the statement was correct. They apparently handled my payments correctly, sent the bill and then decided to apply the money to Club Plus. Since they told me they were correcting the problem yesterday, I thought that I could use the card. Still rejected. So, I called again tonight and have spent another 45 minutes plus on hold and trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

BTW, the new statements have NO information about Club Rewards other than to log onto the website or call Diners Club for your points balance.

I cant believe this transition is so bad. Its been 2 years since BMO bought DC you'd think the process would be a lot smoother.

I work in IT and can't understand the problems BMO is experiencing following this migration. Another odd thing is the initial landing page has reverted back to the one from Citi as of Friday (with the execption of the BMO logo).
It appears the problems are with the website and online payments. I received my statement in the mail and all appeared to be correct.

Yeah, my mailed statement was correct, but if you look online, the transactions since the last statement are all messed up (or at least mine are). Mine says no payment past due, no purchases, no payments received, but that I owe over $9000. And I still can't use the card. I've started only trying it in automated situations, so I don't get embarrassed by appearing to be a deadbeat. :)

i saw on award wallet that they had deducted club rewards from my balance.

i had no redemption so i tried calling 3 days in a row and you know the drill.

no matter when i called, it was at least a 20 minute wait.

then i received an award wallet up date that a large amount of points had been ADDED to my diners club account. go figure.

and their vaunted primary auto coverage failed me when for the first time in 25 years i made a claim for tire damage in france and it was DENIED.

I'M OUT OF HERE

11/20/2011: New website problem
 

Today, I clicked on the link to show Club Rewards point balance details. Instead of details, you get page stating "JSP Processing Error" and "HTTP Error Code 404". Tried the link a number of times. Same result each time.

During today's call to Diners Club Customer Service (sad, isn't it?) the gentleman told me that the transition has not been smooth and they have "teams" working on the problems.

I get this too. And although I can log into my account, that same login doesn't work at the clubrewardsus.com site. Sigh.

Trick to avoid long hold times
 

Called the main 800 number, told there was a long wait time. Hung up and called the number listed for international collect calls, 702-797-5532. After a brief recording saying they will accept any collect call, the phone was promptly answered with no wait. Apparently they don't want to have a collect call waiting for an hour.

I noticed this a few days ago, but didn't post because it appears that luck plays a substantial role. On subsequent attempts, I was simply placed back into the cue.