jspira

Fee waived "as a one-time courtesy" today.

I've had no real activity on the card in the past year but may consider using it going forward.

mia

Which card do you have: Professional, Premier, Elite?

jspira

Professional. I'd wager that's what this thread has been focused on but I could be mistaken.

mia

Correct, because the consumer cards are not yet a year old, but this might not be apparent to someone looking at this thread in 2016.

LETTERBOY

Especially since it's not 2016.

JeffD

I have been a Professional card holder since 1995. After the changeover to MasterCard and Citi divested, it's been downhill for me to the point where all I have been using the card for is car rentals. I would use the card more if there were some ways to generate more points/discounts, but there has been nothing (at least that has been useful to me). I have other cards that provide primary and secondary rental car coverage.

I called CS last week and asked them to waive the annual fee since I had been a card holder for 20 years and it had a "special place in my wallet." I got put on hold for 10 minutes while the rep conferred with her supervisor to see if it "was possible." Response was that they could not waive the annual fee for me and my spouse but that I could use my Club Rewards points to pay it. I told them that after being a card holder for 20 years that was unacceptable and if they didn't care enough to waive $130 or at least offer me some bonus/incentive CR points then I could make the space available in my wallet for another card. Sorry, but "that is all we can do" was the response. I told her I found their response extremely disappointing and that once I figured out what I am going to do with my CR points and transferred them I would call back and cancel the card.

After thinking it over a few days, today I transferred my CR balance and as soon as the points post to the partner accounts I'll DC back and cancel. So long DC, it was nice, and you had some really good benefits in the day (I especially liked the 60 days to pay with no interest) but time and technology has passed you by.

flyeronac

I agree completely. DC used to be an incredible card and It had a special place in my wallet, too. However, Bank of Montreal has effectively killed the card. I am particularly insulted by the new cards that the introduced. Not only are they inferior to nearly every other card that's on the market in a similar category (for example Barclay Arrivals card), they aren't even letting existing cardmembers transfer to those foreign exchange-free cards without closing our current account. The only thing that keeps me with DC now is that it's great for my credit score because I had my account open for nearly 2 decades. But I'm getting sick of its profound inferiority.

I don't understand why Bank of Montreal doesn't just kill this card once and for all.

JeffD

So here's the update: I called to cancel the card a couple of days before the bill cycled and when I told the agent why she immediately said she could waive the annual fee as a one-time courtesy so I said fine and kept the card. My wife rented a car earlier this week and promptly got into an accident (she wasn't injured, but car was damaged). Time to call DC and file a CDW claim.

sdsearch

While I agree with some of your other points, I don't understand why you consider Barclay Arrival to be in the same category. Diners Club points are transferable to various airlines (even if not the best choice of domestic ones) and various hotel programs. My understanding is that Arrival points are transferable to nowhere.

So I consider Diners Club, because of Club Rewards, to only be comparable to Amex cards with (transferable) Membership Rewards, Chase cards with (transferable) Ultimate Rewards, and Citi cards with (transferable) Thank You points. I don't see why you put in the same category as Arrival; isn't Arrival more similar to CapOne cards, in that it's points which can only be used to redeem directly for flights/hotels/etc, and is thus just a better-than-average cash-back card?

jfadds

Had this card for close to 30 years.

Called to see if fee could be waived or reduced- not a chance.

Cancelled and did not get any feedback other than i just closed your account.

Became increasingly worthless as the years went by. Had 1 claim on a rental car flat tire issue in France- they did not pay a penny- cited all sorts of reasons that this was not covered by their insurance. Auto Europe charged me a small fortune to repair a flat- could have bought new tires for what they charged- another terrible company to deal with.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Tires are not covered under any insurance -- primary or secondary.

Shareholder

I'm about to cancel my Cdn Diners card. I was under the impression that flight delay coverage was still part of the basic card benefits, but discovered last week one must now buy it as a supplementary policy. Have had the card since the old Air Canada enRoute card was bought out by Diners and through the Citibank years. But agree, since the BMO takeover, benefits have pretty much vanished. Will transfer my points to my BA or AS account, and would expect to receive a credit for the half-year balance I have on my annual fee.

Can't see any reason to keep the card since I also have the AmexPlatinum card which gives me the superior PriorityPass card (which pretty much includes all the Diners lounges) and flight delay insurance.