ryannel

When I cancelled, I was also offered a paltry amount of points. I too had cashed out my DC points and had a zero balance on the account (excepting the annual fee). I had shifted most of my spending already to AMEX anyway, so if they looked at my Citi AA card, it wouldn't have shown how much I was spending and, perhaps, a better reason for them to keep me.

Kixo

After reading this thread, I had some trepidation about calling DC and asking for a retention bonus. In fact I put it off for a few months as the annual charge was back in October.

What's more, I have a Carte Blanche card, so my annual fee is $300, not $95, and I have never heard any reports on this forum of any retention bonus for CB holders.

I figured I would just call and ask them to cancel and hope they would refund at least a portion of my annual fee. I had even reduced my spend on the card to near zero in the last month.

Anyway, I called the other day to dispute a charge -- couldn't be easier -- and then asked to be transferred to Retention.

I was connected to a very pleasant rep, who listened carefully when I pointed out:

- Although I pay for a CB card, I really don't use its uplevel features of golf course access and concierge service.

- I would like to downgrade my card to a regular DC, but to do so requires I CANCEL the CB card and completely re-apply for the DC card. A big pain.

- I have witnessed the reduction in benefits, two of which have been particularly inconvenient: the loss of the 60-day billing cycle, and the loss of UA as a Rewards partner. Had they kept the 60-day cycle, I would be charging corporate expenses, which on my corp Amex card, often reaches $15-20,000 a month. (Both corp Amex and Diners Club cards have 60-day or so payment cycles.)

While he was listening it was obvious he was reviewing my account history and spend.

He then thanked me for being a DC customer for 10 years, and said he would waive the entire $300 as a token of appreciation of my business.

He and I chatted a bit more about my opinion that Citicorp has missed a great opportunity with DC and the MasterCard lockup, and some of the things they could do to truly differentiate DC in the market. He was very knowledgeable about the product, and while he never criticized Citicorp or the DC product, he was certainly empathetic. It was obvious he had heard similar concerns from other customers.

So, I am a (semi-satisfied) DC customer for another year. Their customer service remains superior and accessible. I just wish their management would be more enlightened, and make changes to the card that could make it the #1 card for business travelers.

DataPlumber

I had a similar experience to what you encountered. I was quote happy that I was only on the phone for about 2 minutes.

ddutil

I just called and whined about the $95. I spend about $3 -4,000 per month. They waived the fee but did not offer me a choice of anything else. I made about $800 per hour based on how long it took, so that seems decent.

wahoohfd

I just called the Retention Dept., and when I asked for a retention bonus, they said they had nothing to offer. I charge about $2,500 -- $3,000 per month. But they did say I could call back later. Seems like they don't value my membership.

TAHKUCT

You can try again with a different rep.

Flying Dutchman

Please let us know how your follow-up call goes.

I'm planning on calling myself after this month's statement is issued, and am curious what to expect.

The posts here make it sound like the retention offers are arbitrary, which seems odd. Surely annual spending levels have something to do with it??

FSU

Called today as my $95 annual charge just appeared. I asked Customer Service if they were offering any bonus to renew and was told no. I then asked for the Retention Department and the Rep from Customer Service said she needed to hear that specifically to check for another offer. I was put on hold and she came back again and said she could not offer me anything. I then said "I guess I will have to cancel" she said "So you want to cancel your card unless you receive some type of bonus." When I replied yes, she said she needed to hear those exact words and was than able to transfer me to another Rep who offered me 2,500 points. (I use the card very infrequently, probably about $2000 last year.) I accepted.

ohmark

Just offered 10,000 points over five months or waiving the annual fee. Took the points.

FSU

Much better deal than they offered me. Do you use the card a lot?

ohmark

I use the card a fair amount. The bonus is down from the 20,000 points they offered me last year.

GregL

I made my annual call to the retention department this week.

Offered 10k points over 5 months or 7.5k points now.

I took the 10k points without a second thought.

Took all of about five minutes. Makes a nice dent in the $95 annual fee.

Greg

canuck_in_pa

I made the call this morning since I was about to get billed the annual fee.

First time I got a message that estimated wait time was 75 seconds and that they appreciate the rep trying to keep diners club customers. After about 90 seconds it said that I could go ahead and proceed with the regular account closing procedure. Obviously meant for a Citi rep.

I called back an hour later. I was offered 2.5K points. No way they would waive the annual fee like last year. The rep said it's all based on usage history.

This year I was using DC strictly to pay for rental cars (about $400-800/month, a little less than the previous year). Now that I switched my Citi Chairman from MasterCard to Amex I was looking to use the DC for non-Amex purchases.

I didn't take the offer, asked the rep to close the account, then applied online for a Citi AA MC card 2 minutes later.

The rep says the DC info will stay there for 12 months if I decide to re-open it.

yanxfann

Before Aug 2005 when the OP posted the dedicated Retention phone # every year at my annual fee time I called the normal DC phone # and acted like I was going to cancel my card if they didn't throw me a bone. No more need for that. Today I called and asked if they had any retention offers for me, I was promptly given three choices: a refund of the $95 annual fee, or a flat one-time 7500 points, or 2K points/month for 5 months. A pleasant two minute phone call that will net me 10K points.

Schutzee

I recently had a bad experience with a dispute with DC and was considering cancelling as they were totally useless. When I got my renewal fee on my bill, I called the retention number and was immediately offered a $95. credit or 10,000 points over five months. I took the credit.