This is a story about a person who wanted to make a payment on his Citibank MasterCard, this is a true story.
First, some history. A few years ago my fiancé and I were in the Sunvalley mall Concord California when we decided to get our rings. We went to Helzberg Diamonds and found a very nice set; we paid for them by signing up with a charge account. Everything was fine. I had the ability to pay in the store or online (I, like many of you, prefer to pay my bills online) all was great especially, the fact that we had rings now.
After about a year, I discovered that Citibank bought the credit portion of Helzberg. I already had a credit card with Citibank and didn’t really desire another one. To my dissatisfaction I was notified that I would not be able to make my payments at the local Helzberg store; it was a real convenience to have that option. I also found out later that I wasn’t able to make my payments at the Helzberg website either. My Helzberg account was converted over to a Citi-MasterCard. For almost two years I’ve been making payments through Citibank’s phone pay system , a service they charge for, because I feel that mailing the bill is unreliable. Every time I made a phone pay to them I asked when they would support this new City MasterCard online. I was told only that they were working on it. I quickly became discourage with this new account and near the end of 2005 I transferred the balance over to a BofA card with the full intention of canceling my Citi-MasterCard. Well, Christmas came and through lack of better judgment I used my Citi-MasterCard. So, now I’ve made two payments on it, Jan 06 and Feb 06 but for March I was worried that if I mailed in the payment I’d be late, and I didn’t want any late fees; I also didn’t want to be charged for a phone pay again. So I thought I’d make a payment in the bank. I know what you’re probably thinking “Why didn’t he just do this from the beginning?” Well, this is where the story gets really interesting.
I went to the bank on the 4th of March (a Saturday), the day my payment was due. My statement said to make the payment before 1pm of the due date. It was around 12pm. After trying to run my Citi-Master Card the teller said that she couldn’t accept my payment and that I’d need to come back on Monday when the credit office was open. I said if I don’t make a payment today I’ll get charged a late fee and I don’t want that. The teller told me they would wave the fee, so I said ok and left. I worked Monday, It’s now Tuesday. I went back into the bank hoping to get this fixed. I talked to the same teller who instructed me to wait for one of the bank managers to help fix my dilemma, so I waited. After a few moments the teller asked for my Citi-MasterCard to try and run it again, it didn’t go through. She then called someone on the phone to get help and they informed her that Citibank could not accept my Citi-MasterCard payment! I’d have to make a payment over the phone. I told them that this was absurd that a bank to whom I have a credit card with can’t take a payment for that credit card. They told me that they couldn’t do anything for me. Let me say that the people who know me know that I don’t really get upset nor do I usually raise my voice when angered but, these people made me hot! I find it outrages that the company that has their Logo on the card refused to accept a payment for that card. I walked away totally and absolutely dissatisfied with Citibank’s customer service.
When I got home I called the toll free number and got a rep, I apologized up front because I was very upset by what was transpiring and explained my situation to her. Her response was also less than satisfying. She informed me that the Citi-MasterCard that I held could only be paid one of two ways either through the mail or through phone pay, and also that my account was now late and that I would be charged a late fee which they could not remove. I tried to explain to her that it’s not my responsibility to try and make a distinction between Citibank and Citi-MasterCard, which has the Citi logo on the card by the way. She gave me the run around and told me that because the original account was a charge card that Citibank didn’t support it. At this point I really felt parts of my sanity leaving me, I kept thinking to myself, why is this happening to me, their trying to make me the one who’s at fault for this. I asked to speak to her supervisor. When she came on the line I again apologized for being upset and said that I know that this wasn’t her fault, I then explained the story again. She actually repeated what the first attendant said, that Citibank wouldn’t accept my account, that they couldn’t transfer my account into one that they could take unless I applied for a new credit card, that I was in default of payment and would be charged a late fee and if I wanted to make a phone pay it would be roughly $14 on top of the payment and late fee.
I don’t know what else to say except that I am absolutely mortified now. I can’t believe this happened to me. I asked at least remove the late payment fee, thinking that’s the very least they could do but she refused.
So as it stand now as of March 7, 2006 I’m late on this payment and will be charged a late fee, I can’t make a payment in an actual Citibank I can only mail in my bill or use phone pay which adds a phone pay service charge and I have no online support for this account.
