March 2023 by Tom V.
I FEEL CHEATED!!! received an invitation to open a checking account which promised frequent flyer points as an incentive. There were hoops you had to go through such as bringing in your original SS card, and you had to deposit $30,000. Then you had to leave the money in for at least 3 months and use the account via check books or debit card . I honestly can't remember if it was made clear me that I had to use debit card , but I do remember being told that by writing checks ,it would be noted that I was utilizing the account, so that's what I did. After 4months , i didn't receive any miles, so I started inquiring . That when the "run around "also began. I went to the branch and sat with the person that opened the account . Together we called their "help" line . What an embarrassment . The help line guy was speaking non-stop gibberish! IE: the miles were in my account(wrong), the miles were on my credit card(wrong again, the don't put frequent flyer miles on credit cards!)This went on to the point where the Citi employee I was sitting with asked if we could speak to someone else and then in frustration , hung up on their fellow employee.So, the branch initiated an inquiry with the" back office" . That went on for5 WEEKS! Finally after all the hoops,hassles and BS, I was notified that because I hadn't used the debit card ,I didn't qualify for the miles!! Period! So after 5-6 months , after depositing $30,000, after writing numerous checks from the account,after searching for my original SS card, I received NOTHING! I was not offered a chance to fix anything, nobody thanked me for attempting to comply to thanked me for my business . Needless to say I closed the account.I've heard from several people that they also thought Citi was hard to deal with(employees at Costco) , and it is TRUE. Once again I feel CHEATED!!