Citi - the bank that never sleeps and does not allow others to sleep!
Want to hear a story? There is this card member stuck way down on a remote island called Guam who needs an urgent cash withdrawal at Kmart so he can go back to the Sheraton Hotel where he is staying, and no taxi company accepts credit cards. There was no money changer nearby to exchange Singapore dollars, and it was too late. He calls the hotline 65-62387777 using a KMART employee's phone, since roaming would be too expensive, and promises to pay back the cost once he is able to withdraw cash.
The person speaks to a Ms. Pamela at 9:20 Guam time, or 7:20 Singapore time, on January 30. A whole shebang of verification is done, and then he is kept on hold with no music or answers. Finally she comes back on the line after 10 minutes, and the person is expected to key in his own 6-digit PIN while she is in conference. That is what the person does, and again there is silence and music, and there we go all over again. Believe me, someone from Citibank should hear the transcript of this call. After 20 minutes the KMART employee asked for his phone back, and the person ended up with NADA!
That person then had to make a sincere request for assistance to a KMART employee, after a 3-hour wait for his break time, to drop him off at the Sheraton. At the end, with no money and 3 hours of embarrassment, and thinking of all the curses that person must have given to the company as a whole, it takes more than 20 minutes to set up anything for a customer. That person has decided never to use the Citibank card again. With all the accounts already set up, the NRE, NRO, SMRT and the corporate connection, it will take time for the divorce, but that person will surely spread that wonderful bedtime story of horror to all who will listen.
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