CitiBank
Unrequested Rs. 1500 Gift Voucher Charged to Unused Card

In Sept Citibank sent me a 'lifetime free credit card'. Since I was already using an ICICI credit card without any problem, I never felt the need to use my Citibank credit card, and it was just lying around in my house.

Till one day I got a Rs. 1500/- Westside gift voucher from Citibank and a letter telling me that it would be charged to my credit card! Why? What?! I called Citibank immediately and told them that I had not ordered this and that they should take it back. They told me that I had to courier it back to them and that they are not responsible for any loss in the courier. On hearing that, I told them to close my credit card, since I had no use for it anyway, and to take back the Westside coupon they had forcefully sent to me and charged me for. Repeated calls to them were of no avail.

After a month, they sent me the bill with 1500 charged. I called them up again and repeated the same thing. They started saying that to close the card, I need to pay 1500. Why?! Now, after one year, they have levied a huge interest rate on this amount and I get monthly calls informing me to pay the bill. I need to repeat this entire story on the phone to their irritating customer care people, who keep repeating "yes madam, we understand madam, but you have to pay the basic amount to close the card, madam." I did not ask for some stupid coupon and I am not paying for something that Citibank has thrust on me.

I have an amazing credit history with other banks and I really fail to understand why Citibank is going all the way to spoil customer experience! If Citibank had been my first ever credit card, I would dread to use any credit card for life.

Company: CitiBank
Country: USA
Site: citi.com

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