I received a promotional offer from Citi for a credit card with 25000 bonus miles (after spending $250) and a companion certificate. I signed up for this thinking I could use the companion ticket for my honeymoon tickets. After numerous calls to customer service, I finally got all my miles. The certificate... Well, I did eventually get it, but I was not able to use it.
I was approved for the card November 11th. The fee for the card was processed Dec 15th. The certificate was supposed to be mailed within 4-6 weeks (6-8, depending on who you talk to or which offer you reference). In January I called and was told it was 6-10 weeks from when the fee is processed, not from when you are approved for the account (different from what the offer said). In February I called again to check the status. I explained to the representative that I needed it to buy my honeymoon tickets to St Lucia. The lady guaranteed me I would have it in my hands by March 21st. I waited patiently, but I did not really believe it was coming.
The evening of March 21st I called back and told the rep I still did not have it. I was told they were done in batches and there had been a mistake on my batch, so they were all being redone. I again explained why I needed the ticket to buy honeymoon tickets to St Lucia, and that every day I waited the prices were going up. She said I would get it soon. By this point I had spoken to 6 different reps and 3 supervisors. I finally asked the supervisor who I could talk to in order to actually get answers, and I was put through to the office of the president. I spoke with a lady there, and she was sympathetic but was heading out for the day. She promised to review the case and call me back. I asked for her number so that if she forgot I could call her. She gave it to me. Several hours later she called me back and told me she would have the certificate overnighted to me. I did get it the next day.
When I saw the actual certificate, my heart sank. It was only good for domestic travel. I called Stacey at the office of the president and explained that this was not what was advertised. Nowhere in the literature did it state that it was good for domestic travel only. The way Stacey remedied this was to give me enough air miles to "buy" the ticket myself. She was the only helpful person in this whole process. It still cost me several hundred more dollars than it should have, with fees and having to wait so long to purchase the tickets. Citi showed no remorse and admitted no fault. Several reps were rude and abrasive. I have written to the complaints department several times and have not gotten a response.
There are enough consumers that we should be the ones dictating policy and how these companies do business. However, we allow ourselves to be pushed around, beaten down and cheated out of what we are owed until we have no more fight left. This is unacceptable.
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