CitiBank or ShittyBank? 3/14/08: Heard about offer for 2 airline tickets for opening $1,000 checking and $25,000 savings accounts for 3 months. Phoned local branch and was told that unless I had an invitation by U.S. mail, they could not help me. Went to citibank.com website, saw same offer and 866-899-3342. Phoned and spoke to Jesse in India. I was told that I could fund accounts online as soon as I received Welcome kit. Jesse opened 4 accounts instead of 2 which is where nightmare began.
3/20/08 received Welcome Kit by U.S. mail. Booklet listed 2 accounts. Tried to set-up online account. Not possible without PIN numbers which arrive separately by U.S. Mail. Drove to local branch and deposited $26,000 in cashiers checks. Teller verified them so I could have immediate access to funds. While at local branch someone from India left me a phone message saying to callback 800-745-1534 but did not say why and he left a reference number that was impossible to comprehend due to his poor English.
3/21/08. PIN numbers arrived. Tried to setup online accounts to no avail. Called Customer Service 800-321-2484 (CITI). Spoke to Lisette who told me that the 2 account numbers I gave her were wrong. Hung up and phoned again. Spoke to Emilio. After a brief debate, he said there were 4 accounts and he would fix the errors so PIN numbers matched up to correct 2 accounts. He helped me log into online account and I saw the $1,000 in checking and $25,000 in savings account.
3/23/08. Logged into citibankonline.com and savings account showed $0 instead of $25,000. Made 2 more phone calls. With each call I was given a different story when I explained all the aforementioned. When I asked to speak with a manager, I was told that callback would take 2 to 3 days. Was given automated phone number 866-606-4983 that would supposedly remove security block on savings account. It would not accept my account numbers. Made another call to 800-745-1534 and asked Kumal in India to connect me to a supervisor in United States. Spoke to Mayra who said she could phone me back and that call would remove the block on account. Mayra said it would still take 2 to 3 days before I would see the $25,000 in my savings account online.
Bottom Line: By the time all the Citibank mistakes have been corrected, 2 weeks will have passed and I wasted nearly 3 hours by phone in the process of simply opening a checking and savings account at CitiBank.
