Think of all the institutions you depend on every day. The post office, the electric company, your internet provider, the gas station., etc. But if there is one institution that you just simply trust to hold itself tor a high standard of competence, it's your bank. After all, you're loaning them your money, and you're counting on them to give it back to you when you need it. And most of the time, you're paying them monthly fees above and beyond that loan for services such as checking accounts, access to ATMs, online billing. So the bank is one place you rely on to consistently get things right every time.
Unless, of course, you're a Citibank customer.
Citibank already had two strikes against it regarding their checking accounts. But what they did today raises the bar for a level of incompetence.
First, they have a very low per-day limit on how much you can take out of your checking account via your debit/credit card. According to them this is for "security" purposes. But, unlike every other bank, you can't call their customer service (more on that later) and ask them to override it for a particular transaction. This bit me, hard, when trying to buy a car.
Second, Citibank takes advantage of a week-long float on all checks deposited, even intra-institutional transfers. They'll trickle money into the checking account, even days after the deposit check has cleared from the other bank. In other words, Citibank has your money and can spent it, but you don't get access to it for a week. In an electronic era where these things can be verified instantaneously, this is just blatantly ripping the customer off. I'm a little surprised it's even legal.
But today Citibank sunk to a new low of gross negligence and incompetence for me, and as a result, lost both a customer and a lot of goodwill.
It must have started a few weeks ago when I stopped by the Palo Alto branch of Citibank to deposit a check. While there, I mentioned to the teller that I was having intermittent problems with the magnetic strip on my card, and it occasionally wouldn't work in card readers. She said "oh, no problem, I'll just have them send you a replacement card." And that was the last I thought about that. Until today, when I tried logging in to their web site to pay some bills.
One way or another, I pay all of my bills online. I pay some of them, such as my cell phone bill, by going to the recipient's website and entering in my debit card number each month. Others, such as my hosting company or DSL provider, are charged automatically to that debit card. And for the rest, I use Citibank's online bill-pay, which either mails paper checks (such as for my rent), or, if arrangements have been made with recipient, transfers funds electronically (such as for my car loan).
Pretty convenient. When it works. When they don't cancel your card. And fail to send you a replacement.
After logging in to the Citibank website today, I was greeted with a message that said "my account information was unavailable, click here to see why." Which led me to "you are seeing this message because you have been sent a new card, please enter the new card number to continue."
But I didn't have a new card. At least, not yet. So I called their customer support to see what I could do about it.
As it turns out, Citibank put a new card in the mail yesterday. And canceled the old one at the same time. Not just the card -- the card number as well.
While it's ridiculous that one would cancel a card number simply because the magnetic strip on one particular card is worn out, we can chalk that up to human error and a honest (if pretty naive) mistake.
But why on earth would they cancel the old card the same day as putting the new one in the mail? Without a valid card, you can't:
- Get cash from an ATM
- Use their website to check your balances.
- Use their website to pay bills.
- Transfer funds between accounts.
- Buy things at a store or on a website via your debit or linked credit card.
- Basically, access the money in your account.
And perhaps worst of all, all automatic payments scheduled against your old card number will be declined, risking having your accounts found delinquent and services canceled. There's even the potential that your credit rating could be hit for failing to pay your bills.
When I talked their customer service, they immediately admitted to being at fault and that I had done nothing wrong. But the customer service agents I spoke with were in India, and said they couldn't do anything about it, but "understood the inconvenience." And the best they could suggest was going to a branch this weekend to get some cash, as the card wasn't going to arrive until maybe the 16th.
Sorry, it's a little more than an inconvenience. It's an absolutely horrible way to treat your customers. And it is a very good reason to find another bank.
Citibank's mistake is going to cost me money, time, and cause a fair bit of stress. I suppose it's going to cost them a customer.
If you have any suggestions on a good bank in the Bay Area, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll be spare-changing with the rest of the kids in my neighborhood, and hoping that my cell phone doesn't get canceled and my car repossessed.