You Did What?

I have had a Citi card since 1990, which I use extensively for business and personal expenses.  A $10 purchase was recently declined, even though I had significant available credit on the card.  Because I've been a customer for so long, my immediate assumption was that the card had been compromised, causing a fraud alert on the account.  I assumed that they were trying to protect Citi and me.

However, when I reached Citi customer service, I was notified that my entire account was frozen because of a large payment that I had made.  The payment was early, was for the entire statement balance (which is my standard way to manage the account), and had already cleared my bank.  They assumed that because of the size of the payment there might be a problem. Though I've been a customer for over 20 years, they made no attempt to contact me to inquire about the payment or to notify me that I had no access to my credit.  The customer service representative understood why I was upset, but indicated that this sometimes happens with large payments. When I asked to speak to a Citi manager, she agreed to free the available credit in excess of the recent payment, and indicated that it could be 14 days before the hold was released.  Only when I called Citi back, with my bank's customer service number and insisted that I be added into the conversation to verify that the payment had cleared my bank, was my access restored. 

I realize that mistakes can happen, but the series of mistakes is mind-boggling.  Had they immediately indicated that they had made a mistake, I wouldn't be writing about this.  Like many, I'm quick to forgive when a sincere apology is made.

Customer Dis-Service

I received a message from a friendly UPS associate telling me that I could come to the Stafford, TX site at 6:30 to pick up my package. If it hadn't been time-sensitive (Edgar's birthday present) I would have waited for them to deliver on Monday.

I'm the eternal optimist, but I got my first clue that things were not good when I saw the haphazard line and spotted a note posted on the wall that read, "your expected wait may be from 5 minutes to 1 hour". My first thought was, "impossible". How long could it take to retrieve a package?

As I waited to be helped I listened to a man who had driven 70 miles in Friday evening traffic to claim his package. He left empty handed after a very long wait.

When it was finally my turn, I was told that my driver would not be back until 7:30. Frustrated and disappointed, I thought, "oh well I'll grab the package and still be home in time for a family dinner at 8:00".

The facility was understaffed. I'm not making a judgement call - I'm repeating what they told the many waiting customers.

I finally left with present in hand at 8:15 - the last customer waiting, as the center closed for the weekend.