Do you remember that TV ad campaign by Citibank from the 1980’s? It would show a talking head against a black background talking about how wonderful their life turned out when they called Citibank Visa and got their credit limit increased or some other pleasant customer support experience? And it ended with the wonderful tag line, “Not just Visa. Citibank Visa.”
(The campaign was by Lowe & Partners/SMS.)
The ads were so successful, some fastfood chain (I forget who) mimicked the look and feel of the Citibank Visa commercials with great comic effect to sell chicken sandwiches or something.
When I was old enough to get solicited for a Citibank Visa, I applied and got one. I’ve been with them for more than a decade. And I still hear that gravelly voice in my head every time I pull this card out of my wallet. “Not just Visa. Citibank Visa.”
A few years ago, however, I saw a print ad in the newspaper for the Citi Dividend Card. With it I could earn 1% cash back for all purchases and 5% for purchases made at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations.
I wanted this. I called Citi and switched my regular platinum card to a platinum Dividend Card. Though I thought it strange that I learned about this product from an ad. As a longtime Citi customer, why didn’t they let me know about this with an insert in my credit card statement or a direct mailing?
Since I got the Citi Dividend Visa, I’ve used my Discover Card LESS frequently because Discover only gives 1% back after you reach a certain level.
Anyway, I got my latest Visa statement the other day and I had a late fee and finance charge. I called the 800 number and an exuberant, friendly young man on the other end removed these fees for me. (Yes, they do this for people who have a track record of paying on time.) Naturally, I was grateful.
Then the nice Citi customer service guy proceeded to tell me about a different Citi card that awards points for purchases ($1 = 1 point) and travel (3 miles = 1 point). He said I could apply for this no-annual-fee credit card after listening to him read four paragraphs of the terms and conditions over the phone to me. He reads. It’s loooong.
I was able to follow some, but I had questions. And I wanted to have the terms and conditions in front of me before making a decision. I told him so. He couldn’t do it. To make a long story short, I decided NOT to apply for the credit card.
The once-nice guy turned to ice on me. “I’m sorry I had to read all of that to you,” he said. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” He hung up without a goodbye.
I felt sorry for him and, to his credit, he kept his cool. More than cool he turned icy. But it’s not his fault.
1. Why does Citi turn its customer service folks into salespersons? Those are two different roles, two different skill sets.
2. I don’t like people selling me stuff over the phone. I just don’t. And what’s worse is that I initiated this call because I was a customer who needed something from them. I listened for as long as I did because of my experience learning about their Dividend Card through a newspaper ad.
3. Even if this was a simple credit card application, is it fair to read terms and conditions — aka legalese — over the phone? That stuff is already hard to take in on paper. You expect me to grasp it all with audio only?
4. I expected this to be simple customer service phone transaction. I didn’t expect nor desire sales tactics to be applied to me. I’m very willing to try and/or buy new products, but I have to be in the right frame of mind. I won’t be in that frame of mind when my objective is to save myself $70 in late fees and finance charges. And I already achieved that objective and wanted to go back to work.
I still have warm feelings for “Not just Visa. Citibank Visa.” I still love my Citi Dividend Card. But Citi has gone down a couple of notches in my eyes.
[Updated 9/26/2006 1:52 PM PST: I should've mentioned this before, but a few weeks ago I got a notice in snail mail from Citi saying that they're discontinuing the 5% cashback on the Dividend Card. They're changing it to 2% cashback and they added several services for which you can earn the dividend, e.g., paying your utilities bill.
This is not as useful to me, however. I liked getting 5% back each time I went to a gas station and used my Dividend Card. That's probably why they had to change their system.]
