Citi, Citi, Citi. Is there anything else to talk about? Airline Credit, 4th Night Free, HHonors issues have been topics filed under the category ‘complaining’.
A previous complaint and an ongoing joke with Citi is now being rectified. I know a few have already posted about this but I feel, given my struggles with the card, that I am entitled to say a few words about this latest development. Citi is updating the Citi Prestige and putting the magnetic strip on the back of the card where it rightfully belongs.
Someone in marketing probably thought they were clever by moving it to the front. This resulted in unnecessary awkwardness wherever I tried to use my card. At the grocery store, the cashier would swipe one way, swipe another way till I had to intervene and tell her the same line, “This card is stupid. The strip is on the front.” At restaurants, my card would be ‘declined’ because the server couldn’t get it to swipe. Even I had trouble at gas stations trying to orientate the card the right way before filling up.
Finally after reading my post Citi Prestige: Being Different Is Stupid, Citi has given up on its mission of revolutionizing the way that cards are swiped. It’s going back to the way things were: if you swipe it, it will charge.
I saw this problem in action this weekend where the cashier thought there was a problem with the card, but the customer swiped the card for her on the terminal.
While the design looks cool, if they made the stripe more prominent on the front there would be less problems. Previously they also put the stripe on the bottom of the back of the card, also trying to make their cards look cool, but I’m sure that too caused problems.
Stick to what works: Collecting my $ quickly.
Since you’ve got them listening to you now, maybe you could make some suggestions. How about a BRG in conjunction with a 4 night stay with the Prestige card?
Now you’re asking me to turn water into wine!
What’s the eta on the new card? About ready to cancel mine for this very reason…
I believe you can call in now and request that they overnight it.