Iam amazed at the extent to which Citibank would lure a customer to spend on their card & what tricks they will go to achieve their goal.
During OCT-DEC 05 they offered a free return ticket to card holder upon spending
Rs30000/ during the period. I fell a victim to this scheme & got a form to fill up with
3 optional dates & places for travel from Bangalore. In fine print it was said that this offer was by some other agency & not connected with Citibank There were many rules & regulations & fine print.
Anyhow, yesterday I got a call that my form has been processed & I cannot go to two of my prefered destinations as there were no seats available. Instead they offered me their choice of dates to travel & return. The return dates were nearly 1 week later. I tried various other options but none suited me. Since this was a free ticket I wanted a short holiday with my wife for 2-3 days( Wife’s ticket at extra cost). They wanted me to be away for 1 week on dates convenient to them. Finally, I said just give me one 1 way ticket to Mumbai & I will fly back at my cost. Can you believe they said you cannot get a 1 way ticket & that I must travel only on dates specified by them & return at their convenience & not mine !!!! What a sham & fraud!!
Obviously I had to refuse the offer as none of the combination dates suited me.
Iam sure no one can take such a long trip to someone elses convenience unless he is retired or unemployed. It appears they intentionally make it inconvenient so that
people like me will decline the offer & they dont have to shell out for the tickets.
As an afterthought, it does appear a too good an offer, giving an expensive return ticket which cost minimum Rs 10000/ for lowest sectors, for a spend of Rs 30000/-
I was a fool & Iam sure many more will get the same offer to refuse.
Citibank must have made a pact with tis sham outfit to sell database thru the forms we fill up without actually giving the same directly.
Citibank & other credit card companies milk Indians @ 36% interest when across the world its only 11-13% annual percentage interest (APR).
Unfortunately travelling executives like me have to have at least 2 credit cards for travel safety & to avoid carrying cash. My other card is SBI which is much more safe to use. Its a no gimmick no fine print card. Unfortunately , its public sector card & not customer friendly & limits are low.
I now use Citibank card only if its absolutely necessary.