Hi all - Hope you enjoy my reviews. I've been away from Ciao for almost 2 years, but now I'm back. F...
Hi all - Hope you enjoy my reviews. I've been away from Ciao for almost 2 years, but now I'm back. Feel free to message me should you need anymore info about anything i review or feel my reviews need something added. Happy Reading....
Member since:14.07.2007
Reviews:27
Members who trust:4
I opened up a citibank account because I shall be requiring the flexibility to tranfer funds easily between the UK and the US.
I now have the following accounts with citibank: Flexisaver Current Account US Dollar Saving account US Dollar currnet account
However, I experienced problems from day one of applying. Firstly I was informed that I could go to a Branch and open an account there. Although strictly true, the telephone operative who provided this information failed to mention that normally to see their personal bankers you require an appointment.
After making a special journey just to go to the bank and finidng this out, I ended up wasting approximately 3 hours waiting for a personal banker to become available.
Eventually once the account was open I received a call from the Personal Banker to say just this. I was provided with a sort code and account number so I could begin initiating the fund transfers to my new account.
Imagine my disbelief when these transfers were rejected and the funds had returned to their original account. Upon further investigation I discovered this was because before you can begin to fund your new citibank account you are supposed to contact them to activate it. Nowhere in the terms and conditions document for the account was this stated and I wasn't given this information by the personal banker who called me to inform me the account was open.
So now having lost a significant amount of money on interest whilst my funds were in transit, I proceed to activate my account. Your initial funding of the account, in order to activate it, can be done with a debit card. Unfortunately for me, the transaction failed due to the citibank computer system crashing. I was assured the transaction had failed and advised to call back later to try again. Upon my secong attempt later, the transaction was succesful.
Again, I found myself horrified as I discover that both transactions had been succesful in terms of funds being removed from my HSBC account, but only the second transaction being successful for these funds being credited to my new citibank account. They had effectively lost my first debitcard payment into the account !!
This problem took numerous days to resolve. The call centre staff were unable to advise on how to proceed. I got different and conflicting advise on the different occasions I called them.It was only after I got HSBC to begin a trace of the funds that the money eventually turned up in my citibank account. ( All these transfers were five figure amounts)
Not once did I get an apology and nobody even suggested compensating me for the interest lost. The call centre operatives have no authority whatsoever, and can only carry out basic transactions. I found them poorly trained and very prone to errors. I once asked for an exchange rate quote for sterling to dollars and was given the wrong information. When I queried it with the operative, he argued with me and refused to re-check it. It was only when I spoke to his supervisor that I got the correct information.
Their internet services are adequate for simple transactions. However, with telephone banking I would only advise using them for simple balance queries. if you want to do something slightly more complex I advise either popping in to a UK branch or speaking to a call centre supervisor to carry it out. Don't trust the regular call centre operatives.
If you've not got bored hearing my 'horror' stories. Only bank with citibank if you need the flexibility they can provide between the UK and the USA. Otherwise save yourself the nightmare.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Sounds like a force to be reckoned with, metaphorically speaking: not what you want when you need your money moved effortlessly and painlessly between UK and US accounts and thence between currencies... Surprising how few banks in the UK can deal efficiently and effectively with US$ transactions, too!
Jul 14th, 2007
very helpful by (67%):
helpful by (33%):
