I switched in February from a Bank of America Visa card to a Citi MasterCard, so I could transfer my high balance to a 0% interest account. I have had more contact with Citi customer service in the past 3 months than I did with BoA Visa over the course of 2 years.

When you call to activate your card, you can't just punch in your numbers and be on your way - you get transferred to a person who asks you about additional options. Unfortunately for me, the customer service rep I spoke with had a VERY thick Indian accent. He was quite friendly and tried his best to repeat things so I could understand (I was having him repeat pretty much every sentence twice...kudos to him for being patient with me!) but it was to no avail. Finally I just started guessing as to whether or not I should be answering "yes" or "no" just so I could get off the phone.

I called back a few days later to make sure I hadn't opted to give away my first born child or anything. I still got a customer service rep that had an Indian accent, but he was much easier to understand, and still friendly. One of the services I had apparently not opted out of was CreditNotify. I asked for the service to be canceled. Or at least I thought I had.

Earlier this month (April) I was checking my account online and had noticed that I'd been charged in March and April for CreditNotify services. I was pretty upset. Since I was at work, I emailed Citi Customer Service via the Contact Us options in my account. Supposedly you're supposed to get a reply within 4 hours. It's been about two weeks, and I have yet to hear from Citi.

After one day, I decided I would have to get a hold of CreditNotify. I went to look for their number, and came across all the horror stories that others had encountered when calling their customer service line. I was not looking forward to the phone call. However, I must say that my overall experience was pleasant - I reached someone who spoke perfect English (I don't know if they're farmed out too or not) and she was very friendly and even joked around with me. Yes, I will admit that she tried to convince me to keep the service. Something that people who complain about that need to understand is this: for the most part, these people are reading from a script and/or are prompted by the computer as to what to say when you say "no". At the end of the day, they are just trying to do their job. If you continue to be polite yet firm, they will help you. At any rate, I was only on the phone for 6 minutes (many complaints listed 30-45 minute phone calls) and didn't feel a need to tear any of my hair out. Granted, it is too early to tell if the service is actually canceled, but I'm confident that it has been.

My other complaint about Citi MasterCard is their apparent lack of security. One of the things they do, which at least in theory is a good idea, is any document that they mail to you also gets PDF-ed and "mailed" to you in your Document Center so you also have an online copy. Not long after I signed up for my card (literally, two weeks, tops) I went into my account online and was told I had a new document in my Document Center. I clicked on the link, started to read the document...and realized it wasn't mine. They had PDF-ed someone else's letter and sent it to me. It had their name, address, and account number on it. I'm not the kind of person who would do anything with all that information, but I was freaked out that my information had gone to someone who would. So I called customer service. I went through about 3 different reps, all with Indian accents, before they said they would fix the problem. It took over a month for them to send me a letter (via "snail mail") to tell me about the security screw-up and to give me the option to get a new card. I call that very poor response time.

Overall, I'm mostly regretting getting a Citi card. If I could do it over again, I would have signed up for American Express or something. This many issues in this amount of time is ridiculous to me. So, if you're looking for a new credit card, please beware! And make sure you opt out of CreditNotify immediately - you really don't need it.