FAO: 'LifeIS'

Hi

If it is any help - you are not going to get anywhere with that silver citibank card (it is meaningless as far as I have been able to work out!)

Go through your e-mails (maybe it's in your spam folder) and look at the first e-mail you ever received from Citibank. I think you will find that your account number is buried in the middle of that! That's where mine was. For your own bank to understand this number, you need to knock off the zeros, as they will be looking for an 8 digit number (Barclays kept saying that this was not an account number until they ignored the zeros and were left with a more recognisable 8 digit number).

I hope this helps.

It sounds like you had a bigger nightmare than me! Anyway I cut up my Citibank savings card and I have now put my savings in Alliance & Leicester (not as good a rate but I have got my current account with them so hassle free - for now!)

Good luck

Lighty

Unfortunatley it seems you have experinced some issues, However I also via this site selected Citi Bank Savings 3 weeks ago, On Monday of this week my savings card and Pin (e-Pin required) information all arrived.

I was able to set-up my account on-line (please note your account number is obtained after setting up your online account) and Monday made an intial transfer of £200 from Lloyds to Citi Bank to confirm correct setup, and this afternoon I was able to confirm the amount was in my Citi account.

The system works, but is more detailed in the setup of most online banks.

Hi Roy

Sounds like you did okay.

I had no problems actually getting an account number (pls see my post to the person who had trouble finding theirs), in fact I was pretty impressed with that aspect of things. Once I'd registered online (easy peasy), the welcome e-mail, account number and passwords came through with no problems. The main issue with the account number was Barclays not recognising it as an account number, as there are unnecessary zeros at the start, making it more than the usual 8 digit one.

I am interested in how you made this initial £200 transfer. It sounds to me like you did what I did and resorted to sending Citibank the money from your usual bank, rather than the other way round. It is the fact that (contrary to their instructions on the letter) Citibank would not accept payment into the account via any UK debit card, as they clearly advertised!

Let's hope things will be straightforward from now on!

I am interested in how you made this initial £200 transfer.

Yes made transfer from Lloyds to Citibank.

roy1970:

I am interested in how you made this initial £200 transfer.

Yes made transfer from Lloyds to Citibank.

I am an experienced investor of over 40 years and I have never ever had so much trouble in opening an account than that I had with citibank. I opened an account earlier this year and passed all secutiry to access the account online. However, owing to the problems of activating the account, the time they took to answer the telephone (11 attempts) and my inability to understand the lady who eventually answered who had a strong Indian Accent (she was actually speaking from Bombay where Citibank Customer relations is based) resulted in my closing the account without any cedits having been made.

I then opened an account ion 8 October 2009 and sent a cheque in excess of £31,000 but as at 30 October 2009 (22 days later) my account has not been activated (when I thgoight it had after a 35 minute phone call with their call centre) and my cheque has not been credited and Citibank, whilst their online messaging states a response will be received in one working day, have only briefly and inadequatelt responded to three of my messages, depsite my having sent 14 secure messages and two letters. I have now requested the FOS to inquire about my cheque as I am extremely worried.

The account administration of Citibank is absolutely appalling and completely unacceptable.

Hi John

This is appalling! Poor you. What a worry as you say. I am double checking absolutely everything that goes on now that my account is up and running, as I do not trust Citibank one inch! I hope your cheque finally clears and appears in your opening balance.

After eventually opening my account (by going to Barclays and transferring the large sum of money), it appeared okay within about 24 hrs.

Today I tried to transfer an additional few thousand pounds, thinking it would be much easier now that the account is up and running. Wrong! I had so much trouble trying to make a simple transaction online, that I once again had to do it from the Barclays end.

It seems to me that transferring money OUT of your Citibank is simple enough (I could see the option to pay INTO my Barclays account), but that paying INTO it is another matter.

Don't these people want our money?!!!

Once there is a choice in the matter (i.e. other banks/building societies offer decent competitive rates) Citibank won't see their customers for dust. I imagine they will also soon be appearing on 'Watchdog' if they don't watch out!

Good luck.

Hi Goonerous,

Thanks for your response, I do hope you have a bit more luch and efficiency than I am having. Actually, the position was worse than indicated, as I indicated account applied for online on 8 October 2009 whereas when I checked, it was actually 22 September 2009, so Citibank have failed to activate my account now, fopr a period of nearly six weeks and failed to credit my account with the high value cheque I sent for over three weeks. It makes one wonder what the FSA and FOS are doing about the appalling and numerous incidents of unaceptable service by these large multi-national banks. I tghought my experiences were almost unique until I looked at some forums and observed the large quanitity of complaints aimed directly at Citibank. I really do not understand how Citibank can get away with this - remember, for everyone who takes the time and has the opportunity and motive to post a message online, there must be another 40/50 customers suffering unaceptable service that have not posted any message. The fact that Citibank simply do not respond to written communications, especially urgent and serious ones, is inexcusable and the Refgulatord must step in.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to respond.

JohnA

After thinking and doubting whether to risk and put my savings into Citibank, I decided to go ahead and put my money in. Transfers from my current account does not take long- 2-3 days usually. At the moment I have all my savings there, as long as I dont need to touch it, or move it, I will be ok, but dreading to call them.

If I decide to transfer money, someone said it was easy by doing 5k at a atime- has anyone tried moving /or closing the citibank acc? and how easy it is?

I opened a Citibank flexible saver account a couple of weeks ago and still have not managed to pay anything into it.

The card and PINs arrived after a few days and activation was OK but I then tried to use the "pay in at a Lloyds TSB branch" facility that was described on the website.

I bank with Barclays and I refuse to sign up for their ridiculous PIN Sentry gadget so I can't set up any new transfers online from my Barclays account, so paying by cheque at a Lloyds branch sounded quite convenient. I want to transfer in a large amount and doing it in small chunks from Barclays Telephone Banking isn't ideal when I could do it all in one go with a cheque. Sadly they were unable to recognise the (8 digit) account number at the two branches I tried. At one branch they just looked at me all confused and said they new nothing about the Citibank paying in facility. The other branch at least had heard of the idea but couldn't do it because the account number didn't work on their system.

I sent a total of 5 online messages to Citibank requesting clarification of whether or how this is supposed to work. The closest I got to an answer was that "we can supply you with paying in slips and envelopes". Hmmm... seems they didn't understand the question. I tried their phone service and the chap went away for several minutes to check and eventually admitted that the Lloyds facility works for any other kind of Citibank account but not Flexible Saver. He said you have to pay in by post.

So, this morning's experiment is to use Barclays telephone banking to make a small test transfer. At least the lady there was English and understood what I was trying to do. She even checked that the target account number exists, so we'll see what happens.

Not a great start!

I have given up trying tp phone Citibank - I either have to wait for anything up to over one hour, or am connected to a ladt with a strong indian accent that I have diffculty understanding. What really is unaceptable however is their rpeated refusal to acknowledge or respond to written communications. I have sufferted appalling in respect of try to 'activate' my account and in having a large value cheque sent on 8 October 2009 credited to my account - still ky credited as at 2 November 2009 - 24 days later !

I have sent three e-mails, none secure messages and two letters in the last 2/4 weeks - how many responses have I received from Citibank - Yes, thats right - none - a big fat zero. What an appalling service.

John A

Hi Simon

Oh dear, I recognise those issues! I had the same.

First of all, you were along the right lines with trying to pay in at Barclays, but if you read my posts above you'll see that they don't recognise Citibank's account numbers, as they have more than 8 digits. If you knock off the zeros you should be left with an 8 digit number. (NB your account number is not the one on the silver card).

I know what you mean about the Pin Sentry thing. If you don't have one, you can only transfer £5k at a time using Barclays telephone banking. I had to go into the branch, as I wanted to pay in a very large sum. Whilst there, I saw the assistant using the Pin Sentry gadget and said "okay, I'll have one of those please!" Actually it has been very simple to use - it arrived quickly with good instructions. I can now add additional payees which is a benefit (as you have identified). I felt that with Citibank being so non user friendly, this might prove important for the future - the more I can organise from the Barclays current account end the better as far as I'm concerned. So do think about getting the gadget - it is no bigger than a little calculator and could be very handy!

Hey, why aren't Citibank paying me for this customer service advice?

Good luck all.

Hi John

I cannot BELIEVE that cheque is still 'missing'!!! Are you going to cancel it? Citibank are unbelievable.

Hi Goonerous,

(We must stop meeting like this - joke ! ) Forgive my many mistakes - new to this forum business but was so angry at Citibank, felt I had to do something - some of these banks are literally getting away with ongoing unaceptable service. Yes, the high value cheque was actually credited today (02/11/09) 24 days arter sending this - almost £85 lost in interest at citibanks current rate. Now chasing them for lost interest. Incredibly, Citibank simply do not answer written communications - Following sending 3 e-maiils, nine secure messages (1/2 per day) and two letters, I received zero response. Actually got a secure message today (02/11/09) briefly stating they have passed my complaint to another department, Still unsure if account activated though - I thought it has ben after a 40 minute frustraing call from their India call centre -but it had not. Then got a relative to ring as I cannot use telephone very well owing to a disability and followed their instructions - but still no confirmation of account activation. Also sent a R85 form for receipt of tax free interest 4 weeks ago and still no confirmation this has ben registered or any acknowledgement whatsoever. I simply do not know what is going on at Citibank. What a shambles !

I too waited ages for a reply as did my wife to open our joint account with citi bank,at least 35 minutes,then I discovered that the passwords did not operate the account,on phoning back,after a long wait I was told that the passwords would have to be re-issued as it appearred that there was an administrative error.I told the operator,who had as much difficulty understanding me as I had understanding him, that I wanted eo close the account due to a terrible customer service .He then gave me a different number to phone.Since I had not as yet made a deposit I have just left the paper work to languish in a drawer.The service is terrible and for the sake of a couple of decimal points in interest not worth the hassle.I ahve anaccount with Birmingham Midshires pating 3.15% with NO PROBLEMS activating it by phone and no penalties for withdrawals and an internet account with Egg that is becoming a nightmare due to EGG constantly making unauthorised transfers to my linked account.I really wonder about those who get into the best buy tables only to provide a 3rd rate service.