Gerald sent a message to W. Craig Jelinek – President and Chief Executive Officer of Costco Wholesale Corporation email address that said:
Dear Mr. Jelinek,
I have been a Costco member since the store in Bellingham, WA opened in the late 1980's as I recall. My wife and I have shopped their at least once a week and have been, until now, completely happy with the company.
However, with the move to the Citi Visa card a few days ago, I am actually thinking of dropping my membership. It seems the Costco Visa card isn't actually a part of the Citi Corporation system.
When I called Citi to arrange to have my Visa bill paid in full each month from my checking account (as I have always done in the past with the Amex card), I was told I had to call a different number as your card is handled by a different organization.
I called that number and was on hold for more than 45 minutes listening over and over to the recorded message about experiencing higher than usual call volume.
When I finally reached a live person, they told me they couldn't set the automatic payment plan up for me and offered to send me to a site on the computer to do this. Being 82, cranky after the long wait, I elected to have them mail me a form I could fill out and mail back to them to do this.
I guess this is an okay solution but I would like to be able to get online to my account but fear it isn't going to be possible.
Now I'm thinking that I might do better doing my shopping at a local grocery that is member owned and my other shopping online via Amazon, eBay and and companies that I can reach by typing in their name followed by dot com.
Expect you already are aware that your reputation for great customer service is hitting a new low with insufficient help at Citi card.
Although I don't expect this email will actually reach your desk, I do hope that it will be counted along with the others who are unhappy at this time.
Gerald
