This is from a friend of mine in Canada.  It seems that Bank of America
does not have a lock on incompetence.


The infinite wisdom of people at Citibank Mastercard ( Canada )

I had a charge appear on my statement about 3 months ago from a company in
Mexico. Since I have not been to Mexico in the last 15 years, nor have I
ordered anything from a Mexican company, I disputed the charge. The lady I
spoke to at the 800 number took all the info on the charge, said she would
open an investigation into the charge, and if it was indeed a fraudulent
chage, the amount would be reversed. She also advised that we cancel the
existing card and get a new one, as my numbermay have been scanned. I agreed
with her and promptly changed card numbers. Approximately 5 days later I
received a new card in the mail, welcoming me to Citibank Matercard, and
assigning me a limit higher than my previous one. On the card was a sticker
advising me to call another number and activate the new card. I called the
number, and was informed by the person at the other that the card was
already active as this was just a transfer of an existing account to a new
one. Fine, but why did they put the sticker on the card to activate
it,"Procedure" was the reply, as he also added" It is to hard to reprogram
the system for transfer cards to be automatically active". 

I should have been suspicious!!!!!!!

Two weeks later I receive my first invoice from the new account, Citibank
had credited the amount previously charged to my old account, but also
included a little over $7,000.00 worth of new charges from the same company.
Back on the phone to Citibank. I again lodged a dispute about the new
charges, and this time the people were not as pleasant. Was I positive I did
not order anything from Mexico, as this is the second time they would have
to credit my account. I just lost it with this person, and asked to speak to
a supervisor. Jennifer (supervisor) came on the line and asked if she could
help. I explained the situation (again) and she said she would look into it
and call me back! Four days later I received a call back explaining what had
happened. Remember the new active card I received in the mail, well it seems
that the card should not have been active after all. The Mexican company
called into Citibank around the time I changed numbers. They were inquiring
as to why the $7,000.00 would not go through on my account. Citibank was
quite helpful to this company. They explained that I had requested to have
my account number changed. The Mexican company then asked for the new
number, and Citibank, who is quite helpful gave them the new number, but
explained that the card was not yet active. The Mexican company replied by
asking to have the new card activated as they had $7,000.00 worth of charges
they needed to charge to my account. HELPFUL aren't they.

I am now the proud owner of a brand new VISA