CitiBank's Blunders

Luckily, because of my job working for the business sector of CNN, I realize a lot of things happening that I did not know. For example, because of a new law passed by Bush, interest rates for college loans will go up nearly 2% at the end of the month. So if I do not want to spend an extra couple thousand dollars in the next 10-15 years, I will simply have to make a phone call and them to do this thing called "consolidate." That is not what this post is about. But it is the background for me making a call to Citibank and consolidate by 5-figure loan balance.

Call 1

Sam answers the phone. He asks for my telephone number and my name to pull up the records. He pulls it up. And as he is asking me for other questions, I say I need to ask him a few questions regarding the rules of loan consolidation. They are actually rather simple, basic questions that I was double-checking on, but after each time I asked it, there would be silence on the other end. And I would say, Hello? He would say, Yes I'm here. And I would repeat my question, and silence again. Then, after the fourth team, he will say, Let me check with my boss. I asked him three questions. That happened three times and lasted 20 minutes. I hung up on him.

Call 2

Ronald answers the phone. Much nicer guy and seemed to actually know what he was talking about. He began to ask me for my telephone number and my name to pull up the records as I think to myself that the hang up and redial strategy was amazing. He puts me on hold. I ask him, Are you there? And he comes back and says, Yes, but we are having technical difficulties. One second, please. I wait on hold for 10 minutes. He hangs up on me.

Call 3

Marie answers the phone and she is another jovial operator. I tell her the situation and she begins to do the same method. She says, Hmm, that's never happened before. I'm having technical difficulties. I say to myself, Not again! She tells me, happily, that she is clearing it up. So as we wait, she jokes around with me to relieve the stress I have after the previous 2 phone calls. I even have time to ask her the preliminary questions I had for the first operator, and she answers them very well. One part of the computer system begins working and she sees my name - Yih-Kang Lee. She says, Hmmm that is interesting. Could you confirm your name for me? I say, Yih-Kang Lee. And then she says, Oh Good!! I thought you gave me the wrong social security number. I was thinking to myself, he speaks great English. He cannot be Yih-Kang Lee. I think to myself, You fucking bitch, but I act nice. She then tells me that she is continuing to have technical difficulties and I should hangup and call again. Biting my teeth after her racist comment, I do so.

Call 4

Ronda answers the phone and she does not sound happy at all, but neither does she sound angry or sad. She was more like a robot. But in literally 118 seconds (I counted because if it took more than 10 minutes, I was going to complain to the head of CitiBank), I was done.