The slightly infuriating process of signing up with Citi

  • Unreliable web forms. It took several attempts to apply.
  • Once I applied, I got a wall of nothing.
  • Turns out they wanted to snail mail me a verification code. Okay I guess?
  • Then I had to hand-type something like 16 digits to verify. Gosh, what a good opportunity for a QR code on the paper form.
  • Finally, they mailed me the card.
  • It took several attempts to activate.
  • It took about four tries to register for an account, because heaven forbid I be able to register an account to apply
    • you can’t use a password manager on mobile, at least to register
    • so I had to switch to a desktop
    • no proper MFA, only SMS or phone
  • My new account does not show up alongside another Citi account I have
  • The card itself is kinda crappy, and the activation sticker didn’t come off cleanly.
  • At no point in this process were the delays explained to me, or was I able to get ahold of a human to explain what was happening and why.

Why do I put myself through these things? This whole thing is a joke, Citi. Come on.

At the rate things are going, I’ll cancel it anyway because it didn’t get here in time to book the flight that I wanted, so I used a different card, and I don’t like cards with annual fees.

Edit: I closed the account before making a single charge on it. Simplification is bliss.