Costco AMEX Replacement Card

[audreyh1]

Never bought gas at Costco with my AMEX card but my friend use to use her AMEX card and had to punch in a PIN #. What do you do now with the Citi Visa card, just swipe and start filling?

We never had that happen with any Amex at Costco gas.

We tested our PenFed VISA at the Costco pumps this week, and DH had to swipe the Citi card first to prove membership. I think we'll just stick with the Citi card at the pump in the future and not try to eek out that extra 1%.

 

[Another Reader]

If she was not in her home area, she probably had to enter her zip code. Helps prevent fraud at gas stations.

 

[audreyh1]

Per my 6/2 letter from Fido announcing the new Elan Visa, the existing Amex will "stop working" on 7/22.

That's what I'm expecting and I've a few places to update. But I haven't gotten my new Fidelity VISA yet.

 

[audreyh1]

If she was not in her home area, she probably had to enter her zip code. Helps prevent fraud at gas stations.

That could be it.

 

[kaneohe]

...................
We tested our PenFed VISA at the Costco pumps this week, and DH had to swipe the Citi card first to prove membership. I think we'll just stick with the Citi card at the pump in the future and not try to eek out that extra 1%.

I was wondering if the PenFed VISA would work there so thanks for that data point. In my case the 5 pts is actually worth a lot worse...maybe only 4.25% so I'm not going to lose much so not going to eke it out (no mice around either).

 

[audreyh1]

I was wondering if the PenFed VISA would work there so thanks for that data point. In my case the 5 pts is actually worth a lot worse...maybe only 4.25% so I'm not going to lose much so not going to eke it out (no mice around either).

We only needed a quarter tank, so I thought it was a worthwhile test, and I'll let you know. I've read it gives 5% at SAMs club, and there is no language restricting warehouse clubs in the PenFed documentation, like for some other cards.

We'll see.

 

[splitwdw]

If she was not in her home area, she probably had to enter her zip code. Helps prevent fraud at gas stations.

No it was definitely a PIN because she had to look it up. Wonder if it was a Costco PIN and not AMEX.
I've had to enter my zip code at certain gas stations just a few miles from my house but not all.

 

[TrvlBug]

I just used my replacement Visa card for the first time at the grocery store. It asked for a pin. When I told the cashier this was a cc not a debit card, she said just press the green key and all is well. Curious if it will happen again elsewhere. I'll be going to Costco tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

 

[audreyh1]

I had no problem using it at Costco or at a restaurant.

 

[TrvlBug]

Used the cc at 3 places today including Costco, all w/o problems.

 

[cathy63]

Just got an email from bayareafastrak.com telling me that my Amex had been declined. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge last Saturday, when Amex was still active, but apparently they didn't attempt to put the toll charge through until today. Hopefully they will reprocess it now that I've updated the online payment method instead of sending a violation notice. (We have a license plate account rather than an actual fastrak transponder since we are typically only in the Bay Area once or twice a year and the other bridges still take cash.)

That also reminded me to update the payment method on thetollroads.com.

I have a feeling that there will be a few other rarely used auto-payments out there that I didn't find when I looked through past Amex transactions for things to update.

 

[Ronnieboy]

I haven't had any problems with mine either, just following the instructions that were provided and viola, it works and I have access to the online account at citi.com.

This could be its own thread, but I clicked on one of the yahoo articles about Costco's Visa switch and how angry members are!! There was another link to Costco's home page on Facebook and the hundreds of comments on there from people are almost comical. I can definitely understand how frustrating it is to call someplace and be on hold for hour(s) then get disconnected, but really? Why didn't anyone plan ahead? I guess I have too much faith or belief in the common sense of the general public or maybe a step up from the general public if they are Costco members.

If I hadn't received my personal or business cards by the activation date of the 20th, I would have purchased AT LEAST a week or two of items that I needed so I wouldn't have to worry about any issues in the first few days of the switch over. What do people expect with a change of 11+million cards? Everything would go smoothly and there would not be any issues? Heck I even stopped using my AMEX on the 18th so I could have a clear stop and start date between AMEX and Citi. And if I just had to go to Costco for something on Monday or later, I would have brought one of my other Visa cards or my debit, or cash or heaven forbid, a checkbook, if I can remember where I put it.

Some of the comments range from being total clueless that AMEX wasn't going to work on the 20th (I guess they didn't see all the signage, news articles, mailings about the change) to whoever thought up the change should get fired (the CEO of Costco needs to get this fixed ASAP and issue a public apology!!) That this switch isn't worth the few bucks that it will save (try millions, not to mention the better rewards for the cardholder) and what Costco/Citi is going to do for them for the inconvenience of not having their card yet, getting a messed up card, or for not letting them know that their other AMEX card wouldn't work either. I am sick of 'you owe me' attitude for a minor inconvenience, it has been too ingrained in our society that you get a reward for being slightly inconvenienced.

So for a little entertainment take a look.

 

[audreyh1]

I thought Costco did an outstanding job of communicating this change with huge visual reminders everywhere and mail communications, etc. Citi and even American Express did their part.

Still when I was at Costco checkout the guy in front of me had to be told he couldn't pay with his American Express and he had to push the cart aside and was calling someone while we checked out.

I expect that story is playing out over an over again. Many people simply don't pay attention.

Anyway - I was never worried even if I got my card late because I could still show my old card as member ID, and I could use one of my other VISAs. No problem.

 

[Brat]

I have no problems using the card. Citi hasn't the last of our charges on AMEX yet, just paid on trust that all is well.

Their credit card issues are nothing compared to the frustration trying to pay our First Tech cc by Chase as we have for years. Now they insist payment come from our First Tech accounts. Jump through 2 hoops, not going to happen, time to cut up their cc.

 

[grasshopper]

So Ms G says"ok you can grind up the AMEX card". "By the way where is the AMEX BLUE card?. Grasshopper says " i just ground them up". palmslap.

 

[audreyh1]

So Ms G says"ok you can grind up the AMEX card". "By the way where is the AMEX BLUE card?. Grasshopper says " i just ground them up". palmslap.

Oops!!! No problem - you can call for replacements.

 

[Clone]

Oops!!! No problem - you can call for replacements.

Rachel from Card Services to the rescue!

 

[Southern Geek]

My problem is that after creating an account at online.citi.com to activate my cards, that every subsequent attempt to log into the online account results in an error message indicating that my password is incorrect. The only way I am able to log into the account is to try to log in 3 times. On 3rd attempt, I get option to reset my password. After I complete the reset procedure and create a new password, I get access to the online account until I logoff. Once I logoff, the password I just created is not accepted at the next logon attempt. This happens regardless of which OS or browser I use. Very annoying.
[The cards did activate and I've used them w/o problem (but not at Costco yet).]

 

[audreyh1]

Still waiting on my new Fidelity VISA card. I got the card agreement today.

 

[HFWR]

Transition has been without incident. Balance transferred, even have same due date. Set up an online account, then went to my other Citi card account, linked the two, and now only have one login for both.

 

[Done]

I have had no issues registering and using the new Costo Citi Visa but was interested to see that the card has an RFID symbol on the back. This would indicate that it can be used to tap & pay at certain terminals, instead of swiping or inserting the card. I emailed Citi to ask about this but they denied the existence of this feature on a Visa card, saying that only MasterCard offers PayPass. This didn't sound correct (because Visa does have an equivalent called payWave) so I replied and am awaiting their response.

In the meantime, I tried at Macy's and was able to make a purchase (just over $100) by holding the card up to the terminal for a few seconds. No signature or PIN was needed. The receipt shows "EMV Contactless(Y) - No CVM."

I'm still curious how Citi will reply. It's disconcerting that they don't know their own product which shipped to 11 million customers, and also I see no mention of the feature in the intro literature, card agreement or Citi website. My guess is that Costco requested this feature to be able to process transactions quicker once they upgrade their terminals.

 

[Badger]

We have had no problems receiving and using my new Visa card at Costco in spite of having frozen our credit with all 3 credit bureaus a couple of years ago. There was nothing for us to do. They just arrived in the mail a few weeks before they were activated. However, I almost threw out the mail thinking it was junk because when I felt the envelope I didn't feel the raised numbers on the card. There aren't any.

Cheers!

 

[Midpack]

We have had no problems using the new Citi card. However when DW linked her account to mine, she can no longer see any transactions made using my card, only hers. The website will not let her unlink. She wants it to 'appear just like AmEx', as a store rep described to me.

She was hold several times over the weekend, and the line disconnected (after a verbal warning) after 20-30 minutes. Last night she finally got connected to someone after 25 minutes, who connected her with a supervisor, who referred her to someone else. Put on hold for another 45 minutes (into a black hole) before we hung up.

So phone support re: online questions has been abysmal for us so far, but we'll keep trying...

 

[audreyh1]

We have had no problems receiving and using my new Visa card at Costco in spite of having frozen our credit with all 3 credit bureaus a couple of years ago. There was nothing for us to do. They just arrived in the mail a few weeks before they were activated. However, I almost threw out the mail thinking it was junk because when I felt the envelope I didn't feel the raised numbers on the card. There aren't any.

Cheers!

Yep - no more raised numbers!

It's good - as on some of my well used cards the white paint would wear off making them hard to read!

 

[mpeirce]

We have had no problems using the new Citi card. However when DW linked her account to mine, she can no longer see any transactions made using my card, only hers. The website will not let her unlink. She wants it to 'appear just like AmEx', as a store rep described to me.
/QUOTE]

Our Costco AmEx behaved that way - DW was primary, so she saw both our purchases while my login just saw my purchases. The Citi Costco Visa appears be be setup the same way.

Simple solution: I just log into "her" account. NBD.