Citibank and Essentials Ripoff! Unsolicited charge of $89.95 from Essentials. Citibank Mastercard customers: You might want to look at your statement. The Lakes, Nevada

I have telephone service with SBC. Every time I call the customer service about charges on my bill, the rep pitches their DSL, satellite tv, in addition to cell phone and wireless networking gadgets. All I want is an explanation for a charge not a sales proposal. How annoying.

Also, I worked for a company known now as Redcats USA (formerly known as Brylane) who handles catalog orders for Brylane Home, Brylane Home Wishes, Brylane Home Kitchen, Lerners, Lane Bryant, Chadwicks, Jessica London, La Redoute, and Roamans. Selling credit cards, sales items, coordinating items, and third party offers like Buyer's Edge, Cosmetique Cosmetics, and Magazine Direct was a critical part of the job. If you didn't sell at least 6% of your order totals in coordinating items, you would be bitched out. If you didn't sell $5.00 or more per order of sales items, you would be bitched out. If you didn't get at least 33% acceptance on their credit cards, you would be bitched out. Each of these admonishments went against your performance stats. If your stats are low, you don't get a raise and you could be fired.

Any company that forces its customer service staff to sell me things I don't want is more than I'll tolerate. I don't own a credit card. If I did, I'd max it out and throw it away.

I won't take out a loan, especially from a company like this fraud.

Selling me stuff all the time is bad enough. But this complaint makes it sound like the company is actually sneaking in bills for things nobody agreed to or signed up for.

That's fraud, plain and simple.

You see, there is only one way for a company to make billions of dollars. That is by serving millions of consumers. As long as customers continue to pay in, the company gets to stay on top of the world.

But, the minute the income runs out, they come crashing right back down to earth like a jet that runs out of fuel.

I suggest consumers take a hard look at this Citibank and decide if they need things like this in their lives.

I still remember how Citibank left NY years ago since South Dakota had no interest ceiling on credit cards.

They spit on NYC and all their employees.

Unfortunately, New Yorkers didn't have the pride required to reciprocate by severing all relations with this bank.

As a former employee I can offer some insight as to the basic nature of the beast...

Consumers are not aware that employees are forced to sell in order to keep thier jobs.

If they fail to sell they will lose their jobs!

The next time you call into customer service, listen carefully, you will be offered various services before you are able to continue on with your call.

There are flyers posted in the hall ways telling reps that they are not allowed to ignore the "pop ups" which are programs they are required to offer!

The company places great pressure on people to sell. NOT ONLY SELL, but once you place a fraud claim and send in your affidavit, the rep that obtains this is pressured to make a "save". A save is when the rep finds any reason to hold the cardholder responsible for the charge.

This will increase their productivity rate and if the rep is able to have maintain a high save rate, they will rank high against their peers and at the end of the year receive a raise.

These reps are not customer services oriented. They are mearly trying to increase their monthly/yearly stats in order to obtain a meger increase in their salary.

The reps either need to save the company money to make a bonus or get a raise. Citibank doesn't give cost of living increases but will hold company meetings that the employees are required to attend, that brag about how much the company has made and how they are the largest bank in the world.

During this meeting they'll tell you how much the company made & encourage the employees to keep making them money. Then you'll see an article stating how the CEO got a million dollor plus bonus because of the profits made at the expense of it's employees...

I left Citibank because the standards kept being raised and while the company was making money, I wasn't. My raise last year matched penny for penny the increase of my medical insurance.

Basically, I didn't get a raise! Citibank doesn't care about it's employees and they don't care about the law.

They feel they are big enough to escape prosecution and they have... Just look at Enron.. Citibank was involved and only received a fine.

Citibank is the largest contributor to the US government and do you honestly believe the government will cave to a company they own billions to?!

So, while it's consumers complain and file lawsuits, it doesn't even create a ripple in their ultimate goal..TO MAKE MONEY NO MATTER WHAT!!!

My question is if Citibank is the largest bank and trying to monopolize the financial world, at what point will they be stopped?

Weren't the phone companies forced to stop their attempt to monolize the telecommunication industry.

BE AWARE!!! If you own a credit card that CITIBANK has it's hands in and you are late on one card, all of your interest rates on all of your cards will increase! Even if you've never been late on any other card!

IF YOU FIND A CHARGE FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS...CONNECTIONS, SIMPLE ESCAPES, ESSENTIALS, GALARIA...AND THERE ARE A LOT MORE PROGRAMS...CALL THE COMPANY...WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP..ASK THEM IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE ACCOUNT...BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT MENTION IT. ALSO ASK THEM HOW MANY YEARS YOU HAVE BEEN A MEMBER... ASK THEM WHEN YOU WHERE SIGNED UP.

TO CANCEL IMMEDIATELY...MENTION, IN THE ARMED SERVICES, DEATH IN FAMILY, LOST JOB, LEAVING THE COUNTRY...MAKE SURE YOU ASK FOR AND WORD IT LIKE THIS A FULL REFUND OF YOUR MONEY...IF YOU JUST SAY GIVE ME A REFUND AND ITS PRO RATA REFUND IN COMPUTER YOU WILL ONLY GET A PORTION OF WHAT YOU PAID...SO PLEASE SAY...FULL REFUND...ASK THEM how much you will receive.YOU CAN ALSO ASK TO BE PUT ON THEIR NO CALL LIST...WHEN THEY ENTER IT, IT WILL TAKE ABOUT THREE, OR FOUR MONTHS TO TAKE PLACE.

Are you a Citibank employee? However, I did eventually get this handled through repeated efforts with Citibank; not at first, however, and it took several phone calls and persistence. They, too, gave me the "explanations" you did as to why I had this charge on my card, i.e., that (1) I "probably cashed a check that came through the mail and didn't read the fine print", (2) that I agreed to a "free trial and forgot". Perhaps this is true for some of the thousands of people who got caught in this program, but, no I do not cash checks that come in the mail, and since I work in the legal field, I am in the habit of reading fine print. It's interesting that you even state that the $89.95 charge would be found in fine print to some mail offer -- Hiding monentary charges in fine print is tantamount to misleading advertising; given that it is hidden is a bad business practice that hooks otherwise happy customers and is a blatant effort to trick customers -- otherwise why hide it fine print? You are hoping it won't get noticed, and you can get $89.95. You are also counting on folks not checking their statements.

And, no, I don't agree to free trials and then "forget". "Free" trials that automatically turn into $89.95 charges without proper notification is, in my opinion (and I imagine others like myself would agree), indeed a ripoff practice. However, more importantly, and more to the point, I never was offered a "free trial", neither by mail nor by telephone. I had ordered some exercise video tapes over the internet and then suddenly was charged this amount. Essentials/Memberworks got my personal credit card information through a shared information list, and charged my card fraudulently, without any notice to me whatsoever.

You ignore the fact that Citibank has thousands of grumbling customers over this Essentials program, and the fact that in at least four US states there have been class actions by the Attorney General of each state against Essentials aka Memberworks for fraudulent enrollment in their program (the program also has a number of alias names as well besides Memberworks). There is a current class action in California. You are probably correct, though, in stating that Essentials/Memberworks is a separate entity from Citibank; I have come to this conclusion based on subsequent research into the class actions against Essentials/Memberworks. I believe Citibank got caught in a contractual affiliate arrangement with Essentials/Memberworks even as Sears and other companies have in the past, and have been and continue to have to face the consequences of this bad alliance. Sears, incidentally, had to pay back millions of dollars to customers, as did Essentials/Memberworks with a double refund, as a result of that class action.

What is truly remarkable is that this company Essentials/Memberworks is still in business after four Attorney Generals have won class actions against them. They can stay in business by stating an "our word against the customers" stance, stating that the customers did indeed enroll. The results of the class actions is enforcing Essentials/Memberworks to prove by recorded tape a telephone conversation with the customer to show voluntary enrollment; if they don't have the proof, they must refund double the money they took. This is for the states where there has been class actions. Other states are still open territory for Essentials/Memberworks, and they don't have to prove anything.

The reality is this: This company, Essentials/Memberworks, gets the credit card information from shared information lists (from, as example, the videotapes ordered over the internet, but there are several other methods by which this company gets the personal information about the customer) and then "enrolls" them. They don't have to send anything in the mail. They can just claim they did. They don't have to have proof of a telephone conversation. They can just claim they did. If this was not the case, there would not have been four class actions suits in the US.

For those who are victims of this company, Essentials/Memberworks, and found themselves involved via a Citibank credit card, I found that what worked was not going through the Essentials/Memberworks phone number. They consistently either hung up on me as soon as I mentioned I did not enroll in their program, or they claimed their computer system was not running and I had to call back, or other avoidance maneuvers. What worked was my calling Citibank and finding an intelligent customer service representative. The first few I went through gave me the same spiel you have, exactly, and said they would transfer me to their Essentials affiliate so I could "cancel" my "membership". When I found an intelligent representative I asked that she stay on the line with me while she connected me to Essentials/Memberworks and be a Citibank witness to the conversation. She did this. We got an Essentials/Memberworks billing supervisor (claimed to be) on the phone and I stated that my refund was due to me because I had never enrolled, etc. With Citibank on the line, Essentials/Memberworks made the refund. Citibank also said they would remove my name and personal information from all affiliate partner information lists, etc., and I received a letter from them confirming the same.

Bottom line, this is privacy legal issue we are dealing with, privacy of personal customer information shared indiscriminately with companies who have reputations of unethical and/or fraudulent business practices, and an issue that the Federal government is trying to control but has not yet. It will probably take a few more class actions from state Attorney Generals before a critical mass is reached and the Federal government steps in and puts companies like Essentials/Memberworks out of business. Citibank got caught in the middle, like Sears, and others.

As to Citibank not caring if I cancelled my card, that might be true if I was alone with this complaint. If enough Citibank customers, whether they are part of the class actions or not, cancel their card, and perhaps also decide they don't want to have Citibank as their bank in any fashion after this mess, Citibank can indeed be hurt, and has been already by virtue of the class actions in tow. I personally consider it to be at minimum a huge embarrassment for Citibank.

Yes, indeed, Citibank is one of the largest financial institutions existing. All the more reason they should have done their homework on the class action fraudulent complaint lawsuits Essentials/Memberworks had throughout the country prior to Citibank's involvement. If Citibank had been taking notice, they would have made a good business decision and decided not to affiliate with Essentials/Memberworks. They walked into a clearly bad business affiliation with their eyes closed. An embarrassment at best.

I repeat, though, that Citibank did come through for me in handling this problem with Essentials/Memberworks. I would suggest, however, that they disengage from their affiliation and instruct their customer relations people to do what is necessary to help customers with similar complaints, and not try to convince the customer they didn't read the fine print or they forgot they enrolled. Citibank should take responsibility for getting affiliated with an unethical marketing company, and help to put Essentials/Memberworks out of business. I have no doubt that Nevada will be yet another state to have a class action in the near future.

Essentials Gold is Offered by Memberworks Inc. a company not affliated with citibank. Yes, citicards does in fact offer their customers the essentials gold membership as a benefit on their card. The charge for this service is 10.95/month should you sign up through citibank. However, Memberworks Inc. is a third party vendor, they have their own established business and solicte potential clients using other forms of marketing. Without applying through citicard Essentials Gold costs 89.95 per year. Chances are you cashed some check you recieved in the mail without reading the fine print or agreed to a free trial and forgot. After the free trial the card was automatically billed, and the light bulb went on. Citibank does not enrolled their cardmembers in programs they don't ask for just to make easy money. Not only is this highly illegal but you don't become the world's third largest financial institution by adhearing to fraudulent practices.

Threating to close your account doesn't make a differance, according to the agreement citicards has with essentials, if a card member wishes to cancel the service a full refund of current months paid membership fees are to be refunded back to the account within two days.