Perhaps Citibank failed to send your new Costco credit card. Or they sent it to the wrong address. Maybe it arrived and got mistakenly tossed out with the rest of your junk mail.
Whatever, the day of reckoning for Costco's membership customers was Monday. That's when the warehouse chain switched from American Express credit cards to Visa. Thousands of Costco shoppers howled that they were blindsided by the move.
Last year, Issaquah-based Costco Wholesale Corp. announced it was ending its 16-year exclusive relationship with American Express. For months, the company has been warning members that on June 20, Amex cards would be void for Costco purchases, to be replaced by Visa cards. And Visa cards only. For accounting reasons, the firm said it couldn't gradually phase in the transfer. It had to be done in one instantaneous hand off.
As part of the switch, Citibank was supposed to send a co-branded Costco-Visa credit card to each of the 11.6 million Costco customers who now carry an American Express card with the Costco logo. The replacement cards must be authorized online or with a phone call to the bank to become valid.
A cascade of complaints resulted. Customers said Citibank's phone lines were jammed. Others said they simply never received their new cards. A Costco executive conceded that in a mass mailing to 11.6 customers, a few wrong addresses were to be expected.
"Costco card switch proves painful for members" The Seattle Times
