Costco’s decision to switch from only accepting American Express credit cards to only accepting Visa cards is a big deal for their customers (and for American Express) and has been in the works for a long time. That should have given Costco and Citi plenty of time to make sure the transition was smooth and everyone would have their cards working and on time, right? No, of course not.

We’re guessing that the transition has gone well for most customers, or there would already be rioting in the suburban streets. Yet for a sizable number of customers, they don’t yet have their cards, can’t activate their cards, or their cards aren’t correctly connected to their Costco accounts.

Here’s a selection of Facebook posts from just the hour before we wrote this post. Some customers are seeking help from Costco, some want to share their frustration in public with other consumers. Long hold times when calling Citibank aren’t helping the situation, and are probably what sent them to Facebook to vent in the first place.

Customers complained about the new cards, and some made the ultimate threat: they said they were switching to Sam’s Club.

Citi doesn’t allow public posts to their Facebook account for precisely this reason, but customers did leave comments on public posts to share their opinion of the transition.

We reached out to Citi and to Costco for statements and for advice for consumers, and we’ll add any information they send us to this post. We tried to call the general media relations line, and they put us on hold.

What’s your experience with the changeover been? Drop us a line at tips@consumerist.com to let us know how it’s gone for you, good or bad.

Update: We received a comment from Citi, the bank behind Costco’s new card. Here’s what they said:

Consumer interest and engagement in the new Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi has been incredible. More than 11 million cards have been issued to existing Costco cardmembers and more than 1.5 million calls were received in the first two days alone. Due to the tremendous response, some customers experienced delays reaching customer service, however call volumes are starting to return to normal and we are working diligently to meet their needs. In addition to phone service representatives, we also provide online activation.

We sincerely apologize to those who have been inconvenienced and we are absolutely committed to serving our existing and new cardmembers.

(via Business Insider)

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