Diners Club application processing time

[Bell21]

I've recently applied for a Diners Club card (with World MC) and unlike every other card I've ever applied for, I haven't received any notification of receipt of the application (I applied via email and via post). I can't recall where but I found a site which lists application processing time for various Aust credit card, and DC was 21 days, whereas most others were roughly 5 days. What are other people's experiences like when applying for a DC card?

 

[albyd]

When I applied for mine 5 years ago, I had to submit a paper form by fax (I didn’t realize anyone stilled used fax apart from lawyers of course so they can charge by the page) and it took them some weeks to process. It would appear that your experience is not out of the norm despite cards going to near instant approval now esp with Citi being DC’s parent in Australia.

 

[Bell21]

Thanks Albyd - appreciate your reply.

 

[JFi]

I don't have personal experience but my friend applied for this last month via email. Took 3 weeks to get approved and there was no notification. He kept calling up every few days to get a status update (which is an automated message).

 

[Bell21]

Well, we are up to 5 weeks waiting and when we contacted diners today, we were told we would hear something in the next 1 to 2 weeks - quite extraordinary! Anyone have any ideas how to speed things up, would be appreciated, as I can't seem to find any social media contact points for diners Australia (probably unsurprisingly)

 

[ajd]

Put in an application today. I've got a trip coming up in < 3 weeks, and then another longer trip in 5 weeks. Let's see if the card arrives in time for either of those.

The ancient-ness of DC's systems is hilarious. I'm actually really disappointed they no longer advertise a fax number, I was going to go down to the post office and get them to fax my application for me as that seemed appropriate when applying for a card as obscure as Diners.

 

[Bell21]

It took about 8 weeks to get our credit cards - admittedly, there was some complexity re our application, but 8 weeks is still extreme. The ancientness of their systems is quite an experience --- most of their forms still provide two options for communicating with them - post or fax! It's become a bit of a family in-joke dealing with Diners - on quite a few occasions, they have responded with 'I don't know' to questions related to their cards..., so it definitely takes loads of patience --- ironically, I was also dealing with Singapore Airlines at the same time and talk about chalk and cheese when it comes to customer service and supporting systems - Singapore Airlines was amazing to interact with... Diners rather less so...

 

[ajd]

Given how small Diners Club is these days I wonder how many staff are required to run the Diners Club Australia office... how many new card applications do you think they get each day?

 

[Bell21]

Well, it's a hard one to answer --- they do have a head of diners in Australia, which implies some sort of organizational structure, but potentially that could be a predominantly sales oriented role, supported by product and a small call centre team - it depends how integrated diners is within Citibank structure and also whether call centre team is local or overseas. In terms of applications, I suspect not many individual stand alone applications at all, but the free diners attached to Citibank premium cards will have increased volumes to manage and from memory, in past they have had some government contracts to.

 

[albyd]

I think this business is in run-off with all the staff based offshore apart from some admin people on shore (eg charge approvals). Shame seems to be in run-off as it's a good product at least before the earn rate on the DC was decimated at the same time as for the MC (which was inevitable with the same thing happening to all MC/Visa cards). Hope they re-visit it and invest some money to make it relevant again.

 

[Bell21]

Why do you say it's in run-off? Also, the earn rate on the pure DC card is still one of the stronger in the market from a VA/KF perspective (if you can find a way to use the card sufficiently)

 

[ajd]

Called up today to check if they've received my application, because they have not given me any acknowledgement, which per the rest of this thread and this forum seems normal.

The operator said they couldn't see it in their systems, but could I please tell her the reference number?

I didn't get a reference number, I explain.

"You should get a reference number right there and then as you're filling out the form," she says.

Having to explain to her that it's rather tricky to get your application reference number off a blank PDF form which you download, print out, and fill out by hand with a pen before scanning, was not how I expected this conversation to go.

Anyway, this is all part of the adventure! As I saw in another thread, low expectations is the key to enjoying the DC program...

 

[Bell21]

I can only reply "lol"

 

[albyd]

Why do you say it's in run-off?

The level of attention it's getting from Citi is akin to 'sweating' this asset with minimal investment. The run off bit relates to the steady run down of member numbers this implies.

 

[Bell21]

Agreed!

 

[ajd]

So far it's been 2 weeks and I've heard nothing (as expected). The automated status check service continues to report that there are no applications matching my phone number. I've spoken to the call centre a couple of times asking to confirm they've received it, and all they've said is to wait longer because it's normal to have to wait longer.

This is all as I expected from reading this forum but I will give them a final ring later this week and see how much information I can get out of them as to processing time.

 

[ajd]

After a phone call yesterday, I finally got an application reference number and an email with the list of required documents. After another phone call today, I sorted out the issues with my supplied documents to their satisfaction. Both occasions their call centre staff very polite. Recorded message now tells me my application is in progress, rather than being non-existent, which is also nice...

 

[Bell21]

Yep, that process sounds about right! Note - I was pleasantly surprised to find-out that Diners now has a mobile app which I can actually see transactions on

 

[ajd]

Been almost 2 weeks since I submitted documents. Phoned them again the day after submitting my docs to confirm it was all in order, and they had to ask me some questions to fix it up to their requirements (confusion over the details of my address).

I then went overseas for a week, and got around to calling them again today... apparently it's "in final approval". Which takes 2-3 days. And I'm about to go overseas for 3 weeks. They have noted on the record that I would like to receive my card ASAP, but I doubt they'll somehow magically print a card and have it express posted to me by the end of today...

Tomorrow it'll be a month since submitting, and that's with multiple phone calls to accelerate the process.

If I get approved, I suppose I can always get a friend to mail the card to my hotel in Europe...

 

[Bell21]

A month is quick relatively - I think I only got mine in circa 4 to 6 weeks!