Costco Switches Credit Cards, Drawing Firestorm Of Criticism

Costco dropped American Express as its credit card partner this week, and judging by commenters on social media, a lot of people aren't happy about it.

Costco began accepting all Visa credit cards on June 20, both in the warehouse locations and at Costco gas stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including New Jersey's 17 stores. The company said the switch would provide a boost to customers who more commonly use Visa for their purchases.

American Express, however, said the two sides couldn't come to an agreement on a contract renewal. American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault said in a press release that his company was unable to reach terms "that would have made economic sense for our company and shareholders. Instead, we will focus on opportunities in other parts of our business where we see significant potential for growth and attractive returns over the moderate to long term.”

Now complaints have come pouring in on Costco's social pages, with people saying they're especially having trouble with the new Costco Citi Card.

Costco replied on its Facebook page that people ought to reach out to customer service, and they'll handle it:

"Due to high levels of interest in the Costco Anywhere Card and high volumes of calls from cardholders, callers to Citi should expect longer than desired hold times. Citi is reviewing processes and pulling in additional resources to alleviate hold times. Thank you for your patience!"

Others were not so sure, however: