Generally it's the retention team you negotiate with rather the generic customer service reps. What I typically do with most CCs isHas anyone tried and or successfully had their $700 annual fee halved or other lately. Mine is due as of my new statement received this month. I just phoned citi and was flatly told that the citi prestige would not be discounted and there are other citi cards with lower fees if I was interested. I mentioned the ending of Diners and the current economic climate but my contact was not interested one little bit.
(a) phone regular customer service and request AF reduction/waiver. If they say no (which 99% of the time they will) then
(b) request to cancel card. This will typically lead to you being transferred to another team (typically the retention team)
(c) when asked why you want to close, say "AF is too high" or something along those lines
(d) see what they offer you or request to have AF reduced/waived and you'll keep account open.
Even then sometimes they wont offer and you'll need to hang up and call again cos most of the time it does come down to the individual rep and how desperate they are to keep you. But most importantly, you genuinely have to be prepared to shut the card down if all else fails.