I have had my Citi card for almost 20 years and have never paid an annual fee. I got the letter yesterday and I called and talked to a CSR and I gave him a bit of heck, so much so he transferred me to a supervisor and after how I explained that I refuse to pay annual fee for the privalage of caring their card, and that this is a crappy way of treating a 20 year customer she put me on hold for a couple of minutes. When she came back on she told me it was taken care of, the annual fee has now been waived for my account as I have been an "outstanding customer". Of couse I took her name, her rep number and wrote that down with the date and time I called in case I still need to argue this latter for some reason.
If anyone else gets this letter, call them and see if they will waive it for you, you never know.