topic Re: Amex support going downhill? in Business Credit

Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:38:29 GMT

I use my Hilton Business card for gas - almost exclusively. I just realized all of the charges to my local gas station, the one I use most, were coding as 3X when they should be 6X for gas. I opened a chat and was asked to give him the dates with the charges. I told him there are a lot, he seems annoyed, but waits for me to finish -- it's easily 15-20 charges over 3 months - which took me a while to gather. (they are all from the same station, same name) He asks me to stay connected and says it could take 5-10 minutes. (The entire time he's short with me and somewhat rude - not overtly, but as if he's busy with something else) Then says he's escalating it and comes back saying to check back in a few weeks? Really? Is this standard practice for an obvious mistake like this?

"Case has been raised for it. Though the maximum time frame is 2 billing cycles. However, many inquiries are completed in about a month and occasionally, can be completed in much lesser time. I suggest you to check back in a few weeks."

They are all the same (Safeway) gas station, labelled "Safeway Fuel" / "SEATTLE FUEL STATION". When I view "2022 YTD" and sort by category/transportation they all show up there, all 3X next to random 6X stations. Seems like a very obvious mistake.

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong and this is normal. But I rarely contact support and I have a TON of Amex cards (see sig) and push what I'd consider a decent amount of money through them every month. I feel like I deserve at least a little respect, I felt like I was being treated like someone carrying a massive balance that had lots of missed payments or something - wasting their time. (I never carry balances, zero missed payments - I don't expect special treatment, but I will note when I'm being treated poorly) I wasn't rude once, I wanted to jump on the guy almost the entire time, but held back and was polite.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

pizzadude — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:44:25 GMT

@AlanGJP wrote:
I use my Hilton Business card for gas - almost exclusively. I just realized all of the charges to my local gas station, the one I use most, were coding as 3X when they should be 6X for gas. I opened a chat and was asked to give him the dates with the charges. I told him there are a lot, he seems annoyed, but waits for me to finish -- it's easily 15-20 charges over 3 months - which took me a while to gather. (they are all from the same station, same name) He asks me to stay connected and says it could take 5-10 minutes. (The entire time he's short with me and somewhat rude - not overtly, but as if he's busy with something else) Then says he's escalating it and comes back saying to check back in a few weeks? Really? Is this standard practice for an obvious mistake like this?

"Case has been raised for it. Though the maximum time frame is 2 billing cycles. However, many inquiries are completed in about a month and occasionally, can be completed in much lesser time. I suggest you to check back in a few weeks."

They are all the same (Safeway) gas station, labelled "Safeway Fuel" / "SEATTLE FUEL STATION". When I view "2022 YTD" and sort by category/transportation they all show up there, all 3X next to random 6X stations. Seems like a very obvious mistake.

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong and this is normal. But I rarely contact support and I have a TON of Amex cards (see sig) and push what I'd consider a decent amount of money through them every month. I feel like I deserve at least a little respect, I felt like I was being treated like someone carrying a massive balance that had lots of missed payments or something - wasting their time. (I never carry balances, zero missed payments - I don't expect special treatment, but I will note when I'm being treated poorly) I wasn't rude once, I wanted to jump on the guy almost the entire time, but held back and was polite.

I'm not sure that I follow exactly how you think the CSR was being rude on a chat ? From your description it sounds like they resolved your concern and read you the standard / boilerplate language around resolution times, and sure it may get resolved sooner obviously.

Are their CSRs working on multiple chats / customer cases at the same time? Probably but I don't think that's at all unique to AMEX.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

NoMoreDebt — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:14:16 GMT

Sometimes its all perception or at least that's what I tell myself when i am thinking someone may be coming off short or irritated. That stuff is definitely hard to decipher over a chat message as well.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

simplynoir — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:23:28 GMT

To echo the above poster I think it's what a person perceives a text chat as far as tone and/or intent. Considering it seems like you were already annoyed going into it you may have projected what the agent's tone was especially since AMEX didn't wave their magic wand to make it all better for you

FWIW if you had checked your statements to make sure the proper points multiplier was being applied you would not have to contact AMEX to fix it. Why it probably will take some time to get it fixed

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:02:39 GMT

@pizzadude wrote:
I'm not sure that I follow exactly how you think the CSR was being rude on a chat ? From your description it sounds like they resolved your concern and read you the standard / boilerplate language around resolution times, and sure it may get resolved sooner obviously.

Are their CSRs working on multiple chats / customer cases at the same time? Probably but I don't think that's at all unique to AMEX.

That's fair, you didn't see the whole conversation. I said I wasn't rude to him and that I didn't jump on the guy. The reason I was annoyed was purely the way he interacted with me. I felt like he believed I was wasting his time. His replies were almost always one word responses. Then when he told me he'd resolve it, just give him 5-10 minutes, (I was not pushy. I merely gave him the dates he asked for and said thanks) and comes back with "2-3 weeks" - it honestly felt like he was just trying to get rid of me. Just felt odd. Especially for Amex.

Look, let me make something clear. I don't care if I don't get these points, not really. I was surprised when I saw 3X instead of 6, but that's it, surprised. If they said unfortunately there is nothing they could do and maybe avoid this specific station - I'd be fine with that. The interaction felt terrible.

If they fix it, great. If they don't, I'll probably ask one more time, but then just switch gas stations.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

Remedios — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:10:27 GMT

@AlanGJP wrote:
I use my Hilton Business card for gas - almost exclusively. I just realized all of the charges to my local gas station, the one I use most, were coding as 3X when they should be 6X for gas. I opened a chat and was asked to give him the dates with the charges. I told him there are a lot, he seems annoyed, but waits for me to finish -- it's easily 15-20 charges over 3 months - which took me a while to gather. (they are all from the same station, same name) He asks me to stay connected and says it could take 5-10 minutes. (The entire time he's short with me and somewhat rude - not overtly, but as if he's busy with something else) Then says he's escalating it and comes back saying to check back in a few weeks? Really? Is this standard practice for an obvious mistake like this?

"Case has been raised for it. Though the maximum time frame is 2 billing cycles. However, many inquiries are completed in about a month and occasionally, can be completed in much lesser time. I suggest you to check back in a few weeks."

They are all the same (Safeway) gas station, labelled "Safeway Fuel" / "SEATTLE FUEL STATION". When I view "2022 YTD" and sort by category/transportation they all show up there, all 3X next to random 6X stations. Seems like a very obvious mistake.

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong and this is normal. But I rarely contact support and I have a TON of Amex cards (see sig) and push what I'd consider a decent amount of money through them every month. I feel like I deserve at least a little respect, I felt like I was being treated like someone carrying a massive balance that had lots of missed payments or something - wasting their time. (I never carry balances, zero missed payments - I don't expect special treatment, but I will note when I'm being treated poorly) I wasn't rude once, I wanted to jump on the guy almost the entire time, but held back and was polite.

I'm sorry, I don't see rude, I see professional approach.

At the same time ...you're complaining about perceived treatment and knocking down those with "massive balances", so you want to treat people the way you don't want to be treated? Kinda confusing mix there.

Someone could perceive that as rude, because all they see are your words, just like you only saw CSRs words. You're also looking for respect, but you failed to give same courtesy to others.

Or, maybe I just think that's what happened because I only read this post and I'm making my own conclusions based on ...well, nothing. I don't have more to go by than you had when you made assertions about CSR.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:10:35 GMT

@NoMoreDebt wrote:
Sometimes its all perception or at least that's what I tell myself when i am thinking someone may be coming off short or irritated. That stuff is definitely hard to decipher over a chat message as well.

So I'm a software developer and maybe 10 or so years ago I did my own customer service for a product I'd developed. So yes, I suppose I have some perception as to how a CSR should act. That said, I COMPLETELY understand the pressure these guys are under. It wasn't any one thing, it was the overall feeling this guy was giving me. Just rubbed me the wrong way, and repeatedly.

Let me also say... I didn't once say anything rude, I was polite and almost every query was followed by the answer and a thanks back. At the end of the convo, I did not rate him poorly either, I merely closed the window.

I could be completely wrong, yes. It just felt off and rude. I think it's primarily because he was being short with me, asking me for all the dates that weren't credited, and then after saying "I'm on it, 5-10 minutes", less than a minute later he says he escalated it and says bye.

Given the response this thread is getting, clearly others aren't feeling this way, and that's fine. I probably got someone that was having a bad day. But please DO NOT assume I expect some preferential treatment. I was just surprised by how the conversation went, mainly right at the end when he says he's going to take care of it (his words) then nearly immediately lets me go. No explanation beyond "I've escalated it". I guess I expected something like...

"I'm sorry, I'm unable to resolve this for you. I've gone ahead and escalated it to someone that can. This should be taken care of without issue. Unfortunately it might take a little longer than expected." Or something to that effect. *shrug*

Re: Amex support going downhill?

wasCB14 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:15:41 GMT

@AlanGJP wrote:
I use my Hilton Business card for gas - almost exclusively. I just realized all of the charges to my local gas station, the one I use most, were coding as 3X when they should be 6X for gas. I opened a chat and was asked to give him the dates with the charges. I told him there are a lot, he seems annoyed, but waits for me to finish -- it's easily 15-20 charges over 3 months - which took me a while to gather. (they are all from the same station, same name) He asks me to stay connected and says it could take 5-10 minutes. (The entire time he's short with me and somewhat rude - not overtly, but as if he's busy with something else) Then says he's escalating it and comes back saying to check back in a few weeks? Really? Is this standard practice for an obvious mistake like this?

"Case has been raised for it. Though the maximum time frame is 2 billing cycles. However, many inquiries are completed in about a month and occasionally, can be completed in much lesser time. I suggest you to check back in a few weeks."

They are all the same (Safeway) gas station, labelled "Safeway Fuel" / "SEATTLE FUEL STATION". When I view "2022 YTD" and sort by category/transportation they all show up there, all 3X next to random 6X stations. Seems like a very obvious mistake.

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong and this is normal. But I rarely contact support and I have a TON of Amex cards (see sig) and push what I'd consider a decent amount of money through them every month. I feel like I deserve at least a little respect, I felt like I was being treated like someone carrying a massive balance that had lots of missed payments or something - wasting their time. (I never carry balances, zero missed payments - I don't expect special treatment, but I will note when I'm being treated poorly) I wasn't rude once, I wanted to jump on the guy almost the entire time, but held back and was polite.

Safeway.

U.S. Gas Stations

To earn additional rewards on gas purchases, the gas station where you purchase gasoline must be located in the U.S.

A gas station is defined as a merchant that is in the primary business of selling gasoline to consumers. Gas stations may sell other convenience items, but its primary business must be selling gasoline to consumers.

(Superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are NOT considered gas stations)

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info/retail.html

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:16:22 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
To echo the above poster I think it's what a person perceives a text chat as far as tone and/or intent. Considering it seems like you were already annoyed going into it you may have projected what the agent's tone was especially since AMEX didn't wave their magic wand to make it all better for you

FWIW if you had checked your statements to make sure the proper points multiplier was being applied you would not have to contact AMEX to fix it. Why it probably will take some time to get it fixed

I wasn't already annoyed. Surprised, but definitely not annoyed. My initial message was "I'm trying to clarify something. I noticed all of my gas purchases are earning 3X points. I thought the Hilton Honors Business card was 6X on gas?". When he comes on and says "One moment", I responded with "No problem". He came back with boilerplate HHB 6X on gas. I responded with "My purchases are showing 3X" and he asked to see one, I said "Sure" and told him the date. I promise you, I was anything but rude. I used to do CS for software I developed, I've been on the other side of this. At this point, I think it was just a bad day for him and I was on the receiving end of it. It clearly doesn't seem to be the case here that others are experiencing the same, so I'll chalk it up to that and leave it.

Just to answer your "fwiw"... I get it. I should have checked and didn't. I was NOT saying it was their fault and I was being treated unfairly. I was pointing out the way the conversation went and how I felt like I was pushed off the chat and annoying the guy. Again, likely he's having a bad day.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:32:46 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
I'm sorry, I don't see rude, I see professional approach.
At the same time ...you're complaining about perceived treatment and knocking down those with "massive balances", so you want to treat people the way you don't want to be treated? Kinda confusing mix there.
Someone could perceive that as rude, because all they see are your words, just like you only saw CSRs words. You're also looking for respect, but you failed to give same courtesy to others.

Or, maybe I just think that's what happened because I only read this post and I'm making my own conclusions based on ...well, nothing. I don't have more to go by than you had when you made assertions about CSR.

The message I quoted was his last. Not the entire conversation. Please read my responses above, otherwise I'm going to be saying the same thing again.

The "massive balances" comment was wrong, and I apologize for that. I'm trying to convey the overall feeling of the conversation. I felt like I was asking someone I owed a bunch of money to about some $2 difference when he's owed thousands. THAT'S the feeling this guy was giving me. I wasn't sure how else to explain it. I get you're trying to make a connection between my post and the way he was responding, and that's fair. I was annoyed above, I think that's clear. But by that analogy, he would also have been annoyed and I wouldn't be reading him wrong. But I digress...

"You're also looking for respect, but you failed to give same courtesy to others."

I'm sorry, I don't agree with your interpretation. My post here, yes, maybe I was a little upset and made some poor choices with regards to phrasing it correctly. That said, this CSR likely had a bad day and was letting it show. Every response of mine was followed with a "thank you" or "no problem", etc. I know how it can be stressfull and I don't try to make it worse. Respect was perhaps the wrong word. But I don't expect him to treat me worse than an employee at any fast food restaurant.

Anyway, point is... actually no... I get where you guys are coming from. This thread looks bad. It's one guy, I said how I felt. No point banging this drum any longer.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:47:03 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Safeway.

U.S. Gas Stations

To earn additional rewards on gas purchases, the gas station where you purchase gasoline must be located in the U.S.

A gas station is defined as a merchant that is in the primary business of selling gasoline to consumers. Gas stations may sell other convenience items, but its primary business must be selling gasoline to consumers.

(Superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are NOT considered gas stations)

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info/retail.html

That's helpful, thank you. He did look into it and said I was correct and should have gotten 6X - maybe he doesn't know the above? I pointed out one specific charge, he looked and then asked me to tell him all the instances. (I was not rude, I promise) He said he would take care of it.

The safeway station I visit is not in the same location as the grocery store nearby. (It's a good couple blocks away) I get it, that's not important to how it's coded. It's also not something I'd known going in, just a random thought regarding gas and grocery stores. Weird though as my other cards credit it correctly. (It's the nearest station and I've used lots of cards there) X1 for example triggers their gas multiplier at the station in question.

A couple points:

- Statement lists it as "SEATTLE FUEL STATION" (SAFEWAY FUEL) not as the Safeway grocery store.

- Viewing by year and choosing "Category / Transportation", all of the gas charges are there, listed as 3X

Again, I would have been completely fine being told I'm wrong and told what you said above. That's not why I posted this. I have no problem going to another station if this one codes wrong, that's fine.

My best guess here is that "SAFEWAY" as a keyword is excluded from the 6X reward. I suppose we'll see what happens. Either way, I'll use a different station moving forward. This one is a bit more than the others anyway and I went there purely out of convience. Oh well.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

wasCB14 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 19:53:06 GMT

Have you considered a different business CC? Maybe I'm just a HHater after my tiny point balance expired due to inactivity, but I'd take 3% cash back over 6x.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:34:42 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Have you considered a different business CC? Maybe I'm just a HHater after my tiny point balance expired due to inactivity, but I'd take 3% cash back over 6x.

There's a couple reasons I was using HH. Mainly because I'd just finished up my SUB and was lazy... (lol) But really, I prefer points to CB and hadn't had a chance to really consider my options. I may just switch gas stations, it's not hugely difficult, it's just the closest, most convient one for me. (Usually not too busy too, which is nice)

I've heard something about combining the Walmart+ gas discount with another card as a good option. I might look into that, or just buying a gas GC from a grocery store to trigger the 4X grocery points. Honestly, there's a lot of options out there, I just have to figure out what would work best.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

SouthJamaica — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 21:58:05 GMT

@AlanGJP wrote:
@NoMoreDebt wrote:
Sometimes its all perception or at least that's what I tell myself when i am thinking someone may be coming off short or irritated. That stuff is definitely hard to decipher over a chat message as well.
So I'm a software developer and maybe 10 or so years ago I did my own customer service for a product I'd developed. So yes, I suppose I have some perception as to how a CSR should act. That said, I COMPLETELY understand the pressure these guys are under. It wasn't any one thing, it was the overall feeling this guy was giving me. Just rubbed me the wrong way, and repeatedly.

Let me also say... I didn't once say anything rude, I was polite and almost every query was followed by the answer and a thanks back. At the end of the convo, I did not rate him poorly either, I merely closed the window.

I could be completely wrong, yes. It just felt off and rude. I think it's primarily because he was being short with me, asking me for all the dates that weren't credited, and then after saying "I'm on it, 5-10 minutes", less than a minute later he says he escalated it and says bye.

Given the response this thread is getting, clearly others aren't feeling this way, and that's fine. I probably got someone that was having a bad day. But please DO NOT assume I expect some preferential treatment. I was just surprised by how the conversation went, mainly right at the end when he says he's going to take care of it (his words) then nearly immediately lets me go. No explanation beyond "I've escalated it". I guess I expected something like...

"I'm sorry, I'm unable to resolve this for you. I've gone ahead and escalated it to someone that can. This should be taken care of without issue. Unfortunately it might take a little longer than expected." Or something to that effect. *shrug*

Not everyone thinks you are wrong. I'm on your side. I don't know that it means American Express's normally ok customer service is going downhill, but I do think a CSR should make you feel like you are valued.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

lonnyphillips — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 23:43:15 GMT

I really do not see how someone can be rude over chat, short answers are expected on chat, they can't write out a book! I mean was he saying rude things to you because so far that is not what I'm seeing

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AMJ50 — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 23:56:26 GMT

Okay, I was not on a chat, and spoke to very rude, short foreigner on Amex's customer service line. They could barely speak English. Is this what you guys call great customer service. Amex is penny pinching on employees, it's not a good look.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 23:59:15 GMT

@lonnyphillips wrote:
I really do not see how someone can be rude over chat, short answers are expected on chat, they can't write out a book! I mean was he saying rude things to you because so far that is not what I'm seeing

Sigh... I get it. You don't know me. I must be jumping to conclusions, or overreacting. I totally get it, I really do. Thing is, I used to sell my own software (I'm a developer) and I did my own CS. So I try to be overly nice, plenty of times I couldn't spend evenings with my family because I was fielding support issues. I get it, and I understand how stress can get to you.

However... there's only been a handfull of times I've contacted Amex support about anything. And in those times, they've ALWAYS been overally nice (not expected! Honestly I find it fake and somewhat odd) to a fault. But when you haven't requested support in nearly a year and you're asking for something minor, I felt like I was pulling teeth. Someone above mentioned maybe I was upset and took it out on them. Seriously, I wasn't. I went in totally OK with being told "unfortunately that station does not qualify for the 6X". I would have been ABSOLUTELY OK with that, really. But that's not how it went.

At this point, I've decided it was someone -- one person -- just having a bad day, and I'm ok with that. I was merely surprised by how he acted and made the post here to see if others had similar experiences. To be completely honest, my concern is Amex is overworking their CSR's and I wanted to see if others were seeing the same thing.

Clearly that's not the case. That's wonderful and I'm good to move on.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

NoMoreDebt — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:23:48 GMT

@AMJ50 wrote:
Okay, I was not on a chat, and spoke to very rude, short foreigner on Amex's customer service line. They could barely speak English. Is this what you guys call great customer service. Amex is penny pinching on employees, it's not a good look.

Now that adds a whole new dimension to the discussion. I definitely do not like having to squint and concentrate trying to decipher what a CSR is telling me , only to have to ask them to repeat what they just said and they get frustrated over that and the call go crashing downhill from there

Re: Amex support going downhill?

SeaProbe — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:28:22 GMT

Yes, I had a similar experience today. My card has been in-transit for two and a half weeks and I asked for an expedited replacement. The agent I spoke with was not a native speaker, but spoke well enough that it didn't matter. What did matter was the tone; it was clear he didn't want to be dealing with my problem. And he didn't apologize; and it did feel like pulling teeth.

My litmus test is comparing with Schwab. Schwab's customer service people are friendly, competent, and efficient. And they will apologize for any error or inconvenience. Their customer service alone is why I've stayed with them for so long and recommend them to friends & family.

Re: Amex support going downhill?

AlanGJP — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:37:22 GMT

@lonnyphillips wrote:
I really do not see how someone can be rude over chat, short answers are expected on chat, they can't write out a book! I mean was he saying rude things to you because so far that is not what I'm seeing

"So far that's not what I'm seeing"

So far? I didn't post the chat. I posted his last response after dozens. I was ready to just let this go, but wow. I'm not attacking Amex, I'm saying the CSR I spoke to is rude. Why is that an impossible suggestion? I was merely asking if this was more common now than in prior years as I'd heard their support might be going downhill. If you read my other responses in this thread, you'll see that's the case.