topic Re: Amex customer service in Credit Cards

Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 18:56:48 GMT

This is just a general informal survey for Amex cardholders... Does it seem like Amex customer service has gone downhill quite a bit? It used to be that when you called, you got a US based rep who was actually able to help resolve issues. Now, you go to an overseas call center where they seem to have no real "power" and can only read canned script answers. Today when I called and they repeated their script for the 4th time I asked for a supervisor. She refused. "No. They will tell you the same thing." OK, that's fine, but usually they have more latitude, so please transfer me. 3-4 times she refused, then said that they were all busy and that I should call back and see if they were free. (and that if they weren't, I should just keep trying) I politely told her no, that they would call me back, not vice versa. She finally acquiesced, but I don't feel like I should have had to spend 15 min just trying to speak to someone higher up. I know Amex used to be kind of the gold standard for "member care", but recently my experiences have been anything but. Recently, when I've called Chase, Discover, Barclay, and Citi - they're all US based, friendly, knowledgeable, and have leeway on most reasonable requests.

Has anyone else had similar experiences recently? I've seen discussions here or there, but thought I'd get a fresh perspective.

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:07:59 GMT

My experiences with Amex CS haven't been great either. Not terrible, but not great.

When asking different CS people questions, it's very often that you'll get different answers. They can't all be correct. I've found this frustrating.

When I had an account-related issue that went through the EO, it took weeks for me to actually get someone on the phone due to phone tag and them not getting back in a timely fashion. They also wouldn't contact me at the number I provided to them (my work #) but just continued calling on my cell which I do not have on my person while at work.

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:24:36 GMT

I believe it is more correct to ask how is customer service today with all the big banks? How many are routing your calls overseas where you indeed to have people with zero power and just reading canned respones and questions. I do not isolate this to Amex and consider it the norm for not just all the big banks today but insert your big company name need and chances are high the first line person you communicate with is overseas. It sucks but that is the norm today.

The other catch is this: obviously some CSR's are outstanding and go above and beyond (regardless of which bank) and others are not moving a muscle for you. If you call Chase and you get someone who truly takes pride in their work then you are likely ending that phone call on a positive note because even if you didn't get the result you wanted you were sure the person cared and tried very hard, thus you likely would say Chase's customer service is awesome. Someone later that same day gets a I don't give a F about my job quality and you get off the phone with them and you run to your nearest forum, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and write about how bad "insert banks name" customer service is. I can easily say my CSR experiences have gone from "OMG I can't belive they tried that hard and took that much time for me!!!" to "holy hells, I totally interrupted that persons life and they treated me in a unfavorable way to make sure I knew so....".

So until then go with high hopes but low expectations when making those CS calls.

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:31:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

When asking different CS people questions, it's very often that you'll get different answers. They can't all be correct. I've found this frustrating.

Yeah, I've run into that, too. I should have also specified that this was just one example of poor CS I've gotten from them in the past year or so. It's been ongoing, but this was the latest example.

@Anonymous wrote:
When I had an account-related issue that went through the EO, it took weeks for me to actually get someone on the phone due to phone tag and them not getting back in a timely fashion. They also wouldn't contact me at the number I provided to them (my work #) but just continued calling on my cell which I do not have on my person while at work.

That's unfortunate. I just emailed the EO today, and was hoping to get this resolved before my bill is due. Oh well, c'est la vie! Maybe they'll make it right after the fact

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:45:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I believe it is more correct to ask how is customer service today with all the big banks? How many are routing your calls overseas where you indeed to have people with zero power and just reading canned respones and questions. I do not isolate this to Amex and consider it the norm for not just all the big banks today but insert your big company name need and chances are high the first line person you communicate with is overseas. It sucks but that is the norm today.

The other catch is this: obviously some CSR's are outstanding and go above and beyond (regardless of which bank) and others are not moving a muscle for you. If you call Chase and you get someone who truly takes pride in their work then you are likely ending that phone call on a positive note because even if you didn't get the result you wanted you were sure the person cared and tried very hard, thus you likely would say Chase's customer service is awesome. Someone later that same day gets a I don't give a F about my job quality and you get off the phone with them and you run to your nearest forum, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and write about how bad "insert banks name" customer service is. I can easily say my CSR experiences have gone from "OMG I can't belive they tried that hard and took that much time for me!!!" to "holy hells, I totally interrupted that persons life and they treated me in a unfavorable way to make sure I knew so....".

So until then go with high hopes but low expectations when making those CS calls.

This is a good point. Maybe a better way of asking it would have been: Has anyone noticed a marked decline in their customer service overall? For example, previously (2-3 years ago even) when I called in, 9 out of 10 calls I could honestly answer their follow up survey as Good or Excellent. Now I'd put it at 1 or 2 of 10 as good, 3-4 as OK, and 4-6 as Poor. So I'm not picking on individual reps, or individual experiences, but an overall decline in quality. I understand there are bad eggs, but when it feels like 8 out of 10 are bad vs 2 out of 10, it becomes far more frustrating.

As for the other big banks, honestly recently I'd put them all above Amex. I have cards from Citi, BofA, Chase, Discover, Barclay's, etc., and I've had better experiences with them than Amex. Maybe I just got really lucky on the people I dealt with vs the people I got at Amex, but that's why I was curious to see if anyone else had noticed a downhill trend.

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:47:29 GMT

I have found the PRG and BCP customer service to be awful with a couple exceptions. I think based on your card you get routed to different centers although I'm sure Amex would deny that.

As far as quality of service, BCP and PRG have been good, but I do feel as though the non-US based reps do not comprehend the issues as well, be it language or cultural exposure, and it makes explaining your need more difficult. I did get a US based CSR one time when inquiring about an interest charge that I was disputing, and while I was in the wrong about the calculation, she made an adjustmemnt to make it match mine, and kindly explained to me where I had miscalculated. She got 5 stars.

EVERYTIME I have called the Platinum number I have gotten a US based, english as 1st language rep. Not so much w/the others. Hands down, the Platinum CS' are the best and I've never finished a call with them where I felt service less than excellent, but I expect it both due to the card's reputation, and the AF of the card.

On another note, Chase's reps are great, I have both the CSP and CSR and there seems to be no deliniation of the reps, or centers. I've gotten friendly, go-out-of-the-way reps everytime. (Amex take note)

Re: Amex customer service

kdm31091 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:51:58 GMT

Pretty much all banks outsource the customer service now. It's annoying, but doesn't bother me too much as I don't find myself needing to call very often

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:52:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have found the PRG and BCP customer service to be awful with a couple exceptions. I think based on your card you get routed to different centers although I'm sure Amex would deny that.

As far as quality of service, BCP and PRG have been good, but I do feel as though the non-US based reps do not comprehend the issues as well, be it language or cultural exposure, and it makes explaining your need more difficult. I did get a US based CSR one time when inquiring about an interest charge that I was disputing, and while I was in the wrong about the calculation, she made an adjustmemnt to make it match mine, and kindly explained to me where I had miscalculated. She got 5 stars.

EVERYTIME I have called the Platinum number I have gotten a US based, english as 1st language rep. Not so much w/the others. Hands down, the Platinum CS' are the best and I've never finished a call with them where I felt service less than excellent, but I expect it both due to the card's reputation, and the AF of the card.

On another note, Chase's reps are great, I have both the CSP and CSR and there seems to be no deliniation of the reps, or centers. I've gotten friendly, go-out-of-the-way reps everytime. (Amex take note)

I've had nothing but excellent service from Chase. Even if the resolution wasn't what I'd hoped for, they're very good about explaining why something is, and maybe giving alternatives. And you're right, I've had the Freedom, Southwest, and CSP, and other than the dedicated CSP #, the level of service has been excellent across all of them. I'm a huge fan of Chase..... well, except for the 5/24 rule

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:55:41 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
Pretty much all banks outsource the customer service now. It's annoying, but doesn't bother me too much as I don't find myself needing to call very often

See, I've found for CC customer service, I almost always get someone US based. Chase and Discover are always, and I think even Citi and BofA have been the couple times I needed to call.

I don't have to call very often, but when I do, it's easy to spot the difference in the level of service amongst different companies.

Re: Amex customer service

NRB525 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:59:32 GMT

@heyryan wrote:
This is just a general informal survey for Amex cardholders... Does it seem like Amex customer service has gone downhill quite a bit? It used to be that when you called, you got a US based rep who was actually able to help resolve issues. Now, you go to an overseas call center where they seem to have no real "power" and can only read canned script answers. Today when I called and they repeated their script for the 4th time I asked for a supervisor. She refused. "No. They will tell you the same thing." OK, that's fine, but usually they have more latitude, so please transfer me. 3-4 times she refused, then said that they were all busy and that I should call back and see if they were free. (and that if they weren't, I should just keep trying) I politely told her no, that they would call me back, not vice versa. She finally acquiesced, but I don't feel like I should have had to spend 15 min just trying to speak to someone higher up. I know Amex used to be kind of the gold standard for "member care", but recently my experiences have been anything but. Recently, when I've called Chase, Discover, Barclay, and Citi - they're all US based, friendly, knowledgeable, and have leeway on most reasonable requests.

Has anyone else had similar experiences recently? I've seen discussions here or there, but thought I'd get a fresh perspective.

What is the issue / question you are trying to get resolved?

Re: Amex customer service

Bman70 — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 19:59:34 GMT

I don't know if chat support is different, but I've always had excellent experiences with chat. Seems US-based (from the names), and always very polite and helpful. Once I forgot to make an extra payment on time so I was charged a little interest.. while on chat about my statement date, I asked half jokingly if they could refund the interest. She said "With your great payment history, of course!" And they did. Maybe chat has gone downhill too, IDK since it's been some months since I used it.

Re: Amex customer service

K-in-Boston — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:02:33 GMT

As noted already (and I believe Pooka may have confirmed that Platinum/Centurion members go to the same FL-based call center?), I think it depends on the card type. I've had great CSRs when I called for a few things since upgrading Green to Platinum. I wouldn't be able to gauge customer service levels otherwise, though. I haven't had to call about my former green or my gold in years, except for the time when they called letting me know that they approved the $32,000 charge to Lufthansa on my gold card but did want to follow up to make sure the charge was legitimate (I told them I was flattered that they approved it but the airfare was certainly not mine). My normal spend with AmEx until about a year ago was $2-6,000 a month, though. Is this experience from the number on the back of your Platinum or the SPG/Delta cards?

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:23:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I have found the PRG and BCP customer service to be awful with a couple exceptions. I think based on your card you get routed to different centers although I'm sure Amex would deny that.

As far as quality of service, BCP and PRG have been good, but I do feel as though the non-US based reps do not comprehend the issues as well, be it language or cultural exposure, and it makes explaining your need more difficult. I did get a US based CSR one time when inquiring about an interest charge that I was disputing, and while I was in the wrong about the calculation, she made an adjustmemnt to make it match mine, and kindly explained to me where I had miscalculated. She got 5 stars.

EVERYTIME I have called the Platinum number I have gotten a US based, english as 1st language rep. Not so much w/the others. Hands down, the Platinum CS' are the best and I've never finished a call with them where I felt service less than excellent, but I expect it both due to the card's reputation, and the AF of the card.

On another note, Chase's reps are great, I have both the CSP and CSR and there seems to be no deliniation of the reps, or centers. I've gotten friendly, go-out-of-the-way reps everytime. (Amex take note)

I agree. I've had the chance to experience both the PRG and Platinum card and I've noticed a significant difference in customer service when I call the platinum number.

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:24:02 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
As noted already (and I believe Pooka may have confirmed that Platinum/Centurion members go to the same FL-based call center?), I think it depends on the card type. I've had great CSRs when I called for a few things since upgrading Green to Platinum. I wouldn't be able to gauge customer service levels otherwise, though. I haven't had to call about my former green or my gold in years, except for the time when they called letting me know that they approved the $32,000 charge to Lufthansa on my gold card but did want to follow up to make sure the charge was legitimate (I told them I was flattered that they approved it but the airfare was certainly not mine). My normal spend with AmEx until about a year ago was $2-6,000 a month, though. Is this experience from the number on the back of your Platinum or the SPG/Delta cards?

That'll be great if platinum members get the same call center reps and concierges as the centurion black card members lol.

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:31:13 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
What is the issue / question you are trying to get resolved?

This one was about the way they refunded (or actually didn't refund) my Platinum AF, and charged my PRG AF when I downgraded. I was going to downgrade anyway, but I forgot when my anniversary was so I got charged the $450 for the Platinum. Called and downgraded (like 2 days later), was told I'd be refunded the prorated Platinum fee, and charged a prorated PRG fee. (Which should have been full on both since it was so close to my anniversary date)

Problem is that they charged the PRG fee, and haven't refunded my Platinum fee. I was trying to get them to fix the Plat. one since my statement closed, so I didn't have to pay it and get credited back next month. I use the card very little anymore, so I didn't want a $400+ credit sitting there. They basically said It would be 1-2 billing cycles before I'd get the credit back. I was annoyed that the first rep didn't tell me that it would take so long to credit back, and that I have to essentially loan Amex money I no longer owe them. If that is truly the policy, I think it's a poor one, but it is what it is and I'll pay it. I would have had an easier time accepting it had I dealt with a friendly, competent person on the other side of the phone, but their rude, dismissive attitude really put me off.

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:35:36 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
As noted already (and I believe Pooka may have confirmed that Platinum/Centurion members go to the same FL-based call center?), I think it depends on the card type. I've had great CSRs when I called for a few things since upgrading Green to Platinum. I wouldn't be able to gauge customer service levels otherwise, though. I haven't had to call about my former green or my gold in years, except for the time when they called letting me know that they approved the $32,000 charge to Lufthansa on my gold card but did want to follow up to make sure the charge was legitimate (I told them I was flattered that they approved it but the airfare was certainly not mine). My normal spend with AmEx until about a year ago was $2-6,000 a month, though. Is this experience from the number on the back of your Platinum or the SPG/Delta cards?

Sadly, even if I call the Platinum #, I think the system recognizes I've downgraded and I get shipped to the mass call center.

Chat support had almost the exact same script that the person on the phone did.

Really, I mainly wanted an explanation of WHY it was going to take 1-2 cycles to get me the credit back. Instead, they just kept repeating the script over and over. I know CSRs don't have all the answers, which is why the refusal to let me speak to a supervisor kinda irked me. (and frankly, shocked me. I've never been told 'no' from any company when I've asked)

Re: Amex customer service

K-in-Boston — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:59:09 GMT

From the recent AMA. My guess is that yes, you are being rerouted to the PRG third-class ticketholder car.

A: Hello there. While we certainly strive to provide the best customer service to all Card Members, regardless of their card type, Platinum and Centurion do have their own dedicated servicing teams and they are either more specialised in those products and benefits, and/or they have "graduated" their servicing tiers to those teams. I would not say that credit-wise, we play favourites when it comes to making credit-related decisions (with the exception of Centuion since we have thoroughly inspected them already). The card rankings are as you typically see posted - Green > Gold > Platinum > Centurion. Our lending cards (blue, everyday, co-brand, etc.) are pretty much all on the same level.

Re: Amex customer service

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 20:59:11 GMT

I refuse to call American Express for anything. To say the least their customer service from the phone to online chat has gone downhill. It is downright outrageous. The Amex SPG was one of my first credit cards and back in the mid 2000s Amex had amazing customer service. It seems to me that about 4 years ago it went downhill and fast. They are incomptent and cannot complete the most basic tasks (ex: receiving an "address" error linking MR to FF accounts online - took 1 hour w/ chat and another hour on the phone with 4 different reps to fix the issue). I've been accused of "fraud" for asking for my Platinum points to be advacned (I made legitmate charges, paid the bill in the full, and did nothing wrong) and they reported a deliquent account that didn't belong to me (that was a fun call - their credit reporting department is also outsourced. They have no idea of the FCRA). Needless to say, I HATE Amex and 95% has to do with customer service.

I almost exclusively use my Chase products now. I've only had to call Chase for benefit/claims (price protection, trip insurance) and for some Ritz card travel credits. Anyway, I go straight to a rep and its taken care of in 30 seconds. I want a card company that I don't have to call for simple things like transferring UR points - and that is why I am faithful to Chase. Now only if Chase would bring branches to the DC area.

I don't think Amex will survive another 20 years if they don't get their act together.

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:03:50 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
From the recent AMA. My guess is that yes, you are being rerouted to the PRG third-class ticketholder car.

A: Hello there. While we certainly strive to provide the best customer service to all Card Members, regardless of their card type, Platinum and Centurion do have their own dedicated servicing teams and they are either more specialised in those products and benefits, and/or they have "graduated" their servicing tiers to those teams. I would not say that credit-wise, we play favourites when it comes to making credit-related decisions (with the exception of Centuion since we have thoroughly inspected them already). The card rankings are as you typically see posted - Green > Gold > Platinum > Centurion. Our lending cards (blue, everyday, co-brand, etc.) are pretty much all on the same level.

That's a great find! I knew the approval standards for Green, PRG, and Platinum were pretty much identical, but I never thought about the different customer service levels. I guess it makes sense though - having reps that are specifically trained in the perks, features, etc of a product line. It's just too bad that the quality of service you receive seems so closely tied to the AF you pay

I also wonder if it matters if you have a business vs personal card. I've had a couple corp green cards in the past, and my Delta and SPG cards are small business/OPEN cards. Maybe I'll give them a call and see how things go as a test LOL

Re: Amex customer service

heyryan — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 21:06:30 GMT

ah20003 wrote: Now only if Chase would bring branches to the DC area.

They're not in DC? I'm kinda shocked! I didn't realize there were really any areas (well, major areas) left w/o branches between BankOne, WaMu, etc. acquisitions!

Their banking products are nothing special by any means, but for the variety of cards they offer, and the perks they give, they're hard to beat.