Amex blatantly lied to me?

[Anonymous]

It's not a lie, let alone a BLATANT lie, if they truly did not know.   And it sounds as if they didn't know, since they asked and then rescinded their earlier comment.

[flyingmd]

As a matter of fact, i just applied for the MB credit card and they pulled both EX and EQ!! Still waiting for decision.

[bobebob]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It's not a lie, let alone a BLATANT lie, if they truly did not know.   And it sounds as if they didn't know, since they asked and then rescinded their earlier comment.

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Let's just plea bargian down from "blatant lie" to "clue-less blow-off" and call it a day.

[PokemonMaster]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It's not a lie, let alone a BLATANT lie, if they truly did not know.   And it sounds as if they didn't know, since they asked and then rescinded their earlier comment.

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Actually, it is a blatant lie to repeat the same answer over and over again when you have knowledge that the answer is wrong.

If I tell you the cake is chocolate and you and I can both clearly see that it's vanilla and I continue to insist that the cake is chocolate does that not mean I am lying.

[Anonymous]

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@PokemonMaster wrote:

I called about a denial to see if they would do anything about my hard inquiry and was told outright several times by the rep that if you're denied there is no hard inquiry. I then asked to be transfered to an American rep and so she transfered me to another woman that spoke better english but was clearly indian who was in the recon department. This women in the recon department reiterated what the ground level rep said and when I told her that was a lie she "looked into it" and realized their mistake. Why would a rep outright lie like that? Do they not study the American credit system before hiring these reps? They are going to review my BCE app so hopefully I get in but I am not hopeful.

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The fact that the woman was Indian has no bearing on anything. The fact that people are still looked upon differently because of where they are from is very sad.. And with any credit card company you're going to have a hard pull. The rep may not have known that for sure but seriously these people have tons of questions thrown at them everyday, we as consumers cannot expect them to know everything. I personally feel you were not blatantly lied to but you merely misinformed by the CSR. AMEX is renown for their customer service and honestly have some of the best customer service out there IME. I understand you're frustration because of being given the wrong information but that incorrect information is not going to effect you in any way. The inq is there no matter what they tell you, so what they told you really had no negative effect. Just my 2 cents.

[PokemonMaster]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@PokemonMaster wrote:

I called about a denial to see if they would do anything about my hard inquiry and was told outright several times by the rep that if you're denied there is no hard inquiry. I then asked to be transfered to an American rep and so she transfered me to another woman that spoke better english but was clearly indian who was in the recon department. This women in the recon department reiterated what the ground level rep said and when I told her that was a lie she "looked into it" and realized their mistake. Why would a rep outright lie like that? Do they not study the American credit system before hiring these reps? They are going to review my BCE app so hopefully I get in but I am not hopeful.

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The fact that the woman was Indian has no bearing on anything. The fact that people are still looked upon differently because of where they are from is very sad.. And with any credit card company you're going to have a hard pull. The rep may not have known that for sure but seriously these people have tons of questions thrown at them everyday, we as consumers cannot expect them to know everything. I personally feel you were not blatantly lied to but you merely misinformed by the CSR. AMEX is renown for their customer service and honestly have some of the best customer service out there IME. I understand you're frustration because of being given the wrong information but that incorrect information is not going to effect you in any way. The inq is there no matter what they tell you, so what they told you really had no negative effect. Just my 2 cents.

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Clearly it did because I asked to speak with an American rep and was not transferred to an American but to a supervisor in India. You're digging too deeply into my post, I was not saying it had any negative effect. I was upset that they were clearly telling me misinformation and then arguing with me telling me that I am wrong when I am not.

I called about reconing the Zync card and throughout the course of our conversation she said multiple times that when you are denied for a credit card there is no hard pull. I explained to her several times that there is and she told me I was mistaken. I then told her that if I am wrong why do the hard inquiries on my credit report say otherwise. When I realized we were not going to get anywhere with my original problem I asked to speak with an American figuring she was misunderstanding my question. She told me she would transfer me and to hold on... about 1 minute later a very robust sounding Indian woman came on the line and knowing I was not going to get my American rep as promised I settled with her because she was fairly easy to understand and seemed to understand my problem (I am guessing due to better training).

[score_building]

It doesn't really work that way, don't get to pick the nationality of csr you want to speak with. Imagine there are people from other countries in US call centers too.  With all due respect, it is more or less common knowledge that frontline csr may try to stay on script or even tell a card holder what they think they want to hear...particularly if forced to go off script.

These csr are not generally extensively trained credit gurus, some are quite knowledgeable, others less so.  IME, this rule of thumb goes for 'American', as well as csr from other countries.  

No offense, but perhaps a bit naive to think a csr would necessarily know the difference between HP or SP anyway, they may not- regardless of what they tell you, so expect one if requesting credit and be happily surprised if don't get hit.  Lesson learned.

[GB44]

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@PokemonMaster wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@PokemonMaster wrote:

I called about a denial to see if they would do anything about my hard inquiry and was told outright several times by the rep that if you're denied there is no hard inquiry. I then asked to be transfered to an American rep and so she transfered me to another woman that spoke better english but was clearly indian who was in the recon department. This women in the recon department reiterated what the ground level rep said and when I told her that was a lie she "looked into it" and realized their mistake. Why would a rep outright lie like that? Do they not study the American credit system before hiring these reps? They are going to review my BCE app so hopefully I get in but I am not hopeful.

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The fact that the woman was Indian has no bearing on anything. The fact that people are still looked upon differently because of where they are from is very sad.. And with any credit card company you're going to have a hard pull. The rep may not have known that for sure but seriously these people have tons of questions thrown at them everyday, we as consumers cannot expect them to know everything. I personally feel you were not blatantly lied to but you merely misinformed by the CSR. AMEX is renown for their customer service and honestly have some of the best customer service out there IME. I understand you're frustration because of being given the wrong information but that incorrect information is not going to effect you in any way. The inq is there no matter what they tell you, so what they told you really had no negative effect. Just my 2 cents.

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Clearly it did because I asked to speak with an American rep and was not transferred to an American but to a supervisor in India. You're digging too deeply into my post, I was not saying it had any negative effect. I was upset that they were clearly telling me misinformation and then arguing with me telling me that I am wrong when I am not.

I called about reconing the Zync card and throughout the course of our conversation she said multiple times that when you are denied for a credit card there is no hard pull. I explained to her several times that there is and she told me I was mistaken. I then told her that if I am wrong why do the hard inquiries on my credit report say otherwise. When I realized we were not going to get anywhere with my original problem I asked to speak with an American figuring she was misunderstanding my question. She told me she would transfer me and to hold on... about 1 minute later a very robust sounding Indian woman came on the line and knowing I was not going to get my American rep as promised I settled with her because she was fairly easy to understand and seemed to understand my problem (I am guessing due to better training).

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OP,

Just wondering if it's a training issue or a blatant lie? You mention both so I'm confused to what the issue is other than your call being transferred to India.

 With AMEX it's well known and talked about on this forum that YMMV. I also believe there is probably an escalation process that must be followed by the CSR's. I would assume you were transferred to the next level.

Not to mention, if you already know that your credit was pulled, why would you bother to ask and argue the point? I might be missing something but I don't understand your issue or point?

At any rate, I hope your issue was resolved.

[GB44]

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@PokemonMaster wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

It's not a lie, let alone a BLATANT lie, if they truly did not know.   And it sounds as if they didn't know, since they asked and then rescinded their earlier comment.

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Actually, it is a blatant lie to repeat the same answer over and over again when you have knowledge that the answer is wrong.

If I tell you the cake is chocolate and you and I can both clearly see that it's vanilla and I continue to insist that the cake is chocolate does that not mean I am lying.

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Not if it's WHITE CHOCOLATE

[Walt_K]

Credit reporting really isn't the major focus of a credit card's business.  I'm not that surprised that the CSRs don't always understand how things are reported.