So much for "Platinum Service"

[aschmid]

It seems to me now at least the "Premium Account Retention Team" is not asleep at the wheel ...

As I said before I called them to cancel my card due to the difficulties I had getting any reasonable credit limit on my Platinum credit card. Anyway had a conversation again with the call agent about this being a different card then my charge card and the credit card I had was several years ago, bla, bla, bla ...

So I say I want to cancel all my card now - Silence .... - sir since you have a Premium account I need a Premium Account agent to call you back (actually who was I speaking to just now as I called the Platinum number ). Anyway hang up.

Two days later I missed a call on my mobile and have a message from AMEX that goes like this: "Understand that you want to cancel your card due the credit limit on your credit card and I did some digging and found that mistake was made. We re-instate your previous credit limit and we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and hope this resolve the matter."

I am stunned! This was the first glimpse that somebody at AMEX actually does have some brains. They even fixed the problem without me needing to do anything. Great Service!

I am happy now and stay with them. The only questions is do I need to threaten every time to cancel my cards before they talk to the guys with brains (Premium Account Retention Department).

 

[lovestotravel]

I am stunned! This was the first glimpse that somebody at AMEX actually does have some brains. They even fixed the problem without me needing to do anything. Great Service!

Rubbish

You threatened to cancel
That is the only reason they did something for you

 

[drewbles]

Why is it BS - banks have stricter lending rules (due to liquidity ratios and value of assets vs debt etc.) so if they see a credit limit not in use then they can use that to sell credit to someone who will pay the fees...

Their customer service in this regard is cr4pola and you should cane them for that but (and I keep repeating this but it seems to fall on deaf ears) - the lending world has changed - just as it changed a few years ago when banks became willing and able to lend to people massive amounts - prior to that it was hard to get credit - I dont see why people think nothing has changed when in reality everything has changed...

I probably worded this badly (as I'm still very f*$&#$ed off at AmEx). Yes, I carry debt from month to month. Yes, they lowered my limit after I made a substantial payment, but most importantly *YES* I service my debt and substantially service it (I never pay minimum monthly and put at least $1-2k a month through my card). They're making plenty of cash off me in interest (my fool I know, but still, that's my problem) and payments are never late.

Their CS are useless in this one. If I had been delinquent in payments or tardy, then yes, sure, I would understand. But having had an account in good standing for many years that's over serviced and allows them to take money off me in charges, makes very little sense in my book.

Hopefully the BFSO can help me, but i'm not holding my breath.

The global Financial World has changed. My payments havent, neither has anything else on my account with them. Add to this the fact they lowered it immediately after I made a big payment, not before, and then actually told me they don't give notice as I may be opportunistic and use my available credit before they lower it, and then not re-pay the debt.

I'm still fuming over what they've done. If they're trying to limit their exposure to bad debt, surely they could look at a bad account holder rather than one that generates a good deal of cash for them.

< /rant>

Sorry Simon!

 

[simongr]

The global Financial World has changed. My payments havent, neither has anything else on my account with them. Add to this the fact they lowered it immediately after I made a big payment, not before, and then actually told me they don't give notice as I may be opportunistic and use my available credit before they lower it, and then not re-pay the debt.


Sorry Simon!

Hey - no need to be sorry - I would be p155ed off also - the problem is that although your payments have not changed the world you are paying into has changed.

Interesting the large lump sum payment was probably a trigger - a balance that is not normally paid off, suddenly is paid off - might indicate a credit facility that wont be used in the future that could be given to some other person.

I am not defending customer service - just trying to flag that teh credit world we lived in has changed and it will take some time to correct itself - and that does not mean necessailry going back to ho wit was 2 years ago...

 

[aschmid]

After going through all the motions to get the "FREE Platinum Credit Card" as part of my charge card package to be able to claim the free flight it doesn't end with service quality.

One month of having my credit card is up and guess what? ... Annual fee of $395 has been posted to my credit card account which is according to advertising FREE!

Of course I know the solution, call them say I am a Platinum charge card holder and they will reverse the fee - but why do I have to do that?????

When I applied for the credit card I clearly stated my charge card number on the application. Can't they set a flag on the account or monitor it not to charge the annual fee. They must know this will happen, why do they not care?

Seriously, the amount of cough you have to go through to get the free flight is just amazing. Why can't they just include this as a feature of the charge card, save themselves a lot of work and their customers heaps of disappointment as they haven't figured their process out.

Anyway, I am off to the phone and call them to reverse the fee ...

 

[russ]

The exact same thing happened to me. Perhaps it's part of their standard process!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

After going through all the motions to get the "FREE Platinum Credit Card" as part of my charge card package to be able to claim the free flight it doesn't end with service quality.

One month of having my credit card is up and guess what? ... Annual fee of $395 has been posted to my credit card account which is according to advertising FREE!

Of course I know the solution, call them say I am a Platinum charge card holder and they will reverse the fee - but why do I have to do that?????

When I applied for the credit card I clearly stated my charge card number on the application. Can't they set a flag on the account or monitor it not to charge the annual fee. They must know this will happen, why do they not care?

Seriously, the amount of cough you have to go through to get the free flight is just amazing. Why can't they just include this as a feature of the charge card, save themselves a lot of work and their customers heaps of disappointment as they haven't figured their process out.

Anyway, I am off to the phone and call them to reverse the fee ...

Have some fun with them. Call up and dispute the transaction, citing that you didn't authorize it........ or that the service you expected (Platinum level service like other banks) was not delivered.... would be an interesting response from them

 

[equus]

or that the service you expected (Platinum level service like other banks) was not delivered.... would be an interesting response from them

Same thing happened here, and followed this path, but a bit of a twist. I am the supplementary cardholder, and did not have "account authority" (fixed that since!) Rang up and told them that there was an error - only charge on the statement was the fee, it should not be there because it should be free with the Platinum charge card.

I was identified, they knew who they were talking to, and could see the situation. Response was "Is xx_x there as we need to talk to the account holder".

"No".

"Well you need to get them to call back so we can fix this. I will make a note on the account so that they will know what is going on when the call comes - we are open 24 x 7".

At this point, I followed the "This is not platinum service" line. I pointed out that the mistake was theirs, the fee should never have been charged, they knew it, I knew it, they didn't need to disclose anything to me (I had been telling them), and why should we waste our time and theirs calling back so they could fix their own error.

After a bit of a pause I got a response along the lines that although it was not procedure, and they shouldn't really do it, the person on the phone would reverse the charge and change the coding on the account so that it wouldn't happen again.

The charge was duly reversed. Seems a bit pathetic that you have to demand the service rather than it just being offered proactively.

 

[oz_mark]

I haven't tried to do some of the things that people have done in this thread, but have noticed one seemingly systemic problem that does exist within Amex service.

I have had occasion to call Amex service a few times over the last year, with things that the consultant has had to send to 'the back office' for actioning. I have noticed that it is completely random as to whether the back office will actually do it, and generally requires 2-3 follow up calls to get actioned.

 

[straitman]

I haven't tried to do some of the things that people have done in this thread, but have noticed one seemingly systemic problem that does exist within Amex service.

I have had occasion to call Amex service a few times over the last year, with things that the consultant has had to send to 'the back office' for actioning. I have noticed that it is completely random as to whether the back office will actually do it, and generally requires 2-3 follow up calls to get actioned.

I agree absolutely. About 3 calls seems to be standard from my experience.

 

[Keith009]

--edit- Just checked and it seems they've reduced the min credit limit to $5K. Not sure when that occured.
Like all credit cards tho, mins and max limits are more guidelines than set in concrete.

Yep, I was rather surprised when I got my credit limit of $6500 as I was v sure that the minimum is $10k for the Platinum credit card. Rang up to ask, and told that the min is now $5k due to the (you guessed it) "global financial crisis." The other half has a Gold credit card as well as a cheap Visa (whatever the term for their cheapest card is) from Citibank, both of which have higher limits. :-|

I asked about prepaying the card to allow one off big charges to go through but apparently I'm not allowed to pre-pay my card into credit either due to "recent regulatory reforms." Neither would they allow a temporary limit increase. I'd just have to keep bpaying throughout my trip to the US in July which is annoying.

I'm going to apply for a limit increase in 6 months as $6.5k is useless for things like RTW tickets and the more expensive hotel pre auths in the middle of a long trip (thankfully I do have a Visa debit card). From what I've been told, if I'd established a payment history with them they'd be more inclined to do something -and I do pay the balance in full every month as soon as the statement arrives. I sometimes even pay some of the balance off in the middle of my billing cycle to free up some credit limit. Will it help if they see that I have no interest in accruing debt and have an ability to pay the account back in full each month, and am extremely keen on the MR points?

 

[lovestotravel]

$6.5k limit = pointless!!!

They will increase it over time but my recent request to increase my credit card was denied even though I would max it out and pay it off in full every single month!

Again if it wasn't for the points I would go elsewhere!

 

[Keith009]

$6.5k limit = pointless!!!

Another reason/excuse was that I've not been with Amex before. $6.5k (let alone the $5k minimum) doesn't seem "Platinum" as all!

Agreed that I'd be looking elsewhere were it not for the points and maybe the free flight.

 

[Mal]

They will increase it over time but my recent request to increase my credit card was denied even though I would max it out and pay it off in full every single month!

I recently (maybe 2 months ago) got an increase on my Amex Plat Credit card (applied through the web gui at online banking). So they're still giving them out. Just not sure of the criteria though.

 

[aschmid]

Russ , in my view your story demonstrates that AMEX really doesn't have a proper handle on what it means to deliver a high-end service - at least in this country.

Very well said and I just have to agree fully with this statement!

And just to add had another "conversation" with them today. Have a Platinum Charge Card (also Credit of course) and a Corporate card. Had them all linked up to the Accent Premium rewards program - at least until today when I checked my accounts and interestingly there was a new "Corporate Accent" program linked solely to my Corporate card.

Called them up and ask what's going on. AMEX Platinum service rep didn't now and needed to call Corporate team. Waited for 10 minutes and then was told I need to speak to Corporate team as this has nothing to do with Platinum card.

That already gave me the first annoyance. This is what is explained in this threat that AMEX apparently doesn't categorize their customers by the individual person but by what card they are calling for. Same person but three different cards means three different categories for AMEX.

The Corporate service rep then explained to me that my Corporate card was pulled out of the Accent Premium due Qantas and that I cannot earn Qantas points on my Corporate card only my Platinum one, hence different program.

Why was I not informed about that? Apologized and said I should have received communication about that - yes right not in a hundred million years!

Going further I ask what's the story here. I am Platinum customer paying the rather high annual fee and now I am supposed to pay another $89 for the membership program on my Corporate card?

Answer: That's something I have to discuss with the Platinum service team, he can't talk to that, he can only advise me on things relating to my Corporate card and what the rules are around this card.

How do you call that - being given the run around as it happened so many times before with AMEX. Expectation would be to call you Platinum corporate rep, state your problem and what you want to hear is: "No problem we will sort this out for you." Not from AMEX Australia!

 

[nlagalle]

Well I have to say after my recent experience with Amex i will never again recommend them to anyone. And this is on top of the everyday spend debacle.

I have been a card member for 15 odd years. Started with a green, then was upgraded to gold, open a business card when they complained i was using the gold card for "business transactions" Plat credit card, and was recently upgraded to the business plat and charge plat. All my accounts are in good order too nothing overdue. I suspect this was caused by 1 card being paid the incorrect amount. Mind you this was fixed as soon as it was discovered, but the statement had already run so it was overdue.

Anyway without warning last Monday they put a hold on ALL of my cards. I got off the plane in CBR with a message to call them. I rang and they said they were doing a review of my account and the hold would remain in place until it was completed. They wanted things like bank statements, BAS statements, P&L, pay slips etc. I told them to get stuffed as i was away and after 3 phone calls during the day, i finally got the cards put back, And they would phone me on thursday to discuss it further.

There was no phone call on thursday (surprise surprise), and they put thr hold on my cards on friday. After more phone calls they claimed i was supposed to call them - when in fact they were meant to contact me.

So for the best part of a week my cards were useless, personal and business. I sent them a P&L and some pay slips on Tuesday and I received a phone call later that day saying a P&L was insufficient!!!!! They wanted bank statements and/or BAS statements to complete the enquiry. I spoke to the accountant who said no way, so I phoned up and said i wasn't going to supply them and to please cancel my business cards.

I have demanded back my membership fees on the business cards and ask them is this how they treat their "valued customers". Unfortunately the credit department has the final say on lifting hold on accounts etc so no one apparantly can do anything. And it seems that even if you are there for 15 years it counts for nothing, trying to explain what happened with the payment doesn't matter either. So stuff them. I would never get another business card with them ever again, and would be strongly advising anyone not to either. I told them this but they didn't seem too concerned.

I've also been hearing a few horror stories from other people with Amex just placing holds on cards and not informing people, changing credit limits, and even placing theoretical limits on charge cards. My business card turned over in excess of $600k per year. so I will send it to someone else now.

/end rant

Nick

 

[docjames]

Can anyone spot the recurring theme here?

 

[lovestotravel]

What about your boni points ? Have you transferred them all out of Amex ??

Disgusting service by Amex :evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil:

 

[nlagalle]

What about your boni points ? Have you transferred them all out of Amex ??

Disgusting service by Amex :evil::evil::evil::evil::evil::evil:

Not yet. I still have a personal charge which is active.

It's a pity as the plat people I have dealt with have been great, it's this "credit department" that have soiled it for me.

 

[oz_mark]

Anyway without warning last Monday they put a hold on ALL of my cards.
<snip>

There was no phone call on thursday (surprise surprise), and they put thr hold on my cards on friday. After more phone calls they claimed i was supposed to call them - when in fact they were meant to contact me.

Their 'credit department' has quite poor customer relations practices. When they put my cards on hold last year (due to their own ineptitude), the notes on my file apparently said they had spoken to me before the hold happened.

Absolute cough! If they had rung me they would have known it was their own mistake, cause I would have told them!