Amex Customer Service Sucks! What Is Wrong with the Culture of this Once Premium Brand?

You thought it was bad then, you should try now. I’ve been Platinum for over 20 years and spend a LOT of money on it…but something happened around July timeframe where they updated their policies and systems where the customer experience is now worse than Comcast (of old). 45 mins to get through to someone who couldn’t help, eventually found out my phone number had been deleted and my SSN swapped with my wife. When I talked about cancelling the card, the young lady was just happy to do it – and did not give a rats ass as to why I was leaving. Good luck keeping customers with an additional $100 fee on tope of the $595 per year being charged.

Received a email that, my 3 years old gold card, which was a life time free card, will be charged if I retain it, at least prostitutes have some ethics, how can they offer a card as life time free, and charge after 3 years, that too during this covid period, most worse people on the earth to rely on, stay away from these not loyal, unethical brutes..

I have had my American Express card for the last 13 years. My bill is always paid on time or ahead of time. Two days ago I did something stupid. I paid my bill from the checking account I am closing. The payment was returned. I tried to pay the bill from the correct account, but the software does not allow it.
Now Customer Service tells me their system will continue to try the bank two or three more times, and there is no one in the company that can prevent that from happening. So the old bank will reject the transaction and charge me a fee. Then American Express will get the rejected transaction and charge me a fee.
This is insane. It is good-bye American Express!

The 30 day hold on deposits from new bank accounts is bogus. I recently changed banks since I’ve relocated from Los Angeles to Naples, FL, and there’s no nearby branches from my home with my old bank, but I left it open just barely just to catch runoff from old accounts that I may have forgotten about. Since I can’t pay my balance on my Sky Miles Reserve card with my new bank account, I have to transfer money to my old bank in order to make a payment. Unfortunately, that payment overdrafted since the transfer processed a day later than expected. Meanwhile, my old bank has been trying to resubmit that payment, but Amex hasn’t received it, and after talking to the CSR, it doesn’t look like it ever will. So, now I’m out $1000 until Amex decides it wants to accept a payment that my old bank has been trying to resubmit for almost a week. Amex deserves to burn in Hell.

I recently received an offer in the mail from Amex to open an online savings account with them at a very good interest rate. I already have several online savings accounts with another bank but I actually need another one so I thought why not give Amex a try… I had a few questions so I called them. A person who is clearly American answered. He was very nice and answered all my questions satisfactorily. On my last question, however, he seemed to cop an attitude and got noticeably chilly toward me. Can you guess what the question was? “Once the account is established and I call Customer Service for assistance, will the call be answered by someone in America or will it be outsourced?” By his complete change in attitude, you would think I had just gone on a xenophobic rant! Lol. After ending that call, I decided to call back just to confirm he had actually given me accurate information. CS agent #2 was also obviously American. He also seemed much more knowledgeable about all the little details of the service, and was much more communicative. However, when I asked my final question, he also seemed to freeze up and came off as implying that my question was impertinent and offensive. He made a lot of statements about Amex giving people in other countries jobs, about lots of foreign people answering the phone in America too, ad nauseum. I ended up explaining that I had no problem with people from other countries except when the language barrier and lack of real, experiential knowledge of American finances caused me to lose confidence in them and what they were telling me. I finally got him to admit that Amex had call centers in America and in foreign countries and when/if I called it might be answered here or there. But it was only after he tried to shame me for asking the question that I got a straight answer out of him. Is this what Amex’s legendary premier service has devolved to? Identity politics and shaming the customer. Really, really bad business practice. I know there are lots of Americans that don’t like outsourcing. There’s good reason for that. I wish more people would refuse to do business with companies that do it. I know I won’t, especially after being shamed for asking the simple question. Now I’m thinking of cancelling my Amex card. I have other cards with comparable perks and rewards from banks that don’t outsource.

American Express should change its name to India Express because no longer are you able to speak to an English speaking American when you call customer service. The people Amex hires also bring their rude cultural behavior on the line: condescending, talking down to you, blind transfers, etc. I’d rather not speak to someone who sounds just like the guy who tried to get me to download an executive file on my computer. What are they thinking?? Amex has no oversight of their reps anymore, and these companies only care about the quick buck with no pride or standards.

AMEX provides zero customer service these days. They are completely inaccurate in their information. Chat will tell you one thing and tell you to call the 800 number, they can help you and then you call the 800 number and they let you know they cannot help you like chat said. 800 number told me I could cancel a card to stop recurring charges, the chat people told me no, that even cancelling a card will not stop recurring charges. ??? That doesn’t even make sense! So if I cancel my card, you are going to continue to allow companies to charge my card? Complete waste of time talking to their representatives. They blatantly lie for the fun of it.

After having my AMEX compromised while in Europe, I got promised that I would get a new account number while keeping the original ACCOUNT (ie. open date, no update to credit bureaus etc). That turned out to be a bald-faced lie. Add to the mix that I, like so many others, WILL NOT discuss my financial information with folks in India or the Phillippines, I now only use my AMEX Platinum for lounge access, and the travel perks. I shall not reward them with my business for diminishing the level of service. Discover is truly the premium brand of the 21st century.

Below is a letter i wrote to AmEx after repeatedly trying to fix a couple of charges. If you have a minute, it’s kinda funny…

As per the 8/19/2019 request for additional information on Inquiry #OASxxxx, below is a summary of my disputes between 7/9/2019 and today.

There are THREE charges from Dollar Car Rental and ONE charge from a service that Dollar Car Rental uses for online reservations, called ONLINE TRANSPORT, for a car rental from July 3 to July 8. Two of them are valid, two of them are in dispute.

July 1 – $167.98 – ONLINE TRANSPORT (duplicate – deposit not applied to rental)
July 4 – $612.97 – DOLLAR RENT A CAR (valid)
July 9 – $ 36.15 – DOLLAR RENT A CAR (valid)
July 9 – $255.55 – DOLLAR RENT A CAR (mistake)

On July 1 I made an online reservation at dollar.com (Dollar Car Rental’s official website) and pre-paid $167.98 on my Amex for my rental in Austin, TX from 7/3/19 to 7/8/19.

On July 3 I picked up the vehicle in Austin, TX and drove, at most, 400 miles in the following five days before returing the vehicle on 7/8/19.

On July 4 I was charged $612.97 – I did not notice but the deposit that I paid on July 1 (above) was not applied. This is the reason I have contested the $167.98 charge from ONLINE TRANSPORT. It’s a duplicate. The $167.98 deposit was not applied to my rental.

The total bill for my car rental should have been $649.12 which was done in two charges – one on July 4 for $612.97 and the other on July 9 for $35.66. These are the only two charges I am in agreement with.

On July 9 I was charged $255.55 by DOLLAR – this is where it gets good.

Dollar claimed that I drove the vehicle 6617 miles in less than five days and I was charged $255.55 for driving out of state. To put this in perspective, this is approximately the equivalent of driving from AUSTIN, TX to NEW YORK CITY, then to SEATTLE, WA and then back to AUSTIN, TX – all in five days.

THIS IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. If the vehicle was on the road 24 hours per day for five days straight it would have to maintain an AVERAGE speed of over 55 miles an hour, including stops for gas, food, bathrooms and TRAFFIC.

Someone from Dollar actually wrote an email to AmEx stating that I drove the vehicle 1300+ miles per day. And to make it worse, someone from AmEx read that email, said “OK” and closed the dispute.

What the fuck? AmEx used to be better at dispute resolution – what happened? Did you outsource this function? Because clearly no one is actually thinking about what they are reading, assuming they are reading the vendor responses at all.

LET ME REITERATE – IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO DRIVE 6617 MILES IN FIVE DAYS – NOT EVEN CLOSE.

It is MUCH more likely that the mileage was keyed incorrectly when the vehicle was checked in. For example, the mileage was probably 10790 instead of 17090 as shown on the receipt (attached to this dispute as well as a previous dispute).

In summary – there are two charges in dispute:
1. The $167.98 charge from ONLINE TRANSPORT on July 1, 2019 was not applied to my reservation and is a duplicate.
2. The $255.55 charge from DOLLAR on July 9, 2019 is clearly a mistake or someone at Dollar just being an asshole.

American Express screws up again! Customer “no-service” agent at what seemed to be a call center in India was steadfast in refusing to help with my problem.
The agent at the customer service number for my Platinum business card had received my request for replacement of a damaged Gold card with courtesy and efficiency. However, the FedEx package, which was delivered as promised, contained a Gold card with a new number, not what I requested. No advance phone call or email message asking me if this was acceptable, or even to let me know that the package was en-route. Still today no confirmation of the transaction at all.
Indian agent lied about it saying that an email had gone out–just look for it in your junk mail! When I requested that this email be re-sent to me, he said that was not possible!! Who is running those shops? American Express should establish an easy way for good customers to elevate issues to someone who can provide solutions. It is emotionally taxing to deal with the stonewalling of these people.

I had been an Amex platinum card holder for over 39 years, but no longer. Amex has off-shored its customer service to India with people whose strongly accented language is difficult to comprehend on a telephone connection. They were completely unhelpful in resolving the issue I thought had been resolved with them earlier. Concurrently, Amex raised its annual platinum card fee to $550, which apparently they feel they can justify by issue a metal rather than a plastic card. I don’t know if they still even offer their “concierge” service, but the last time I tried many years ago, Amex had contracted a different research company that was useless.

I’m having that issue right now with AMEX customer service not being able to spell my name right for my priority pass card benefit. It’s taken 2.5 months and it’s still an on-going battle. I won’t even get to use the priority pass benefit since it won’t reach in time for my travels. Sigh.

I could not agree more with your statements about AMEX. Nothing is the same with them anymore and they actually suck. I have several branded cards not to mention a Centurion Card. They have totally lost it and I cannot begin to relive the horror stories and type them out on your blog. Just wanted you to know I agree and everyone I speak with agrees that Amex truly sucks now and customer service is no longer their best attribute. They have simply become too big to care.

THE SERVICE IS AWFUL, BECAUSE THE SUPERVISORS AND TRAINERS ARE RUDE TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICES AGENTS CAUSING THEM THE (AGENTS) TO NOT FEEL VALUED ANYMORE. TRAINING THE AGENTS ARE EVEN WORST AND THEY NEED TO INSPIRE, TEACH THE AGENTS WHO WOULD LOVE TO DO BETTER BUT NO LONGER HAVE THE DRIVE IN THEM TO DO SO. PAY, LUNCH, IS LIKE WORKING IN A CHOP SHOP. NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE SERVICE IS NOT GOOD. THE NEEDS TO CARE MORE ABOUT HOW THE AGENTS ARE TREATED.

I will never do business with AMEX again due to their poor customer services across two cards – Delta Amex Gold and AMEX Platinum.

I know this is an old thread…but I just had the biggest let down ever with AmEx…over a $27 fee. Even if I was not totally in the right, their customer service put me through so many hoops they should have just refunded me the $27, especially after all the money I pay to them, on time and sometimes before the payment is due! I chose them over any other card service because of the platinum/luxury experience and they thoroughly disappointed me. So clearly, not much has changed. So Sad customer service has become non-existent anymore…especially at the platinum level…

Every idea I held in my head about the “5 star service “ you get from Amex has been blown to smitherings… and I don’t even HAVE my card yet! I’ve already encountered enough issues to warrant 2 phone calls and 3 chatty sessions. Every single thing that’s been said here is 100% true . The chat agents are EXTREMELY rude . As are the ones I spoke to on the phone . But the chat agents in particular , were on a whole other level of awful.. and if you are doing what a smart person would do and attempt to gather and save all info, offer codes, chat exchanges , etc. , or the agents info, prepare to be rebuffed or flat out denied .. I screen shot EVERYTHING. Who knows when my chat history might Suddenly “vanish”.. (likely exactly when I’d need it..). When asking for a csr’s info, they gave me a first name only and said they could not give me their csr# when I objected to the fact that going off of just a very common first name would likely not help me down the road if I needed to reference them at some point .. now maybe it is true that they can’t give me their rep # but I sure know I’ve called plenty of places that did !! And unprompted at that . Some even have that as part of their initial greeting.. that , to me, shows transparency and accountability .. I honestly get 1000% better customer service from my “lowly” capital one card.. say what you will about cap one but I’ve been with them for 10 yrs and their customer service has never let me down.. For me to have such negative feelings in a matter of 3 days of signing up for my card and without even receiving it yet doesn’t bode well for predictions down the road .. After many years of hard work and discipline to repair my horrible credit , I thought I was rewarding my myself by finally entering a realm of top tier credit and service that I had believed were part of the perks of being an Amex card holder. I was thrilled to have been approved for the highest level card in the “blue” series with a very generous credit limit .. and that’s about where the thrills ended .. The first message that popped up after I got my approval and my credit limit was notifying me that one of my first perks was the ability to be able to use my card immediately with a temporary card number so that I may use it before my card actually gets to me… so after I press the button to continue Juan to get this number… Suddenly a new page pops up that says “Sorry , our system is down and cannot process your request” . Of course when I called to ask about this the agent says to me “oh well it only flashes on the screen once it if you didn’t get it then that’s too bad you’ll just have to wait for your card to get here”… as someone stated above… This actually has nothing to do with complaining about not getting a free perk or what have you and everything to do with the attitudes of the representatives when you speak to them . In my opinion this certainly isn’t the experience I would want a brand new customer who just signed up for a card two seconds ago, to experience… WELCOME TO AMEX! .. :-/

Amex used to be my go to card like many others. However, in the last couple of years customer service has gone way downhill and good luck trying to get someone that grasps the English language. Most of them now speak broken English and don’t comprehend the language. I’ve had to repeat myself multiple times which is extremely frustrating. The only way to affect any change is by hitting a company in their pocketbook where it counts. If most AMEX customers feel like this way, they will be using other cards as I have and AMEX will see their revenue dwindle. I just had to call the extended warranty department which was a total joke. They used to have very professional native English-speaking representatives. Not anymore. Who wants to file a claim with representatives who can barely speak and understand the language. I had to ask for a supervisor and even though he was very polite, we had to repeat myself multiple times.

So, I understand that this is an old post but I found it by googling and everything you said resonated with me so much I felt the need to comment.

I am a longtime Amex customer (I obtained my first card with them in 1981) and (not that it should really matter) but a relatively high spender with them (between business & personal I charge $200,000-$300,000 annually on my Amex cards) plus, I have a stellar payment history.

Let me start by saying: Amex used to have the BEST phone reps in the business- friendly, knowledgeable & efficient. They were far superior to the call agents at any other bank I dealt with. What the heck happened??

I have (thankfully) only had to call in with an issue a few times in the last 5 years. Each and every time I experienced what you did— (after “longer than normal wait times”) bored, unhelpful agents with scant social skills who certainly never made me feel as if Amex valued my business. Today I had a minor issue- my SPG points did not post as they always do and I spent over 30 minutes with 3 different reps on 2 phone calls (the first one unceremoniously transferred my call to Starwood- even though this is an Amex issue) before someone finally offered an explanation.

On the 2nd call, after 20 minutes of run-around I requested to speak with a supervisor who (at last) figured out what caused the issue (evidently if you pay off your account before the cycle closing date it delays posting of your points- who knew ???)

The sad thing was how totally disinterested and unhelpful the agent was. The impression I was left with is that Amex does not care about me.

A few minutes later I called Verizon about something and a personable, friendly agent solved my issue in under 2 minutes and then we laughed together about how simple the solution was. The direct contrast was startling.

If a cell phone company has superior customer support to Amex — Amex is doing something wrong. And you nailed it when you mentioned “culture”. These things always come from the top.

I suppose that Amex knows they have great credit cards, and they figure they don’t need to emphasize customer service.

But be careful Amex- for years your cards were my “go to” for almost all of my spending- but Chase Sapphire Reserve is now impressing me with its benefits. I find myself shifting more of my spending its way.

Don’t get too complacent Amex or it could end up affecting your bottom line.

I hope someone has an idea about what I can do about a recent Amex platinum problem. What is the best way to go up the ladder to try to dispute and Amex charge to my account by Amex Travel? It is a long and tragic story but suffice it to say a sympathetic agent at Amex travel restored points after a trip was canceled due to a personal tragedy. She assured me that I no longer needed to contact the airlines, that the rewards were restored and that she was sorry for my loss. 3 months later I have been billed by Amex for the entire trip. They refuse to budge and say I must pay. I am getting nowhere with either arm of the company (travel or customer service/billing). They offered to fight with the airlines but will not guarantee a removal of the charges. At this point I am ready to ask them to take the miles back. I am so frustrated. Any ideas about where to go next?

Amex has awful customer service! I called to report a fraudulent transaction that had been declined due to my balance being overlimit. The agent who had a heavy accent failed to see a problem. I tried to explain it 4 or five different ways. The guy was just dense. He told me the charge had been declined so there was nothing to worry about. I still monitor that account daily to make sure I don’t see any more fraudulent transactions. I mean here is a good reason to be overlimit fraudulent charges will get declined. Customer service was non-existent in this situation. I remember a time when I could speak to someone at Amex and be confident they could comprehend what I was saying. The last few times I suspect maybe I need to learn some Hindi to help the conversation. I shouldn’t have to do that from a company that has “American” in its name.

Absolutely awful. I use to work in the premium support division of AWS. So I have worked in a large call center, if not the largest. I understand how the process works. First I contacted to them over chat. The first chat agent got disconnected. Might have been my fault not sure. Chatted back in and was told they can’t help me over chat and I need to call in. I just spent an hour and a half on the phone with American express to find out why my credit limit was decreased. I don’t use the card so I did not care about getting it raised back up. Just wanted to know why. I talked to 17 different people, 3 of those were managers. Got hung up on 3 times. 1 of those times was a manager. One of the agents pretended he couldn’t hear me even though he responded to something I said. I was given a “direct” line to the people I needed to talk to. After going through the process of looking up my account with the american express automated system, I got an error that my call couldn’t be completed. I have finally given up. I will be cancelling all my AMEX accounts.

It will all be outsourced to the Phillapines by 2018. Fact.

Amex has gone to shit the last 5 years. Been with them since 1995. Just like any outsourced CS they try to pacify and help with very little. Dell went this same route with India and Philippines CS and they went to shit as well.
There is no longer a person with a brain making decisions, only software and algorithms with Indian CS to back it up.
My last debacle was a double payment that was made in January. My card was shut down and when I called CS they said I had a returned payment and that was the reason for the card being shut down. I said I paid the bill twice and ask for one of them to be returned. How can that be derogatory? One minute while I check with my supervisor!
It’s a total shit show at one of America’s late great CC company’s.
They should call it India Express and be ashamed of what they have done to a once great American enterprise.

The customer service has turned to complete crap, and I let them know that every time I speak to one of the representatives. I was, in fact, promised 50,000 points, and they are actually fighting with me (even though I have their documented offer) that the “call logs” from our conversations (me and the past representatives) stated it was granted under these conditions. So they are slithering out of something they blatantly offered me to become a platinum member. I have been a platinum member for 2 months, I’m leaving. They are rude, curt, and lack empathy. There is no more customer service at American Express. It stinks!

I called Amex today for he first time from the Uk, not impressed!The most unfriendly woman who made me feel I was wasting her time with my questions, definitely not
especting that, really dissapointed.

Card did not work in london, plenty of credit (called ahead to tell them of my European destinations).

When it would not work they blamed the chip..worked when back in Canada. Then they said merchants should use the strip..when I hand my card to a hotel, restaurant or retailer I think they know what to do. OR tell me to mention the strip before I leave. So for my trouble, embaressment, lack of financial support while in a foreign country they offered me a shiny new $50 dollar bill.

I use the card all the time $40-60K on it a year. I am cutting it up and sending it to their CEO….

I just had the worst customer service experience next to Comcast. American Express customer service used to be delightful to talk to so I’m at a loss as to what has changed. I just got the rudest two reps ever, condescending, etc. I’m a 17 year card member and now I’m going to leave. Goodbye Delta American Express Platinum – there are other point cards.

I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve had several terrible interactions with Amex. I’ve been hung up on once. Put on hold for 20 minutes another time–and by hold, I mean the agent put the phone down on the counter when I was midsentence and picked it back up after I heard background noise for 20 minutes. I only stayed on the line for the principle. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, my problem was magically fixed. I don’t even remember what the problem was, but I do remember the experience of being lied to and played. I’m at the point where I’m trying to be a bad customer for Amex–milking their products with as little as possible revenue for the company. Petty, yes. But a little goodwill would have gone a long way…

My call went very well and I did get matched to the 35k even after 6 months of owning the SPG card. The agent told me I’d get a call within 48 hours from a supervisor who could help me. I did and not only did he issue me the additional 10k points, but also thanked me for being a good member. I also got 3k from the Hilton card but feel like I could get more if I pushed

HA HA HA HA! I can’t believe you wrote a post on this. No extra points for you..so they have HORRIBLE customer service. I have had great customer service from my limited experiences from Amex.

I have generally received great service from AMEX. I have my own personal rep I can contact as well if the need arises. The absolute worst by far is BARCLAYS. They are a disaster. With a tech issue I tried to redeem 300K points. It took 3 calls over three weeks and a formal complaint to CFPB to get it resolved. This is not the first time. They te.. you on the phone that your issue could take them 10-14 days to resolve. After about a month you get pissed. I dont call these companies constantly either. Chase has gotten better. Citi is generally ok. Capital One is a toss up

I had requested a transfer of credit from one card to be applied to the balance of another card. They said this would take 2-5 days, but most likely it will only take 2 days. After a week I contacted them through chat and they said to wait longer. At 2 weeks I spoke to a supervisor who promised to fix it and call back within 24 hours, and he also promised compensation for the trouble. 5 days later I did not hear from them and spoke to another supervisor who was awful and refused to help me. After 3 weeks they finally made the transfer which is totally unacceptable. Amex is going downhill fast.

As someone pointed out that AMEX outsourcing customer service overseas is the major cause of all the terrible experiences. It’s been 2-3 years as I’ve noticed, similar to Citi bank that AMEX outsoucing the costomer serce overseas in India, you can easily tell by their heavy accent.

I have a long credit history with AMEX having both Biz and personal total of 5 accounts which is the Max limit number. Every time, after summiting a new application, I get a pending message telling that I’ve reached the Max. numbers of the limit. I then call to cancel one account, that is usually handled by the agents in the US, then I call the Application processing office to tell that I’ve just cancelled one account. The application such important issue, AMEX let the office in India handle it, the agent usually tells the application will be reconsidered and it takes 3-5 days. It’s very concerning not just sub-quality service, also the security of all the personal info. is in those 3rd world management hands.

Recently left Amex behind after two decades. I consider them to be the Kodak’s of credit cards. The benefits have failed to adapt to the competition and customer service has not lived up to the strong image once held by the brand. It’s just a matter of time before they’re absorbed by another company.

Recently I’ve been having worse customer service from citi and chase compared to Amex and Barclays.

I had same experience with your wife. Just applied for the Hilton surpass less than one months. Called and tried to get extra points, the agent was blatant, she said ” what do you mean you wanna extra points, you have already accepted the offer!” After transferred to a specialist, she said we don’t offer courtesy points. And you had already accepted the offer. Then I asked her to escalate me to a manager. She said the manager would tell you the same and mentioned that the manager might not be available. She said she would make a note for the manager and would call me back until Friday. Nothing happened!
Another issue is last year, I got several return payments for my credit card. I linked the AMEX credit card payment with my AMEX saving account, because sometimes my checking accounts do not have enough money. That month I have a high spending on my AMEX card. So I paid my three card with AMEX savings, i forget I already exceed the monthly limit for 6 traction for the saving accounts. So I got three return payment from the AMEX savings with AMEX credit cards. They charged me three times $20 for each and $60 total for the return payment. I asked them to waive the fee since it is my first time. They waived the first one, but still charged me $40. And they said, they cannot do anything about it. I was not happy but it is my fault. Later, when I applied for a SPG card, they used this to against me. They said I have return payment, so they cannot approve for a whole year. I explained to them, I used their saving account and they can check the money inside. However, nothing they can do except the terrible service they provided with me. I got another two return payment from CITI and barclay, they happily waived my fee and said it is not my fault.
I

When u try to get something you’re not entitled to, don’t complain when it doesn’t go your way. And then to complain about Serve, the product you try to manipulate via MS, give me a break.

Shaun,

Same terrible customer experience here with a recent forced customer service encounter with Amex Chat, as I try and avoid any need to ever engage any customer service at any company online! The “chat” was full of canned responses and codecending tones, clearly unintentional but a result of a non-English speaking agent in an overseas customer contact center. Was promised a follow-up call within 24 hours that never came and 12 days have passed and issue still unresolved. In addition to the end of the Costco card relationship, the JetBlue co-brand relationship was also ended with Barclay’s picking up the portfolio. I agree with you 100% that this is a corporate culture issue and the most likely root cause is the pressure on Wall Street financial firms to cut billions in expenses to enhance shareholder returns, which has lead to thousands of layoffs in recent weeks at these firms, with the resulting cuts in client services which will later produce plummeting revenues and then the whole cycle will begin to repeat as shareholders then demand investment in customer service in US-based call centers to improve revenue!

They haven’t been very good for quite a long time. A little over two years ago, I received a targeted offer for 100,000 MR points for a business platinum card. I already had a business gold card for another business, but thought that I could have the platinum as well and get the bonus. I received the card and, because of the two businesses issue and the gold versus platinum issue, went on chat to confirm that I was eligible for the bonus. I laid out my situation exactly and the chat rep confirmed I was eligible. I kept the chat log. I then read that there might be problems, so before I paid my $10,000 tax bill with my AMEX with a fee just under $200, I again chatted with them, laid out the situation and my planned transaction and they again confirmed in writing that my transaction would qualify me for the points. Again kept the log of the chat. Made the transaction, did not get the points. Provided them with their own chat logs, did not get the points. Over the course of six months, called, chatted, snail mailed and no points. At various times was told that I would get phone calls and didn’t, was told that a supervisor called and talked to me when they didn’t (they had put notes about the nonexistent conversation in their system), finally after 6 months, received a letter from just below C level management that I would not be receiving my points. Called in to cancel and received retention bonus of 50,000 points. They have no idea what their staff are doing and will not stand behind their written communication.

My wife and I both called Amex when the 35K promotion came out and wondered if our cards we had just gotten in February could be moved up to 35K. We were told no by 1st person and then the supervisor. They said our 25K cards were promotions and they could not do one promotion on top of the other. We were just very unhappy with Amex.

If AMEX is so horrible…then why do you continue to get cards from them?

I assume if a 300k Hilton offer came out, you wouldn’t get the card, right?

You sign up for cards, get the bonus, then mainly stop using the cards. Rinse. Repeat. What incentive does AMEX have to providing you great service? You’re not a good customer.

Prior to receiving the recent clarity on the new citi Costco credit card that would be transferred from Amex, I got several conflicting stories about the cashback earnings from Amex customer service agents. Stories ranged from ‘don’t use the card anymore because you won’t get cashback’ to referral to a useless website to ‘yes, you will get cashback but not sure how’. Family and friends also received confusing and contradictory information. I can understand that Amex doesn’t want to provide full support of its dying Costco credit card anymore, but this poor service could influence my perception of their other cards as well.

I too called when I read it was possible to get courtesy points for the 35K SPG bonus after having just received 25K for my 3K spend. My first call a female with a thick accent said she could not do anything because my points from my last statement were still pending with SPG. Really? 600 points pending has anything to do with what I asked? A few days later I did a chat and got this garbage about how new account bonuses are “time specific.” This is the first time in my dealings with Amex that they have purposely went out of their way to not be helpful. Since though I was asking for something beyond the norm, I hope that it is just their financial difficulties that is causing them to be less generous. If I was really owed something and Amex would not comply, then I would close my accounts. As it is, I still like my Amex products.

Had similar frustrating experience. Received platinum offer by mail for 100k points. No one recognized code; transferred 9 times to get to “right” person, only to be told we were not eligible – after 75 agonizing minutes. Well, why did u send the offer to me? Thought we could then mail in application for better experience but no one would give us an address (we had discarded the return envelope). No address after several more calls. Totally ridiculous! Can’t wait for their next offer to arrive. (Not!)

Shawn,
Thanks for restoring my sanity with your post (and the responses). I have been working with Amex since December on their insurance product for a broken iPhone screen. It has been the worst customer service experience of my life. I have spent hours and hours to save myself $300 and we still don’t have it resolved yet. When I searched online folks just raved about what great service they got with this product. I should have looked more closely at the dates. I no longer see this as a particular benefit of the card after having them lose, review, lose, review… several times. We have already exceeded the opportunity cost of my time and it isn’t even resolved yet.

Costco kicked Amex to the curb. Amex is sure surely loosing it foothold the credit card war.

about matching hilton pts to the new 75k pts bonus, spent more than 1/2 hrs together waiting on the phone & conversing with 2 supervisors & 1 manager but got nil, nothing!
the present offer & mine is a considerable difference of 25K pts.; the 1st supervisor refused to transfer my call/ request to a manger, insisting that the answer will be the same. then, i hung up & called again; speaking with another supervisor who said no but ok to trasnfer my call to a manager. this manager said that 25K pts would cost amex about $1k (funny). i didn’t care to argue or correct him; instead suggesting to him that i’ll an upcoming purchase of $500-600 which i could use the amex hilton cc. his reply was still that the cost for additional 25K pts is about $1k, more than my planned purchase (darn it, these outsourced CSRs from philippines have no clue of what the correct value or know of talking about). but, he said could issue a statement credit to my account? i asked how much? $20. what a joke, i told him don’t bother as i don’t want it.
regardless, i may try again next week but during day time or regular business hrs. when amx may have much better customer service, more friendly & diplomatic that the outcome would be somewhat better. will update…

I have the platinum card and enjoy many of its features but I’m underwhelmed by customer service. Amex offers a 7,500 MR bonus if you refer a friend and the friend is approved for the card. I made the referral in December and received an email confirmation from Amex. My friend, using a link in the email he received from Amex prompted by my referral, applied and was instantly approved. In March, I talked to three representatives about when I get my points and was told Amex has no record of the referral. I offered to send them a copy of the email sent to me in December and on two separate occasions was told not to send it in until someone contacted me which would happen within 72 hours. No one has ever contacted me after two weeks. Even worse, the last rep. I spoke with who works in the membership rewards department went through the account notes and said that the previous representatives never set up a “case” to investigate my complaint. She promised to do that on Monday and to expect a call by Thursday. As of today (Friday), no call.

AMEX has definitely seen better days. Outsourcing customer service to another country is a big gamble. No matter how courteous the reps are, I find they have minimal latitude besides towing the company line. Hoping they can turn it around.

Of course you deserve a better deal than one you agreed to and were happy to take. How dare they not bow to every whim and want of scheming customers trying bilk each deal for their own maximum gain at the company’s expense. Do they not know you are a travel hacker and blogger. The nerve of these companies to live up to there end of an agreement and not give any complaining mooches more free stuff. How dare they?!

Recently I tried to sign up for the Braille statements and I called the foreign call center associated with my Amex airline card. The CSR’s had no idea what I was talking about. I tweeted @AskAmex and they refered me back to the call center rather than taking ownership of the problem.

Finally I called the Platinum Card call center which is US based, and the CSR was able to look up in the system and perform the transaction to setup my account for Braille statements including on other cards besides the Platinum.

My conclusion is the customer service is pretty bad unless you have the Platinum.

Similar experience trying to match the 35K SPG offer– three calls and nothing but headache.

I have actually been really surprised by how Citi has completely dropped the ball on the citi 20k points for 0 spend error offer that went out in December. They still have not honored it 3 months later and every time we send them a SM their response is we know there was a problem and we are still looking into it….how long does it take to look into. IF you know there was an offer on the website then you bite the bullet and honor it…it has put a sour taste in my mouth. Even if they were not going to honor the offer just come out and say it…doing nothing just looks lazy.

I agree with Shawn’s assessment that Citi’s customer service rep is on point (however i still think Chase is slightly better in terms of friendliness). I had an issue where i bought concert tickets via ticketmaster and i didn’t get the x2 bonus since Ticketmaster was classified differently (only 1x). Customer service rep was able to handle it and all i needed to do was to send in a copy of the concert tickets receipt and they granted the extra points under the entertainment category.

Their chat lines are literally the poorest customer service agents on the planet. They are obviously using English sounding names(“James”, “Tommy” etc..) but their language is not what we would call “American” English(they put verbs in odd places and use odd tenses..”this being ready..” and use terms “..would gladly be pleasing…” that a US based rep simply would not use).
That being said, I have no real issue with it except they have no real power to truly correct things and I get very little comfort that they even understand what I am asking. Most, not all, chat queries are a bit complex in nature. As such, these agents should be empowered to fix an issue. But most importantly, they should convey what AMEX supposedly stands for: Quality.
Alas, those days are gone.
Conversely, most phone agents seem a bit more qualified but only after requesting an agent in the US and then holding.

everyone here is a bunch of idiots. name me one bank that has BETTER customer service than Amex. Oh right, you can’t.

I’ve been a customer of Amex for 22 years, and recently cancelled several cards because of their poor service. You would think that cancellations of cards by a long-term customer would motivate their customer service to try and rectify the problems I presented. Nope!

During my latest GC/MO run to WM, I noticed that serve/bluebird cards were barely visible in several of the stores, and WM is heavily pushing their own prepaid card with 1% cashback at WM and 3% at wm.com. Theirs is a Visa so it has true debit capability and wide ATM acceptance. Why would a low budget penny-pinching customer ever bother with Bluebird? Considering the ridiculous merchant fees AMEX charges, you’d think they would give some cashback to entice new users.

On the 29th I applied for the SPG card (used your link) and it went into pending. I called to see if there was anything I could do to push it through since I knew I was pushing it as it was my 5th Amex. Unfortunately it was after hours and I spoke with outsourced help from three different people that spanned a 45 minute phone call and it went no where. Fortunately it did have a happy ending as I received an approval email early in the morning (saved me another call) but it definitely left me with a bad taste as far as Amex service is concerned.

The first guy was the most clueless, followed by the second guy who literally said “I have no idea why the last representative blindly transferred me to you when they should see this information on their screen.” Rep #2 told me he would have to transfer me back to the department I just spoke with as it was a new accounts related question (will I get the higher bonus if I’m approved after the deadline). Rep#3 reiterated that rep#1 should’ve been able to push the application through to get an immediate decision but according to him he couldn’t do anything about it as it had already been sent to another department and it was after hours.

Didn’t really believe any of them knew fully what was going on. I know outsourced help sucks, but they fell short of my already low expectations. I felt like I was on the phone with Comcast trying to deal with a service issue. I don’t think Amex want’s to be associated with that level of service…

they REALLY are just aweful! They don’t have secure messaging online like other banks and half the time the live chat either doesn’t work or is slow as molasses. when you call you get stuck in a frustrating loop of automated options and when you finally get a hold of someone sometimes you get disconnected or they don’t speak very good English. and they make you jump through hoops to prove that you earned any sort of referral bonus (except SPG, that went smoothly). infuriates me to no end!

Overall, I agree that Amex’s customer service has gone downhill. But the quality varies. Sometimes, the CSRs are very polite and helpful in resolving issues. Other times, I get a huge runaround with calls re-routed to India, the Philippines, Canada, and various US call centers. Many of these re-routed calls are cold transfers, unlike Chase where the CSR stays on the line and *asks* to be released from the call before turning you over to the next CSR.

I miss the days when I could email them and have a paper trail. Their chat function is a joke. I hate using it…..

The worst! Absolute worst!

Personally, I think the way Amex did the Bluebird/Serve shutdowns are an example of their bad customer service. If they thought putting $5000/month on your card was too much, just lower the limit. If they were suspicious of someone having activity that was against the terms and conditions, just call it for what it is. The “unusual activity” they claimed seems to be another lie, just like how they lied to your wife about the internet being down. I don’t like when companies are vague and don’t call it for what it is. It’s much better if a company just lays out their terms clearly and then abides by them.

Didn’t have it as bad as you and your wife did. But calls have been less and less pleasant, even with supervisors. Point blank rude at times. Asking for the 35k match was a horrible experience.

I was planning to call amex for the same reasons but looks like I will not bother. Talking about customer service, lately I have received a very good response from Discover. Is that a temporary thing or others agree

I like your blog and have got some good deals because of it. One question I do have, and would love to see how all the big bloggers would answer, but would you consider yourself a good customer or a bad customer from the card issuer’s point of view? If you were an executive from Amex, Chase, or any of the big banks would you want YOU as a customer?

The banks/airlines set terms and we abide by them. We can get 12 bonuses for the same card just as they can make Emrites 1st class go from 80k mile to 180k miles in the middle of the night. But where I think you are wrong is railing on Amex customer service because you didn’t get to exploit their process enough.

Amex customer service is literally the worst. I’ve been a member since 18 (college green card). There customer service used to be great, now is it terrible. I’ve walked away from actually using my cards with them (keep one for AAoA and one SPG for lounge access).

I used to have the Platinum – requested the bonus points advanced (um already paid bill, made all the charges, why should I have to wait 30 extra days for promised points wth). The supervisor accused my of fraud and told me I got the card for the 100k signup only and have no intent on keeping the card.

There chat is useless. They actively go out of their way to avoid allowing you to actually use value out of MR.

FU Amex. Bye!