AMEX:Amazingly Bad Customer Service

[alpenrock]

I am a Costco member. They tried to get me to to open an American Express card. So one day I did. They said that the renewal charge will go on the account. I received the cards and never activated them. I thought that my Costco member ship was running out but I never received a statement from American Express. By now I have moved but I did have a forwarding address. I called American Express and told them I moved, gave them new address and then activated my card. Nothing was said to me. A month later I got a bill with 60.00 in services fees. I called and told them it was a problem. they waived all the fees and I paid my membership. I also noticed that my initial limit was 5000.00 and now it is 500.00. I thought it was not big deal as I don't need the card. Well my wife and I saw a pool table at Costco for 750.00. I wanted to use the American Express because I will get 3% back. I called them and they gave me a bad hassle about How I am a credit risk. What a joke...They would have to take a week and review then let me know the answer.

Well if you know how things go at Costco it probably won't be there in a week. At that point I closed my account. I will never use them again....

[gman]

I am a Costco member. They tried to get me to to open an American Express card. So one day I did. They said that the renewal charge will go on the account. I received the cards and never activated them. I thought that my Costco member ship was running out but I never received a statement from American Express. By now I have moved but I did have a forwarding address. I called American Express and told them I moved, gave them new address and then activated my card. Nothing was said to me. A month later I got a bill with 60.00 in services fees. I called and told them it was a problem. they waived all the fees and I paid my membership. I also noticed that my initial limit was 5000.00 and now it is 500.00. I thought it was not big deal as I don't need the card. Well my wife and I saw a pool table at Costco for 750.00. I wanted to use the American Express because I will get 3% back. I called them and they gave me a bad hassle about How I am a credit risk. What a joke...They would have to take a week and review then let me know the answer.

Well if you know how things go at Costco it probably won't be there in a week. At that point I closed my account. I will never use them again....

So, what did they do wrong? Setting your limit from $5000 to $500? You knew it and you chose not to do anything about it.

By the way, you don't get 3% from your $750 purchase anyway. You get 0.25%.

[Sylvestre]

Seems you barely did anything to deserve anything yet amex still waived 60 in fees. Then you saw your limit, didn't say anything until you needed it, and amex is willing to look into it. I'd say that's spectacular service.

Seesh, company doesn't bend over backwards to your whims and you call that bad service?

[Chrispy]

Seems you barely did anything to deserve anything yet amex still waived 60 in fees. Then you saw your limit, didn't say anything until you needed it, and amex is willing to look into it. I'd say that's spectacular service.

Seesh, company doesn't bend over backwards to your whims and you call that bad service?

+1...I fail to see how they've done anything but provide outstanding customer service.

ANY credit card company, upon requesting to have your credit limit DECREASED warns you that once the change has been processed, if you ever wish to increase again you will be subject to a credit check.

Obviously your credit isn't up to par, and their preliminary check for a pre-approval came back requiring additional information.

They did nothing wrong.

[brunes]

+1...I fail to see how they've done anything but provide outstanding customer service.

ANY credit card company, upon requesting to have your credit limit DECREASED warns you that once the change has been processed, if you ever wish to increase again you will be subject to a credit check.

Obviously your credit isn't up to par, and their preliminary check for a pre-approval came back requiring additional information.

They did nothing wrong.

Agreed. If the OP made this post looking for sympathy I think they came to the wrong place.

As an aside, CC companies don't reduce limits from 5K to $500 for no reason. The OP likely *IS* a high credit risk.

[WHO]

Yeah, that's not really bad customer service to waive 60$ in fees, and the part that you "assume" there will be delays in treating your request, you really don't know what the result would've been.
You're entitled to your opinion, but you won't find a lot of people who will side with you.
AMEX has so many REAL bad customer service stories (I was a victim myself) that yours is just a misunderstanding story - at best.

[adamtheman]

I think the OP is probably mad that she was accused of being a credit risk. Amex is notoriously bad for randomely doing financial reviews on people. Yes, it is 100% their right to do it....... and you can't get mad, but still, let's say you had an amex card you used all the time and it had a $10,000 limit. One day, you tried to use it and it wouldn't work. You call amex and they tell you that your account has been selected for a financial review. Your account is suspended. You need to send them T4's with your income and paystubs. Wouldn't you be a bit hesitant to use their card? It's almost like AMEX has treated some people like criminals before.

[spf1971]

I think the OP is probably mad that she was accused of being a credit risk. Amex is notoriously bad for randomely doing financial reviews on people. Yes, it is 100% their right to do it....... and you can't get mad, but still, let's say you had an amex card you used all the time and it had a $10,000 limit. One day, you tried to use it and it wouldn't work. You call amex and they tell you that your account has been selected for a financial review. Your account is suspended. You need to send them T4's with your income and paystubs. Wouldn't you be a bit hesitant to use their card? It's almost like AMEX has treated some people like criminals before.

If something similar had happened you could be upset but from what the OP stated, his case was not even similar to your scenario so I don't see how he has any right to be upset.

[brunes]

I think the OP is probably mad that she was accused of being a credit risk. Amex is notoriously bad for randomely doing financial reviews on people. Yes, it is 100% their right to do it....... and you can't get mad, but still, let's say you had an amex card you used all the time and it had a $10,000 limit. One day, you tried to use it and it wouldn't work. You call amex and they tell you that your account has been selected for a financial review. Your account is suspended. You need to send them T4's with your income and paystubs. Wouldn't you be a bit hesitant to use their card? It's almost like AMEX has treated some people like criminals before.

Again - they don't reduce limits for no reason. If they do a review, and your credit score is still reasonable (likely has a wide margin of error), they would not change your limit.

If however your score has dropped significantly, of course they will lower your limit. Getting granted a credit line is not a license to then go and ruin your credit.

Lenders have to protect themselves from defaults, in today's credit crunch more than ever. What likely happened to the OP is their score dropped and then they got reviewed because AMEX did a large scale review of all accounts after the subprime crisis hit.

[movieman]

But Amex do have awful service. I've had Amex cards in the UK for twenty years so I know they do over there (they once cancelled my cards by mistake while I was in Hawaii), and I'd hoped that the Canadian branch would be as good as the US one (who always provided good service when I had to deal with them), but apparently not.

I tried to transfer my cards from the UK to Canada using their 'global transfer' process which, like, is supposed to let you transfer cards from one country to another based on your credit record in the other country. First guy said it would be fine, second one called back and said they couldn't possibly give me a card because I might put lots of money on it and not pay and told me to withdraw my application and call another number, which I called and they had no idea what the second guy was talking about.

Eventually they gave me a card with a $1000 limit and acted like they were being nice to me; meanwhile I have my UK platinum and gold cards in my wallet with vast credit limits. A company where three 'customer service' people give three completely different responses is not providing good customer service.

[canadianbiz]

You call amex and they tell you that your account has been selected for a financial review. Your account is suspended. You need to send them T4's with your income and paystubs. Wouldn't you be a bit hesitant to use their card? It's almost like AMEX has treated some people like criminals before.

I really don't know what the big deal is. If you have an Amex card and they downgrade your limit, if you are so unhappy about it, just deal with another company. That would be the day when I would send them T4's and Paystubs.
Lets face it, if your credit is good you are making them money. They want you to be a client of theirs. If your credit is good and they treat you like crap, I would be using another card. Thats if one needs Credit Cards anyway.