But surely their is value in the brand when it comes to customer perceptions about how good Amex support is or how easy chargebacks are. I agree that thinking

But surely their is value in the brand when it comes to customer perceptions about how good Amex support is or how easy chargebacks are. I agree that thinking Amex can be a "status" symbol is foolish unless they really up their marketing budget (after all, anyone could become a lifestyle brand if they tried). More importantly, thats not something consumers care about when picking a credit card.