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My grandma passed away few months ago and I had to cancel an air ticket that I bought through Priceline. When I called Chase to use their travel protection, th

My grandma passed away few months ago and I had to cancel an air ticket that I bought through Priceline. When I called Chase to use their travel protection, the CSR redirected me to eclaimsline.com. I filed a claim and uploaded my credit card statement showing the charge and the email receipt from Priceline. few days later they updated the claim demanding statement from both my airlines (booked on two different airlines) stating that I did not receive any refund (or partial), terms and conditions of ticket cancelation from both airlines, T&C from Priceline because i purchased via Priceline, a copy of the death certificate and statement from Priceline confirming that I didn't receive a refund or credit. And all of these statements must show the company logo (email address wasn't enough apparently). Worst part was United didn't have a template for no refunds issued for this ticket and the CSR who emailed me chose a template that mentions credit for future flights in case of cancelation due to family emergency. My claim was denied because of the word credit in that email and I had to email few times before they finally agreed to pay me. This took well over 5months. So yea, I'm really thinking about canceling my Reserve card and getting an Amex Platinum.

phil21 10y ago
This is the exact reason I keep my Amex. I have yet to have a bad customer service experience with them, and I've asked for some pretty ridiculous stuff in retrospect. Every time I sign up for a new card (google credit I'm looking at you) the customer experience is just absolutely horrible. I mean rip-you-off type horrible - where you enter a bank account for autopay, and they then charge you late fees for 2 months because "our terms of service say adding an autopay account may take up to 90 days". The other card I've signed up for in the last 18mo was a store credit card to get 20% off a one time purchase - and they couldn't even get that right. I had to have my lawyer call and threaten to sue before they finally credited the proper amount and closed my account. It's just ridiculous what most folks seem to put up with. I've tried to cancel my Amex since I pay a yearly fee which I find stupid. But each time I deal with any other credit card company I pretty much realize Amex is in a league of it's own. If they start to dip on customer service it's all over for them. That is the only thing keeping them alive on life support at this point, but that's really all it will take as long as their competition is so utterly anti-consumer. I'm starting to avoid doing business with companies that don't take Amex. It's just not worth the hassle of dealing with anyone else. My Costco membership is no more due to this. That all said - it's just a stupid way to pay for stuff. I'd prefer to use cash all things considered, but unfortunately that's generally not possible this day in age.
- manigandham 10y ago
  > it's just a stupid way to pay for stuff Why? Credit cards are faster, safer, easier and simpler than using cash - and come from with benefits and service. How is cash really better outside of anonymity and quick transactions these days?
  - wantoncl 10y ago
    Sorry this is so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter version. > Why? Credit cards are faster No. There's no electronic lookup to verify cash is valid. No swipe, no chip with cash. > safer Nope. Thanks to Target and Home Depot breaches, plus some other hacks, I've had to replace cards 4 times in the last 18 months (3 in 6 months). Those last 3 all had chips too, so much for being safer or more secure. To say nothing of skimmers or card cloning. Fortunately they don't use RFID in credit cards or else it would be double. I will note that I was never on the hook for fraudulent charges, so protection is a definite advantage to credit. Amex has also been secure for me throughout my history with them. > easier and simpler Open wallet. Hand cash over. Get change, if any. This is the same effort as taking out a card, swiping/inserting it, and putting it back in my wallet. The only advantage to credit is online purchasing, which excludes cash transactions by its very nature. > and come from with benefits and service Very true. Except for purchase protection however, these always require a membership fee, and not all services offered are useful. I've seen high-end card services that "book your travel, hotel, everything" for you, but are still subject to blackout dates. So what am I paying $450/year for if you can't overcome that? (Takes me 15-30 minutes online to figure out) Also a lot of travel services are pegged to a single airline or hotel chain, e.g. Chase Sapphire and United Airlines. (that's working out well recently) >How is cash really better outside of anonymity and quick transactions these days? You said credit was "faster" and then later said cash is better from "quick" transactions? Typo? Regarding anonymity, that's crucial. Credit card breaches risk revealing all kinds of other personal information, and can be used for credit history gaming, loan applications, identity theft, etc. There is no convenience in having your credit score wrecked by some hacker just because you bought a greeting card at Target, and then only because their HVAC vendor was lazy/stupid. Even if that didn't happen, every company is sharing purchase and customer information. Once they link it to Facebook, they can find out what all your friends are buying as well, and then target ads or sell info to spammers. Cash prevents that, at least for now.

phil21 10y ago

This is the exact reason I keep my Amex. I have yet to have a bad customer service experience with them, and I've asked for some pretty ridiculous stuff in retrospect. Every time I sign up for a new card (google credit I'm looking at you) the customer experience is just absolutely horrible. I mean rip-you-off type horrible - where you enter a bank account for autopay, and they then charge you late fees for 2 months because "our terms of service say adding an autopay account may take up to 90 days". The other card I've signed up for in the last 18mo was a store credit card to get 20% off a one time purchase - and they couldn't even get that right. I had to have my lawyer call and threaten to sue before they finally credited the proper amount and closed my account. It's just ridiculous what most folks seem to put up with. I've tried to cancel my Amex since I pay a yearly fee which I find stupid. But each time I deal with any other credit card company I pretty much realize Amex is in a league of it's own. If they start to dip on customer service it's all over for them. That is the only thing keeping them alive on life support at this point, but that's really all it will take as long as their competition is so utterly anti-consumer. I'm starting to avoid doing business with companies that don't take Amex. It's just not worth the hassle of dealing with anyone else. My Costco membership is no more due to this. That all said - it's just a stupid way to pay for stuff. I'd prefer to use cash all things considered, but unfortunately that's generally not possible this day in age.

manigandham 10y ago
> it's just a stupid way to pay for stuff Why? Credit cards are faster, safer, easier and simpler than using cash - and come from with benefits and service. How is cash really better outside of anonymity and quick transactions these days?
- wantoncl 10y ago
  Sorry this is so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter version. > Why? Credit cards are faster No. There's no electronic lookup to verify cash is valid. No swipe, no chip with cash. > safer Nope. Thanks to Target and Home Depot breaches, plus some other hacks, I've had to replace cards 4 times in the last 18 months (3 in 6 months). Those last 3 all had chips too, so much for being safer or more secure. To say nothing of skimmers or card cloning. Fortunately they don't use RFID in credit cards or else it would be double. I will note that I was never on the hook for fraudulent charges, so protection is a definite advantage to credit. Amex has also been secure for me throughout my history with them. > easier and simpler Open wallet. Hand cash over. Get change, if any. This is the same effort as taking out a card, swiping/inserting it, and putting it back in my wallet. The only advantage to credit is online purchasing, which excludes cash transactions by its very nature. > and come from with benefits and service Very true. Except for purchase protection however, these always require a membership fee, and not all services offered are useful. I've seen high-end card services that "book your travel, hotel, everything" for you, but are still subject to blackout dates. So what am I paying $450/year for if you can't overcome that? (Takes me 15-30 minutes online to figure out) Also a lot of travel services are pegged to a single airline or hotel chain, e.g. Chase Sapphire and United Airlines. (that's working out well recently) >How is cash really better outside of anonymity and quick transactions these days? You said credit was "faster" and then later said cash is better from "quick" transactions? Typo? Regarding anonymity, that's crucial. Credit card breaches risk revealing all kinds of other personal information, and can be used for credit history gaming, loan applications, identity theft, etc. There is no convenience in having your credit score wrecked by some hacker just because you bought a greeting card at Target, and then only because their HVAC vendor was lazy/stupid. Even if that didn't happen, every company is sharing purchase and customer information. Once they link it to Facebook, they can find out what all your friends are buying as well, and then target ads or sell info to spammers. Cash prevents that, at least for now.