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More than two decades ago, I lost my Amex card (or perhaps it was stolen) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I dialed the call-collect phone number on the back of a trav
by cs702 10y ago
More than two decades ago, I lost my Amex card (or perhaps it was stolen) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I dialed the call-collect phone number on the back of a traveling companion's card, and explained everything to an Amex representative.
The next day they had a replacement card waiting for me at the hotel lobby. I still don't know how they pulled it off.
In that instant, I became a lifetime customer. AFAIK, no other credit card firm offers the same level and quality of service.
- branchless 10y agoNo other credit card charges vendors anywhere near as much per transaction. My wife worked for a flight booking company in the UK. They absorbed the charge for all credit cards except Amex, who were far higher. In that moment I swore never to sign up to Amex.
- NelsonMinar 10y agoChase should be able to do that kind of card replacement too. Me, I cancelled my AmEx the second time they flagged my card-present $30 grocery store transaction as fraud. There was no other hint of fraud on the account, but my buying groceries 100 miles from my home (in California) was enough to trip their algorithm. I could forgive the false positive, but AmEx's customer experience here is terrible. They declined the transaction and then called my call phone from an unrecognized caller ID. The call came from an Indian call center with very poorly trained staff reading a script at me to verify I had the card. So here I am in a stressful situation: can't buy my groceries, embarrassed my card is declined. And they decide that's the time to outsource to some lowest-bidder call center. Talk about contempt for the customer.
- ghaff 10y agoFraud declines can be really random. I put a lot of travel on my cards and in the last couple of years I had a decline at a grocery store while traveling and a decline at a gas station convenience store. Fortunately, someone else was with me for one of those and the amount was piddling with the second. I now always carry a spare card from a different bank although I'm not certain I wouldn't have issues if I suddenly started putting big charges on a card I rarely use.
- yesbabyyes 10y agoI used to have an Amex Gold card, was in Brazil when they called to let me know they'd seen some dodgy transactions (someone buying stuff in Sweden on my card - obviously Volvo, IKEA and something else ;) about $5-700 worth at each place). I was grateful they noticed and blocked the card. I asked about the guarantee to get me a new card within 24 hours, as I was in some far away-ish vacation town I was ok with them getting it to my hotel when I would return to Rio two days later. Never received a replacement. I got it back home in Sweden when I returned. Never bothered with them since.