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A recent letter to the big wigs at American Express. I doubt it will ever make it out of the envelope...
Dear American Express:
I am writing with the hope that an actual human may read this letter and consider its merit. I have emailed customer service in reference to the substance of this letter, but have received no responses to my six emails over the past month.
For starters, I have been a loyal American Express cardholder for 10 years, and my accounts (one Gold, one Blue, and one Green) are—and always have been—in excellent standing. I travel out of state on long road trips about four times per year. Most of these trips are far outside of my home state of New Jersey, and each trip typically lasts between one and two weeks. I prefer to use use my American Express cards over others solely for the benefit of the unrivaled Membership Rewards program, in which I have accumulated 130,000 points to date.
I have learned from rough experience that any time I travel outside of the tri-state area and attempt to use any of my American Express cards, they magically become shut down for “security reasons.” I have been repeatedly told by your customer service representatives (hereinafter “CSRs”) that out-of-home-state transactions are suspicious and therefore trigger red flag "fraud holds" on the accounts pending verification of the cardholder’s identity. In these situations, I am routinely forced to call customer service and verify all sorts of information about my account before I can legitimately use my own cards.
On many occasions—especially in the middle of the night and in the middle of Nowhere, U.S.A.—my cards seem to get shut down just as I’m trying to get fuel or lodging. Many times these are remote places with poor or non-existent cell phone coverage, and I must resort to using a Visa or Mastercard credit card in place of my American Express cards because there is no way to call customer service let alone go through the bureaucratic identity/fraud prevention rigmarole. (My Visa and Mastercard providers, by contrast, have never suspended charges pending a phone call as “fraud precautions” even when I am waaaay out of state and charging large amount$). It should be noted that while this de facto requirement to call customer service whenever traveling outside of New Jersey is an unnecessary hassle, it is not the core reason I am writing today.
On August 7, 2008, I called the toll-free customer service number on the back of my Gold card to proactively advise your “fraud detection department” of my plans to travel through seven different states in the Midwest. A less-than-helpful CSR by the name of “David” in what he stated was an “Indian call canter” (he refused to say which call center or city in India, a trend that would continue in my horrendous CSR experience) answered my call. In broken English, “David” assured me he would put a note on my account that I would be traveling in the states I provided to him so that my card was sure to be ready for use without interruption. “No problem!,” he told me as he clacked away on his keyboard.
After being reassured by “David” that he put a note on my account, I asked for his operator identification number. I always obtain this information for my records when calling about any of my accounts. “David” refused to provide his ID number, saying he could give me only his name because it was a “security policy.” Completely confounded, I further questioned “David” about his refusal and the alleged policy. I informed “David” that in all the many times I have called American Express for account issues, I have always been provided a CSR number upon request. “David” again told me he could not give me that information.
I asked "David" if I could speak to his supervisor, and after being placed on hold for nearly15 minutes, an alleged supervisor—also surprisingly named “David” (though, not surprisingly, also speaking broken English)—advised me that there was a “strict policy” that CSRs, for their own “safety”, could not provide callers with their ID numbers. I reminded supervisor “David” that these ID numbers are internal and alpha-numeric, and that I was unaware of any international guidebook for the public that cross-references American Express CSR ID numbers with their names and addresses. It is ironic that supervisor “David” provided me with his FIRST and LAST name (pseudonyms I’m sure), yet could not (or would not) provide me with his internal CSR identification number.
Supervisor “David” told me “not to worry, friend”… that I “don’t need an ID number” because my call is “all in the computer.”
I asked supervisor “David” to read to me the note CSR “David” posted to my account during our chat. I was not surprised to quickly learn that only half the states I provided as travel destinations had been included in that note.
This is a prime example why I ask for an operator ID number: so that when I’m trying to get gas at 3 a.m. in a remote town in Missouri and my AmEx card doesn’t work I can call customer service and be able to provide the CSR with a record of when I called, to whom I spoke in reference to the account, and what the note should indicate. CSR "David" failed to properly notate my account.
At this point, I asked to speak to the call center manager. Supervisor “David” said he could not allow me to talk to the call center manager, that he had the “highest authority” and that he felt I had been assisted “satisfactorily.” Supervisor “David” then told me the only thing he could do was transfer me to an American call center for further assistance.
I was then transferred to a call center in Canada (location kept “top secret”) where Ellen, operator N85229, assisted me. When she accessed my account, she told me that no record of my call to the Indian call center existed. I again provided the travel destination information to her, and she accurately read back to me what I had provided. She even gave me a reference number.
The next day, I called customer service again to ensure that my account had been updated properly. This time I spoke to Mark, operator N14691, at another Canadian call center (location of said call center again kept clandestine). Mark verified that there was indeed a record of my call to Ellen the previous day, and that a note on my account accurately reflected the states in which I would be traveling. Bother Ellen and Mark were happy to provide me with their internal operator ID numbers.
This practice of CSRs refusing to provide their ID numbers for customers’ records and peace of mind in your Indian center(s) is unacceptable, whether such a policy exists or not. There is no cogent rationale for CSRs to withhold their non-identifiable-to-the-public NUMERIC identification numbers. I have encountered this problem only with American Express. Over the years in dealing with utilities, banks, credit card companies, loan providers, merchants, etc., I always ask for—and am always provided with—the CSR’s ID number. CSRs working for companies that don’t utilize identification numbers always give me a first and last name or some other form of identification.
Moreover, I work in an emergency caller center and am required to clearly state my operator ID number at the beginning of every call. This policy makes sense for all types of call centers so that callers have a means of identifying to managers and others the person with whom they spoke in case an issue arises. It is also helpful for customers to be able to identify CSRs when corresponding with management to praise reps who provide good customer service.
In closing, I implore you to review your call center policies regarding the dissemination of CSR ID numbers and require by policy that all CSRs provide their existing identification numbers upon request to callers. Keeping communications transparent is paramount for healthy customer service. American Express cannot sustain quality improvement when its customers are not even permitted to know the secure identity of the CSR handling their requests and accounts. In the future, I will not discuss my account with any American Express CSR before obtaining his or her ID number. I am also encouraging friends and family members to adopt this routine when dealing with American Express and other large companies.
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