Mar 05 2010
My American (Express) Journey (Nightmare)
My American (Express) journey (nightmare) continues. Remember the famous one-cent credit that existed on my AMEX Gold card after I canceled the account? How AMEX kept sending me statements every month, listing the credit, until I finally phoned them and said they could keep the goddam cent?
That was quite the silly story. It ended (or so I thought) with them sending me a cheque for one cent.
Well, ever the customer service experts, AMEX has sent me my (hopefully final) Year-End Summary. That’s pretty weird given that I canceled the card in 2008. But the one cent credit kept the account “active” into 2009, so it must have triggered the automatic Year-End Summary robot.
And here, dear readers, is the relevant page (one of four, plus a four page front-and-back cover) showing a summary of my AMEX activity for 2009:
Thank you and good bye. No, really. Good-bye!
8 Comments on “My American (Express) Journey (Nightmare)”
At least it’s a well-designed document. But yeah – chasing things and issuing paper documents about a 1 cent balance verges on the kafkaesque
If you get anything from them after this, I say you take it to the media. This is ridiculous. But, I guess, the result of technology and automation. Still crazy, though.
Well, now I know where they blow all that money they make from exorbitant interest rates. Could they note just have mailed you a penny?!!
“not”, not “note”..sigh
If you imagine the journey of that piece of paper; of all the bureaucrats, the truck drivers, the printers, the mindless drones and then add up all their time and efforts, you probably have maybe one slight heart attack, a lot of indigestion, and a HUGE FCUKING WASTE OF TIME.
No wonder there’s a worldwide depression. The population has increased to the point that now the morons OUTNUMBER US TEN TO ONE.
True enough. But it’s not as bad as what I got from Apple last September. A FedEx package sent all the way from China, and when I opened it up it contained a single, blank sheet of paper. (No kidding.)
American Express has been without a question the worst experience I have ever had with a financial services provider. I had a ten-year relationship with American Express as a Gold/Plum cardholder, and while I had minor problems with the ever-changing credit limit, nothing compared to what I’ve experienced in the last six months. Just as the economy went into free fall and I needed the resources available to me through my AmEx account, they arbitrarily and without prior notice slashed my credit limit, cut off my credit line and restricted my account.
For a very short period (4 months), I entered into a payment plan with AmEx to retire my outstanding balance. I paid each payment on time (early even) but they reported my account as a chargeoff without prior notice or warning. This has severely damaged my business and personal credit rating – and AmEx personnel can’t understand why I won’t re-apply for a new account with them!
Wow, Peter, that’s awful! >:-/