Customer Service and Service Less.

Which company knows what they are doing?

Two days ago, I called American express to cancel one of my upper end Amex cards. I have one I was issued through Costco an done that I pay a high annual fee on from Amex-the black card. The black card has many benefits, most of which I do not use anymore. For example, I receive a $200 rebate on any baggage charges by the airlines, a free companion ticket on any business class International travel, and a full rebate up to $10,000 on any item that I am involuntarily disassociated with ( lost it for example) in the first 90 days after I purchase it. There are other benefits.

Any way I called to cancel so I could save the fee. The annual fee by the way is $425 so it is not trivial. The friendly Amex customer service person put me on the phone to talk to a representative named Kelley. She was friendly and reviewed the benefits with me one by one. She made several offers to me to keep the card. I have been a customer of Amex for 20 years and have  perfect record with them. I guess she looked me up and decided I was a customer worth keeping. After 15 minutes more of conversations, she offered to pay my annual fee for the card and credit my account with several thousand  extra points. Yes, I am still a black card holder. The whole conversation was professional and friendly. Amex wound up with no cancellation and a supporter of the excellent customer service at American Express.

Story number two is not as satisfactory. I got a call from my local bank, Blue Valley Bank in Leawood, Kansas. My checking account was overdrawn. I had not used the account in a year and the $10 monthly charge had caught up and passed my modest balance. The rep from BVB said I owed 46 cents. I said just cancel the account I do not use it anyway. The rep said we can not cancel until you come to the bank and pay the 46 cents. Then the rep said, "Do you want me to talk to my manager about waving the 46 cents." I thought that was an IQ test so I said, "You should have talked to your manager before you called your customer." I drove to the Bank and delivered the 46 cents to the teller. I gave her two quarters and received 4 cents in change which I photographed for my records. The teller then told me she could not cancel the account until I talked with my personal banker, who was busy at the time. I declined. I gave her my drivers license to copy for identification and signed a blank sheet of paper with my signature and notice of cancellation. Not one person asked me why I was cancelling or made any attempt to keep my account.

You can draw you own conclusion from this example about the notion of good customer service. For me. I am a major fan of American Express.