American Express Blue - cashback changes/problems

---lee---

nibelung wrote:

The letter that accompanied the T&Cs said "If the product that you have applied for carries a specifc offer, which differs from the terms and conditions, this will be honoured following final approval of your card".

So it seems the T&Cs are always generic and don't include any promotional offers. It also makes it difficult to prove the offer you signed up for.

Gotcha. Well in that case, mentioning the web page used to signup should be enough?

nibelung

If only dealings with call centres were that simple....

nibelung

I called them today. This time they explained (again) that I was receiving double moneyback for three months. I told them that the offer was 2% moneyback for three months on every pound, and she said they had sent me a letter from the last time I called explaining how moneyback worked. I said I understood how moneyback worked, and that I was getting double moneyback and not the 2% offer I had applied for.

She said they would put the complaint through to their administration department who would contact in three to four days.

I'm not holding out much hope here.

---lee---

Dealing with call centres is never simple.

Write them a quick letter and enclose a print of the front page.

I sincerely wish I had paid more attention and applied for the platinum one. This sounds like a load of hassle I could do without

nibelung

My guess is that their call centres cover accounts from all over the world and they have no clue about the individual deals that are on offer, and will only look at what's on your account.

I'll wait a few days to see if I am called as she said I would be, otherwise I'll try writing to their Brighton office.

---lee---

Hi nibelung,

For some reason, I got a copy of the generic t&c’s to sign yesterday - even though I had printed the one they emailed me, signed it and sent it back weeks ago.

Anyway, forewarned by your message, I took the opportunity to make a pre-emptive strike and printed the website page with the t&c’s on and sent a covering letter back with the docs so hopefully they will sign me up to the right package. I won’t hold my breath though.

Did you get any further forward?

nibelung

I haven't heard anything yet. I was promised by the woman I spoke to on Monday that I'd get a call within three to four days, so they have until tomorrow. I don't expect I'll receive a call though.

I've found Amex customer services basically to be completely useless.

---lee---

I find most customer services to be very poor these days. As I'm in the process of changing bank accounts, I've met nothing but incompetence and indifference whilst trying get direct debit details updated.

For example, I wrote to 10 companies asking them to change my DD details. Result 4/10 right. Of them, I've had:

Water company - did not setup new DD or reply. Called them 3 weeks after sending the letter - 'oh yes, we got your letter. I don't know why it's not been actioned. Can you give me the details again and I'll sort it out'.

Insurance company - served a default notice and claimed they did not get the letter. Not sure how you can default when no payment is due for another 3 weeks, never mind.

Mortgage company - setup new DD for a couple of days and then cancelled it when the old DD was cancelled and wrote me a snotty letter saying that I had cancelled it. I even checked with the bank and they said the originator had cancelled it.

Well known huge gas servicing company - standard letter received after 3 weeks saying they are dealing with my request and will contact me shortly.

Cable and telephone company (2 dd's) - telephone call 2 weeks after sending letter saying they had received the letter but had actioned the update but it too late to stop one of the payments coming out of the old account.

Those who managed to get it right:

Mobile Phone Company (confirmation letter after 2 days)
Council Tax (confirmation letter after 3 days)
Electric and gas company (confirmation after 1 week)
Insurance Company (confirmation letter after 2 weeks)

:xmassign:

nibelung

American Express's are even worse than usual as they're offshore with far from perfect English. It's difficult to explain problems when you can't make yourself understood!

As expected, I haven't received a call from them as promised, so I've written a letter to the Brighton office shown at the top of my statement.