Card with UK call centres and good customer service

Degenerate

Dabooka wrote: »

I love them, (once you've typed in your memorbale date) you get the basic options and a fast option of speaking to someone. Always English, always quickly answered, always helpful. I have NEVER had to call back, been put on hold, referred etc.

Downside? Not everyone takes Amex, but more venues and web sites do now. Abroad can be an issue depending on where you travel. I'd have bother in the "Costas", but the other places I've been to I've never had a problem, and for how often I use them abroad it's not really an issue. I only hold an Amex now.

No links to the company at all, just a very pleased customer. :T

They can afford to offer this level of service because they rip off merchants with extortionate interchange fees, which is why so many decline to accept them.

debtdestroyer007

i dont care if my request can be actioned here in the UK, India , Honalulu or the Arctic!!!!!

doesnt bother me, i find some of the call centres here just as rubbish..................... try my company for eg.................lol:rotfl:

RichyRich

I fully agree with Dabooka - American Express customer service is fantastic. I have never spoken to anyone anything less than unfailingly polite, pleasant, eager to assist, and happy to help. Cashback too! But as Dabooka states acceptability can be an issue, so keep a-hod of your Barclaycard for those times you cannot use your Amex.

chattychappy

RichyRich wrote: »

I fully agree with Dabooka - American Express customer service is fantastic.

I used to have their Platinum Chargecard. Service was hopeless - queues were the worst aspect. I remember waiting more than 30 mins a couple of times. They were quick to try and fob me off when I tried to get something refunded by pointing out that as a chargecard the s75 protection didn't apply - though this was completely irrelevant. In the end, I kept it for the travel insurance and "priority pass" airport lounge programme which justified the fee. As other insurances became cheaper and my flying habits changed, I cancelled it. Big discussion with retentions - they said I could have it free for another year - so I agreed. Then I tried to cancel again - they offered me "free gold for life". So I agreed. But a year later they charged me a fee and denied that they would ever have made such an offer. So I cancelled.

The Amex credit card may be totally different. But my experience with their chargecard was that it doesn't live up to the image. I think the fee was £300 a year.

Nationwide were pretty hopeless in sorting out a fraud on my account. They instantly agreed it was fraud (it was never disputed) but they kept fumbling around when it came to reversing the transaction. For a while they wouldn't credit the consequential interest or late payment fees. They didn't remove the detrimental info from my credit record. (I was away from the UK and didn't notice the transaction until 6 weeks after it happened and interest and late payment fees had been triggered.) Eventually they sent me 2 bottles of wine and a letter saying they'd corrected my credit record - but they never did.

Dabooka

Degenerate wrote: »

They can afford to offer this level of service because they rip off merchants with extortionate interchange fees, which is why so many decline to accept them.

That's fine, if it gives me better service.

lisyloo

But it won't be universally accepted.
I'm not easily embarrassed but I did feel bad when one local retailer almost begged me not to use it.
You still need to keep another card on the go.
Plus in some cases transactions get treated in dollars for example paypal.
I think it get's converted from £ to $s by paypal and then $ to £s by Amex so you pay commission on currency conversion TWICE.
I don't know if this has changed recently as it's a while since I used it.

Dabooka

lisyloo wrote: »

But it won't be universally accepted.
I'm not easily embarrassed but I did feel bad when one local retailer almost begged me not to use it.
You still need to keep another card on the go.
Plus in some cases transactions get treated in dollars for example paypal.
I think it get's converted from £ to $s by paypal and then $ to £s by Amex so you pay commission on currency conversion TWICE.
I don't know if this has changed recently as it's a while since I used it.

I appreciate the points you make, and agree with them all wholeheartedly on all counts, but understand that as those issues aren't massive to me, the customer service was the predominant factor to keeping Amex and ditching Egg.

I've never been asked not to use it, and I would suggest if it's such an issue to the merchant they withdraw the facility. My Paypal (your assessment was accurate last time I checked) is linked to an account I hold with my bank, most places I need to use it (supermarkets, rail station, petrol stations and most of the high street stores I use) accept it with no question, and it's used alongside my Visa debit card anyway.

Ultimately, the OP was asking for UK contact centres. I can only comment that Amex operate these ata high standard and the drawbacks whcih you mentioned were acknowledged all along.

Cheers! :beer:

hippey

I have found Amex customer service excellent, but also try Partnership card, the John Lewis Mastercard, good customer service and backed by HSBC.

Know exactly what people mean by Barclaycard, the agents can be very difficult to understand, let alone get your point across!

Nationwide also seem to be 100% UK, not sure who is behind their card now, as I know they have changed as a lot of the internal contact details are different.