Comments on: “American Express abandoned me in Italy”

By: Emanuel Levy

Emanuel Levy — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:51:49 +0000

I know this is old but if you do reapply for an American Express card they will backdate the member since date to when you originally became a member.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:11:15 +0000

What a company. American Express. They just got me. I make no money for them so the sent me a notice to up my rates to 27%. I pay the card off before the intrest. I guess they do not want people like me I cost them money. So I had to cancel the card or take the rate hike. I canceled.

By: barbie45

barbie45 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:11:40 +0000

the post sure does deal with travel; because of the so called credit crunch many cards are cutting down onthe credit levels you have; sometimes these notices of a credit decisions do not reach you in a timely vacation ie your on your trip; the new credit card consumer bill which frankly does not really do the consumer that much good is an added incentive for credit card to lower limits; even living in a wrong zipcode area.

By: Denise

Denise — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:27:46 +0000

My husband is a small business owner, and he has an Amex card through Costco. I am an authorized user of the account with my own card, and I am the account manager on the online services. That is where the convenience and common sense end.

– It never fails that when he travels, his card gets a “security hold” put on it. They did this to my card once, but after being force-fed a piece of my mind when I was embarrassed by having my card declined at a nice restaurant, they haven’t put one of those holds on my account again, no matter how far from home I travel.
– Even though I’m the account manager, I am not authorized to clear up security holds on his card.
– CS reps are quick to bounce calls to other departments without listening to the actual problem you’re having with their online services.

We anticipate being dropped or restricted by Amex any time now, if only because they’re losing money on us. We use the card and pay it off that day over the internet (free bill pay at our bank, no matter how many e-checks get written in a month) and we’re collecting 5% back on gas & travel, 3% back on Costco shopping & dining, and 1% or 2% back on most everything else. We make money off our card by using it for just about everything we buy, but only by making making sure that we’re buying things we need anyway and would buy with cash.

By: Robbin

Robbin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:59:00 +0000

This very thing happened to me as well. Had the exact same account/number for 15 years.

Sorry, you’re inactive, you’re closed.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:01:53 +0000

What I read here is that she did not pay the annual fee. Why wouldn’t she get cancelled. This is part of her original agreement with American Express. I have had AMEX for 22 years and have always had impeccable service. But then again, I use the card.

By: David

David — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:34:20 +0000

well, as far as i’m concerned, being left out in the cold (mid-trip no less!) by a credit card company that won my business by marketing itself to me on the merits of their travel related services (including automatic insurance for car rentals, an actual travel agency that would book entire trips for me with just a single call, ‘anywhere in the world’ service offices, etc…) pretty clearly counts as a travel story. travel related services are a core business for amex (remember the ‘don’t leave home without it’ commercials?). other cards seem to be aimed more at ‘around town’ type spending patterns. my visa, for example, doesn’t offer any ‘miles’ or ‘stays’ points when booking travel, but does pay a reward in points that get me free food at local restaurants. amex, on the other hand always offered benefits on booking travel related items (hotels, cars, airfare) and paid out in free airfare and hotel stays…

By: Carver

Carver — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:04:27 +0000

@Jennifer

No, I understood your point clearly. I stand by my position that this is not a travel story. This is a credit card story. Your own post that some people are interested in discussing the merits or lack thereof of AMEX further proves that point.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:04:34 +0000

My own story involves a BofA rewards credit card. I had had the card since the early 90s and spend on average about $60k/year on this card…I had an excellent rate (7.25% fixed) and a wonderful credit limit ($25,000). I used this card for everything! Then one day, I get a letter from them saying that they will be raising my rate to 11% + Prime..and that there would be no further discussion about this. I called BofA and informed them that I am what could be termed as a “good customer” and that by doing this, they will be losing me as a customer.
They told me that they are raising everybody’s rates and that this is the “industry norm” since “everybody is raising rates”.
I argued with the rep, telling me that with my 780 credit rating, nobody raises rates on a person with that rate. I said that I will get a new credit card and will just stop using the BofA card even though it offers rewards.
She challenged me to find a bank that would offer me what I had with them.
Well, I did. I now have a new credit card that has a fixed 7% rate and a super limit…and I found it in my own back yard…my credit union!
BofA is once again shooting them in their foot…and as an asside, I signed the petition to have the CEO removed from the BofA board of directors, and now we are trying to have Lewis removed as CEO…it’s only a matter of time before he is forced to leave BofA in shame!

By: David

David — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:06:27 +0000

i travel professionally and am on the road for half the year or more, and have been every year for the last 15 years. i’ve had an amex card for over a decade, and until this year, had both a gold business card and personal card, as well as a corporate card. i have done hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business on these accounts over the years without a hitch. then, this year they left me out to hang in the wind on the middle of a long trip. refused charges, added mystery fees, began calling me 6 times a day (from india, no less!) to ‘straighten things out’. i limped through the rest of that run on another card and took care of things with amex once i got home (i wasn’t at all happy with what they regarded as ‘service’, or their on-the-fly rules changes). i also got a visa account set up to handle the high levels of charges i run up when traveling. good thing i did! just over a month later, amex pulled the same stunt for a second time. i’ve had enough. they don’t have to worry about whether i’ll be coming back next year.

By: Travel-Writers-Exchange.com

Travel-Writers-Exchange.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:39:38 +0000

Well,well AMEX isn’t what they’re cracked up to be. Interesting. It’s probably a blessing in disguise. Who’s to say that AMEX will not be eventually bailed out by the U.S. Government like all the other ones? They’re doing what they have to do to stay afloat. That’s how it goes. Find another card company, it’s time to start anew.

By: Jenniferwriter

Jenniferwriter — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:07:56 +0000

@Carver,

I think you entirely missed the point – I think many are perhaps more interested in discussing the topic related to the original post, i.e. the merits – or lack thereof – of actions by Amex.

Frankly, it makes little difference to me – it just seems that some are engaged in a silly back and forth, and it seems to upset them a bit. But, ah, life is so short – so, like I said, it makes no difference to me and so those are who so inclined, have at it!

By: Carver

Carver — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:15:33 +0000

@Jennifer

Do you see the irony of your post.

You state, “if it doesn’t interest you move on…” Well, if our discussion of whether this is a travel story or not “doesn’t interest you, move on…”

@Elvis

I can only assume that you haven’t actually read any of the posts. Nearly everyone agrees that mariah was badly treated. Second, no one suggests that Mariah was at fault.

More importantly though, I object to the ad hominem that any one is a troll. Leave that trash talk for Flytertalk. This is a civilized board.

By: Elvis

Elvis — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:34:23 +0000

Mariah, thanks for sharing your story.

In case you didn’t already notice, Chris’s comment sections are overrun by trolls who always side with the big company. Obviously, they all lived charmed lives and nothing bad EVER EVER happens to them. Therefore, if it happens to you, it must be your own fault!

The only thing I can’t figure out is why they keep reading the blog, since they hate it so much?

By: Jenniferwriter

Jenniferwriter — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:28:43 +0000

To Mindy et al,

You people crack me up. For all of the time you’ve spent whining and moaning about whether this post was sufficiently ‘travel’ related, you could have moved on and read any number of travel-related blogs. If it’s essential that your time is thusly spent, haven’t you wasted enough of your time – and ours? It’s really quite simple – if it doesn’t interest you, move on…