Black Amex - The American Express Centurion Experience

Sorry it has been so long… I didn’t think many people were coming to this site, so I just got on with my life… well, I was looking at Google Analytics and it shows LOTS of traffic here, so I will start posting again. Thanks for visiting! Please feel free to post comments and questions and I will answer.

Received $500 Gift card to a Salvatore Ferragamo in the mail today in the black envelope. Offer expires 12/15/2009. Thanks Amex, it’s about time you sent me something

I like what this guy said over at FlyerTalk.com, I had a similar experience:

“Just got back from an enjoyable stay. I have both biz and personal cent for both my wife and I so we got two nights each (one stay promo each). First stay was at the Wynn as the Encore had no room, we stay above the 30th floor at the Wynn and the room was great. At the Encore the room was bigger, but we were below the 20th floor so I am not sure if it was just not upgrade or what but it was nothing like picture on the website in terms of furniture and decor, I think the Wynn was much nicer, but perhaps that was just because of those particular rooms being different. Encore is definitely bigger, but not as much furniture.

Also the pool at Encore is ridiculously crowded and tiny compared to the Wynn and there is no private pool(s) for the tower suites as there is at Wynn. We got a welcome gift of some Bumble and Bumble lotions and stuff at the Wynn, nothing at Encore. No Shoe horns at Encore like at Wynn, also the showers didn’t have as much glass and no rain shower head at Encore, which was not nearly as nice IMO.

All the decor is totally senior citizen, IMO, everything looks like it was meant for Robin Leech and his ilk, or those who are over 55 (no offense intended), nothing modern or cool that I could see in the rooms nor in the hotel but my grandparents would love it and think it was elegant or whatever. Water pressure sucked, but nothing compares to the water pressure I experienced in the Suites at the Le Meredien Barcelona (best water pressure I’ve ever experienced in a hotel! strange that it was there).

I saw Mr. Wynn at Stratta on our second night, apparently he is going blind (that is literally what I was told) because he didn’t see or recognize me (lol). Spent a lot of $ in the casino (not to winn anything, of course, no one is that stupid to think you can win overall in Vegas - just to have fun); first time I’ve spent almost all my time at one hotel in Vegas, probably because we had the restaurant credits so it was easier to just stick around - so I guess the promo worked for it’s intended purpose.”

When I signed up for the card, I asked if there was a difference between the personal and business Centurion cards (I have a business SPG Amex as a sole proprietor, provides OPEN program savings and other benefits, see the FatWallet Forums on business card benefits as it relates to your credit reporting). I was told the only difference between the two was that if I elected the business card, I wouldn’t have the possibility of getting the annual gift (chosen at random and/or based on spending). With that as the only difference, why choose the business card, right? Plus, the personal card seems a bit more prestigious, there are some folks (like this guy) who just get one from the business they work for.

Anyway, it turns out there are differences:
- Quarterly Management Report
- Regus Program
- Fortune small business magazine
- Assured hotel reservation program
- Employee card misuse protection
- Savings of 5-15% on purchases from certain vendors, such as Fed Ex, Hyatt hotel and Hertz. Just to name a few.

You do lose the chance at the personal gift (some old digital camera? an iPod? big deal). Had I known my options, I may have chosen the Business card as it has spending limits for additional cardholders. Kinda’ sux that they didn’t let me know this up front, especially since I asked. Who puts n00bs on the new accounts desk for the most elite tier of clientèle?

Tags: Centurion Business, Centurion Customer Service, Centurion Personal

Imagine this: you have a personal Centurion card and give an additional card to your daughter, who you tell not to go crazy with it. She does, she buys a car or something. Any recourse? Nope. Could this have been prevented by assigning a spending limit to an additional cardholder? Nope.  Does Amex have the ability to do this? Yes: additional business Centurion cards can be assigned a set spending limit.  Why don’t they offer this for personal cards as it could come in handy?  I have no idea; if you do, please tell me.

Why is there a voice prompt when you call? I was told by a Centurion representative that there is one representative for every two cardholders – seems like they could easily answer and transfer you to the appropriate department. Even Wal-Mart’s corporate office, home to over 30,000 employees, have humans answering their phones and will transfer you to the appropriate department. Centurion actually has more phone voice prompt navigation required than the standard Amex customer service lines do because of the different departments. How difficult would that be? How much more would that cost? I would think it costs less than $7,500

Well, to be fair, I should have given Amex an opportunity to address the issues I encountered. However, I did try. When the head of all of Centurion customer service says that he is the final answer and you can’t go any higher, one thinks that is it.

So, I had some suggestions for the Centurion Concierge (which is outsourced to Circles) comparing them to a free concierge I get with the Citi Premier Pass (no annual fee) which is outsourced to VIP Desk - aspects of the latter I much prefer, which shouldn’t be, IMHO. So I contacted someone at Circles corporate (which took 5 calls, eek!) and he was looking through my service requests and saw that I had encountered some issues with Centurion CS and asked if I wanted to elaborate. I told him the gist of what had happened and told him I couldn’t break through past the manager of Centurion CS, but I asked if he could. He called me back a while later with the corporate number for Amex: 212-640-2000.

I called Amex Corporate and said I had some issues with my centurion card, they transferred me to the “executive team” or something like that (executive offices). I explained my issues with a very nice gentleman who was extremely empathetic and explained some of the issues away, apologized for others and called them “unacceptable” and was willing to do whatever he could to resolve additional ones. Whew. I wish I’d be given their number sooner! This is the American Express I am accustomed to

Tags: Centurion, Centurion Customer Service

Following are more Centurion “customer service” issues I’ve encountered:

• The cards didn’t come with the profile form that was referenced in the included letter stating that you should fill it out and return it in the envelope provided (the envelope is there, but no form). This, per Mark Bigos, is due to a glitch in their management decision structure that they are working out. Yet more lack of attention to detail.

• I added one additional cardholder on the same day at the same time as when I added the first additional cardholder. Because I didn’t know the DOB of this second additional cardholder right then, I had to call back with it approx. 15 minutes later. Apparently, because it was processed separately, it gets different treatment because rather than it coming in the nice box with all the information and such as the first additional cardholder’s did, it came in a replacement card box, complete with a note to return their previous card which this replaces if it is made of titanium.

• Apparently, there are no more personal travel consultants being assigned, they are moving away from that to a team format. You still get a personal concierge, but after requesting something simple from my “personal concierge” almost 24 hours ago via email as a response to his introduction, I have yet to hear from him, not even an acknowledgement he got my request.

• When I signed up for the card and was adding additional cardholder, there was a representative who stated that all she needed was the SSN and could look up the DOB with that information. However, when I called back to confirm information, I spoke to a supervisor who said she was mistaken and apologized for being given the incorrect information. I then called back, just for fun, to see if I could reach that lady again and told her what the supervisor told me, and she said, in an argumentative tone “well, he’s wrong, I am looking right at the DOB generated from the SSN.” So I asked her to transfer me back to him (I had both their names), and he told me that she shouldn’t be doing that, it was against procedure, he would deal with it, etc. etc.

• I have never, ever been treated impolitely or rudely by the standard American Express customer service. In fact, they all seem much nicer, have better manners, better service, try to go above and beyond to help (unlike Centurion) and several times I have even been offered membership rewards points of credits towards annual fees for my trouble (Centurion patently refused any credit or any consolation even though I’ve literally spent HOURS trying to sort this out and it has been their mistakes!!). I am appalled at the general level of service, especially considering it is Centurion… I thought it would be a notch above, so far it has been well below.

After getting my card with a letter stating that my profile information form was included with an envelope to return it, I could not find it. I called customer service, and they stated they would send it. While on the phone with them, I logged into my account for the first time and it showed $9,000 was due (remember, I just got this card) - $9k for primary and secondary cardholder plus initiation.

Apparently, the closing date of my new Centurion account is inherited from my other Amex account, so I was coincidentally charged the initiation fees the day after I signed up which was also my closing date, thus causing the amount to be due. The amount has to be paid regardless and I have no problem paying it, but I was told it would bein the first billing cycle which would start when I signed up, so I would have thirty days plus the 30 day grace period (as long as payment is received before the closing date of the next cycle, you’re good). When I asked about this, they said they didn’t know why this was, so I was transferred to a “supervisor.” This supervisor was obviously from Jersey or thereabouts (nothing wrong with that, except when it effects your speech and reflects on your professionalism, IMO) – he couldn’t say his R’s and it sounded really bad – again, not a big deal but certainly creates a perception that this is performance on a lower level (I have yet to get someone who doesn’t speak clearly/properly at standard Amex customer service). He also was unable to answer the question nor help me, so he transferred me to another customer service “manager.” This manager spoke ebonics (disclaimer: ebonics is a dictionary word referring to an English dialect, this is not a racist remark nor intended as such, merely a factual statement - I don’t care if people choose to speak ebonics, but I don’t believe it is appropriate in a business environment, especially at this “level”); she would say stuff like “Now lemme’ axe (ask) you a question.” She stated this was standard and that there was nothing that could be done and it doesn’t matter what I was told or promised, essentially too bad. She wasn’t even willing to try to help. This is Centurion level of service? I eventually was able to convince her to have a conference call with someone in new card services, who was nice, but had no idea what I was talking about and how closing dates and billing cycles work (same as each representative before her).

At this point I have over an hour into this and I don’t care about the bill as much now as the principal and really testing this service to see if this is really worth it and hope someone actually cares about Centurion customers. Eventually, I was given the option to have another manager call me back. This was Mark, supposedly the manager over the Centurion customer service group. He called me back while later and was very short and to the point (which I appreciate on one hand, but a little kindness and empathy, which he lacked, also goes a long way).

The solution that came up was Mark would try to contact a new member services counterpart and see what could be done. The result: nothing, the only thing I could do is cancel and re-apply, which would achieve exactly the result I wanted at the expense of Amex having to reproduce the cards again and for me having to go through the drama of re-applying and having my credit hit again with a hard query (no thanks, even the best credit scores are effected by multiple queries, ask an expert at FWF).

All this and I have only had the card a few days… I wonder how much worse it can get? I’m just a new Centurion member, wouldn’t you want to leave a good impression? There’s all this talk about a new level of service and possibilities, but so far none of that has surfaced and I am extremely disappointed. It certainly isn’t worth the $7,500 for the first year and I doubt it is worth the $2,500 each year thereafter unless you travel whole lot, and then you probably have the elite status on airlines which is really the only value

In case you are curious, here’s the Centurion Welcome Letter (there’s no copyright on it, but I’ll have to remove it if Amex complains) - click on it to view full size, you may have to hold your mouse over it for a few seconds to see the “expand image to full size (IE)” button to view properly: