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
Share:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.