I am done with American Express. I had held an American Express Card since 1992 and was generally happy with the company. No "oh wows" or anything... Just business as usual. During this period probably my biggest complaint was trying to use my Skymiles which was a waste of time and a loss of my sirenity. The end came in 2008 when I read an article in the NYT about AE profiling their customers and making unilateral decisions on credit limits and whether to cancel accounts based on where an AE card was used. I work extensively overseas and could not afford a company to unilaterally decided that I was not a good customer because I shopped at Walmart instead of Sears. I thus began to move my accounts to a second credit card I held. This took some time and by March I was ready to close the acount. I called them up and asked that the account be closed and all transactions stopped. Everything was fine... No one was upset (tho I was surprised that no one at AE even contacted me to ask why I was leaving)... Somehow 10 months after the card was closed... Some magazine subscriptions and a membership renewal were processed... I was not sent a bill or notified by email that these had been processed. I found out when a collection agency sent me a notice asking for payment $140 dollars and $100 dollars in interest. I reviewed the matter and sent them a letter explaining my situation... The account should have been closed, etc, etc. But since I might have received some benifit from one of the items... I would pay it... I got a letter back from them saying the charges where valid pay... A one liner... I really wanted to take them to Small Claims Court but after settling down realized that it is not worth my time or energy... I paid the bill but will never utter a good word about AE for as long as I walk the planet...
0 comments