Amex unexplained interest

Credit cards and lending
#1

So, today I found a special Christmas gift from amex: a 9p “Interest charge” on my statement dated 24th.

No idea why, so I cal customer service, and for the 1st time I’m actually not impressed with them: waiting time about 15 min. The the guy had no clue: I had payed off my card in full every month, no cash advances. After a bit of back and forth he’s emailed the “relevant team” to figure out why I’m charged this, and they’ll get back to me in 2-3 business days.

Somewhat annoyed. I don’t really care about 9p, but to charge interest, and then not being able to explain why is a bit ridiculous, isn’t it…

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#2

I have never paid a penny of interest with Amex - But I’m assuming you must have missed a small payment somewhere? Perhaps you had something come out of your account after you had paid down the old balance?

Do you have a charge card or credit card?

Clearly their main CS are still on holiday! :joy:

#3

Could it be something that has been treated like a cash advance, e.g. topping up a betting account?

#4

I pay by direct debit, so even if that’s the case, (which I double checked) then it’d still be their fault.

That’s the only thing I could possibly imagine, but (a) I don’t have a clue what it’d be, and (b) the cs advisor couldn’t find anything either.

Certainly curious waiting for their callback with an explanation in the next few days.

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#5

:joy: - Fair point!

You’re not on the Curve Amex Beta are you? :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

#6

No,i’m not.

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#7

Interested to know what they come back with.

Is it a charge or credit card?

#8

Amex customer services has gone downhill recently. They like to tell you your call is answered onshore, but it seems all issues require them to email “back office” which is offshore and they can’t talk directly to them.

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#9

Have you bought BTC? That’s treated as a cash purchase.

#10

Whilst not wanting to dispute what you’re saying I can honestly say that I’ve never had anything but perfect service from Amex. Based solely on my experience I would hold them up as a shining example how CS should be done.

Personally I wish they offered retail banking (i.e current accounts) as I’d switch in a heartbeat.

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#11

Agreed.

Although I had to call them today, and I was on hold for around 10 minutes initially - Longer than at any other time I can recall (it’s usually fairly instant).

Clearly that’s down to the time of year, so I’ll excuse them - Once through, the service was impeccable.

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#12

Amex HQ is on my dog walk and i’ve just been past, and while i’m sure they will tell you 90% of staff are in as usual, the entire place looks like a ghost town, so you may not be far off :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I wonder where your call was answered? Clearly makes no difference to you if the result was good, but i wonder if it’s being rerouted to other offices or if the one part that appeared not to be in complete darkness handled it… :see_no_evil:

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#13

She was American - Not that it helps much!

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#14

They normally tell you at the beginning of the call. I don’t think I’ve ever had a call that wasn’t answered in Brighton.

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#15

I could see myself moving if they had retail banking too, especially if they made credit products easier to apply to (used information they had from their bank). It’d be great because they could offer rewards for their current accounts and cover it with the people who don’t pay their bills back + they could offer loans on your purchases etc

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#16

They’d also fulfil my other wish for an Amex Debit Card. (I don’t aim too high in life) but this would make me happy for some reason

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#17

Go give them a bell on Twitter and see if you can sow the seed :wink:

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#18

A few months back when I called Amex I asked if the woman I spoke to was in the US. I thought she had an American accent (and I was used to getting people in Brighton as others have said), and she told me she was in Malaysia.

The CS she gave was as good as I expected, but I was surprised it wasn’t someone in the UK.

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#19

I’m wondering if this has something to do with what kind of card you have. (Not that i know what Card you have :grinning:)

I have BA premium plus and Business Platinum Charge Card and I always assumed they had a different tier of customer service given that I have an account manager (at least for the business card)

#20

Credit

Nope