Customer Service | Adam Weiss

AmEx Changes Their Terms, But What WERE They?

June 4, 2009 By Adam

This letter was in my mailbox today, and it was so ridiculous that I had to share it. American Express wanted to thank me for my continued business, and inform me of some changes to their AutoPay service. These terms of service updates are pretty standard, but the usually come with a copy of the new terms of service.

This letter didn’t have the little booklet that all the ones I’ve ever gotten came with, and didn’t even spell out what most of the changes were:

“The last sentence of the first paragraph … is deleted.” What exactly did it say (not just that it refrenced something else that you didn’t send me either), and why has it been deleted?
“The first sentence of the second paragraph of section 1.C … is changed to read:” Changed from what?
“All other Program Terms remain unchanged and in effect.” Thanks for the info, but it would be nice to read them for context. A copy of the old terms for comparison would be great, but at the very least, I should get a copy of the new terms.

They say that “In general, the changes clarify certain aspects of the program…” but they did their best to make those changes as unclear as possible.

Letter from American Express

Goodbye, Chase Freedom Card

May 12, 2009 By Adam

I’ve had a Chase Freedom Visa card for a couple of years now, and it had been my go-to card for pretty much every purchase I made.

This was because it offered great rewards on a good chunk of my regular purchases through a mildly-confusing rewards program: It gave me 3% cash back on many of the things I spent the most on, and 1% back on everything else. On top of that, if I waited until you’d accumulated $200 in rewards, I could redeem that for a $250 check — giving me a 25% bonus reward on the spot.

Over the last couple of years, I’d been averaging more than 2% cash back per month with this card after the bonuses, which made it a really great deal.

Apparently, this was too good a deal for Chase to continue giving us customers, as it’s all about to change.

The company just sent out a mailing detailing the following changes (among others) to the Freedom Card rewards program:

No more 3% cash back at your most-visited stores.
No more $50 bonus if you wait to redeem your rewards.
Rewards are now just a flat 1%, with periodic bonuses through special offers.

In other words, the Chase Freedom just became almost every other basic rewards card out there. Therefore, I’ll treat it just like I treat all of the other basic rewards cards out there: I’ll ignore it.

At least this will make my life easier: I’d just been rethinking my credit card usage, and had planned on switching most of my spending to a new Charles Schwab Invest First card that gives a flat 2% cash back on everything — automatically, and on a monthly basis — and has the great bonus of not charging any fees when used overseas.

The plan was to keep buying my groceries on my Freedom Card, along with using it to pay the few bills which would earn me 3% back. I’d be using the 2% card for everything except the purchases I knew I’d get 3% for from Chase. Potentially a bit confusing, I know, but I’d be saving a bit of extra money.

Now I don’t need to do that. Chase has done me a favor: by removing all incentive to use their card, they’ve made my decision to totally switch to one of their competitors a very straightforward one.

Thank you, Chase, for chasing me away.

Verizon Has the Least Helpful Tech Support I’ve Seen in a Long Time

September 9, 2008 By Adam

I’ve been fighting with Verizon for almost three weeks over getting my DSL hooked up, and it has been a thoroughly unpleasant experience. The biggest problem I’ve had with them is their inability to give me any useful information. I was promised phone-updates four or five times, each bu a different agent (or supervisor), and I never received a single call.

That whole process is another story that I’ll save for a later date. at least the DSL is finally working, so I decided to us their online chat to ask a simple question about upgrading to a faster speed (one of the technicians they sent out to try to get it working said that I should be able to get a faster connection at my address than their system indicated). I upload large files to clients, so a better upstream connection would be great.

It wasn’t meant to be — the poor customer service and lack of information continued. This would have been a one-answer session (maybe two) if “Danny” had just given me the information I asked for. Instead, I had to ask the same question three times, and ultimately have him disconnect the chat without fully addressing my issue.

Here’s the full chat log, as a warning to anyone who tries to ask a simple question of Verizon’s sales or support reps. Do you think “Danny” helped me “How can I help you experience the cutting-edge technology of our High Speed Internet” ? I don’t.

We are routing you to a chat representative. Thank you for contacting our Verizon High Speed Internet department. Your average wait time is 6 seconds. Ask about our first month FREE offer when you order online.

You are now chatting with Danny.

Danny: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. How can I help you experience the cutting-edge technology of our High Speed Internet?

you: I’m trying to find out what the upload speed is on your 7mbps DSL package. I signed up for the 3mbps because that was the fastest option listed, but technician who came out to get it working said I was close enough to the office that I could get 7. Unfortunately, I can’t find speed or pricing information on your site about that package. Can you provide that information?

Danny: When you pre-qualify your telephone number for High Speed Internet service, the website will tell you the plans available to you and maximum speed for which your number qualified.

Danny: So you will get the speed which you are getting on your page after checking availability.

you: I understand that, but the technician who came out said the website information was inaccurate for my address. Can I get the upload speed number from you, and pursue the option of upgrading the speed with a phone agent at a future time?

Danny: I would suggest you to contact local Verizon business office to upgrade the service. I am online sales representative and can help you in ordering new service here online.

you: I understand that. I am just looking for a simple piece of information. Can you please provide me with it? I would like to know what the upload speed is with the standard 7mbps plan that is available to some of your customers (even if I am technically not one of them according to your system).

Danny: You would get 768 kbps upload speed with that plan, if that plan is available at your location.

Danny: Do you have any other questions I can help you with?

you: Thank you for that information. So the upload speed doesn’t change with the faster download at that level? I would mainly be upgrading for the upload speed…

you: Is there any way to get a faster upload speed?

Danny: Yes, that’s right. I hope I have resolved your reason for contacting us today. Thank you for using Verizon’s chat service. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Your chat session has been terminated by the Verizon High Speed Internet chat representative.