American Express: Not So Free After All

Last September, I wrote a post about cutting up my "gd" United Mileage Plus card in favor of just paying American Express $400 for a platinum card. That way, I theorized, I would get the kind of service using what's known as American Express Platinum Concierge. In theory, you call a special toll-free number and they get you what you want for travel and entertainment services, which are American Express's specialties.

That's not actually how it works. You do indeed call a special toll-free number. And you do get a friendly service representative, called a concierge, usually without waiting much. But after that, it isn't what I was expecting.

1) When you call the toll-free number, you have to choose 1) for travel services or 2) for reservations and other services. If you choose 1), that service representative can't do 2) so you have be put back in the queue or call back if you want to get theater tickets in London after getting the air tickets and hotel reservations to get to London in the first place.

2) The friendly concierge for 1) is trained to do what any reasonably sophisticated traveler would do themselves to figure out how to plan the trip. For instance, I go to kayak.com to check out routes and fares and airlines, figure out what's the best and then start buying tickets. The American Express concierge does the same thing, although I suspect I get better information from kayak.com than whatever system she was using. And, here's the trick: You have to stay on the line while they're doing it. So it ends up being a race between how fast you could have done it yourself and how fast they can do it. The concierge lost the first time I tried to do this, because the service representative was not smart to understand the concept that I wanted to land in any English airport from Birmingham to London (which includes about six airports that take international flights from the US), since I would be driving from one to three hours after landing and was trying to optimize my departure city, not my arrival city.

I gave up after an hour on the phone. I was able to do the complex routing that also included flying on to Moscow and Amsterdam and back to San Francisco; it took me a couple of hours in front of my computer. But I got exactly what I wanted for a cost that was about half of what the first concierge was quoting. The concierge did not understand the concept of booking economy and upgrading with miles; did not understand that concept of landing at one airport and taking off at another (not to mention that big cities often have more than one airport); did not understand the concept of pretty much anything that an experienced flier understands from painful experience. So... I don't think I'll call American Express Platinum Concierge for travel booking again, just so I can spend twice as much time having someone who knows half as much as I do make me tell her how to do her job.

3) American Express has the concept of profiles, but they don't actually reflect the human beings they have to deal with. Bear with me: in my first experience, I learned that you can only charge to a Platinum American Express card. My trip was mixed business and personal travel and I wanted to be able to charge different pieces of it to my business American Express card and other pieces on my personal American Express card, which is the one that was Platinum. Nope, not allowed (even though the business card is also American Express!). So I upgraded the business card to Platinum, thinking that now I could get the concierge to charge some things to one and some to the other, depending on whether they are personal or business.

I called back. I had already gone and gotten all my air tickets and hotels for the trip, so now i just wanted the concierge to find a town car to take me from LGW to LGH so I can get home at the end of the trip. I also figured I could get the concierge to get me some theater tickets while I was in London earlier in the trip. Nope! Concierge 1) only deals with travel and, when requesting a town car, only is authorized to deal with two American limo companies. (That's how you earn the discounts that American Express has so thoughtfully negotiated.) So Carey Limo came back (while I was waiting on hold) with a cost of $490 -- for a 45-minute transfer between two airports! That's almost more than my Premium Economy ticket on Virgin Atlantic from LHR to SFO!

4) Then I asked about the theater tickets and Concierge 1) said I would have to talk to Concierge 2). And when I asked her to update my profile with my second Platinum card, she said that I would have to have a separate profile for the second card! I assume that means I will also have to call back each time I want to use a different card.

So what was it that I wanted? Pay $400 a year for customer service because it's got to be better than the way that United Airlines and Citibank treat me when they give me miles? Oh, well. I guess I'm just not paying enough. I hear American Express has a black card.

Comments

[Magda Remillard]

Yep, you are just better off doing it all yourself. By the way, if you ever feel like visiting Poland, I would be happy to help with any sort of info you need. Went last week, and here's our blog: http://susanmagdaadventure.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

Magda

[anette]

I think that service has fallen across the board at American Express. I used to love Amex, especially as I traveled in dysfunctional countries a lot, but today Amex is more hassle than convenience. And their other services are following suit.

I just used my American Express Platinum card to book two cabins for an Easter cruise through American Express Travel Services online (www.americanexpress.com/travel).
Having clicked "purchase cruise now" and paying in full, I assumed all was well. Subsequently, I received a bounceback email from amex cruise stating that i should call an agent as the purchase was evidently only a "request", not a purchase (although I had a confirmation and a printout stating that my card was being charged).

Several conversations up and down the American Express Travel Services agent food chain left me without reserved cabins. And now no availability at the cabin class that I wanted or the price.

Abysmal website, abysmal service.

And now for another couple of hours on the phone with my Platinum card service desk to get a refund. What joy!

[Sarah]

I am sorry, but I must correct you.
You have it backwards.
I work for the Concierge part of American Express. Concierge will never assist you with airfare, or hotels. We also will not assist you with airport transfers. (some of my coworkers still try to, but they get passed to travel)
When you call in, prompt 1 is strictly TRAVEL. Concierge and Travel do not share databases, so if you call travel, make a profile, book flights and hotels, then get to concierge, concierge will have no idea who you are, what you just did/booked and you wiull have to create a profile with us. At that time we can then get you dining suggestions/reservations, buy you tickets, etc all around the world.

Concierge is not very great. I will admit. It is a hyped up service. And don't think about going to Centurion aka the black card. Exact same services, exact same rescourses, same people, just paid $2 more.

But please keep in mind, even we at Concierge, who is all different company in its own, looks down on Travel. We have issues with them continuously, and regularily hear complaints, and talk to angry people who cannot get anything done with the reps from Travel. Trust me, if I could book your plane ticket, book your hotel, I would. Because I know I would do it right.

So give concierge another shot. I cannot promise you will be impressed. Hell, you might hate us even more. But next time you call in, REMEMBER, prompt 1 is TRAVEL. Prompt 2 is CONCIERGE. Two different companies, two different services. I don't even know where the travel offices are. But for concierge we only have 3 offices. 1 in Boston Ma, 1 in Chelmsford MA and one in Burlington, Ontario *where I am*.

Oh and yes, we need to make a seperate profile for each card. We cannot link them. But that is for YOUR security. Think of how many people can potentially see all of your personal information. I do not know you. All it takes for me is to type in your name, and voila. I now have your credit card number, phone numbers, address. Times my eyes, by say, 350. To make for all of the people who work for the concierge service. Not including supervisors and people in other roles, but who have easy access just like me. Now imagine that I not only can see one set of information for you, I can now see two, three, however many cards you have, I now know. Scary thought right?

It is why we are not connected to Travel or Customer Service. And we get a lot of slack for it. But you now know how much information I could have on you. I could know where you will eating, what shows you will be seeing, in what town and time. Now imagine if we were connected. I could see where you are going, what flight, how much you paid for it, every single purchase you put on your card, billing information, answers the questions Customer Service asks to verify you. I could know where you will be, for how long, and precisely when you will get back.

Scary. Very scary. But I don't. And I do not, because we ask you to create a profile every time you call with a new card.

[Rick Calvert]

While I book many of my domestic trips on my own now whenever I have something more complicated than one stop one hotel, I use an old fashioned travel agent. Whenever I travel over seas I use him as well.

Not just any travel agent my guy was rated one of the top travel agents in the world. (I just got lucky someone referred me to him before he got all famous in the travel agent biz).

But I knew the first time he helped me that this guy was special. Yes he has to charge me fees. They are minimal and 9 times out of ten he makes up for it in the money he saves me on the trip and time I would have spent hunting all the particulars down myself.

He has a profile of me knows where I like to stay, and makes great recommendations.

Too bad the airlines and hotels have put most travel agents out of business but the really good ones are still out there. Busy people still who travel a lot still need them.

I'm not here to post a commercial for my guy but if you ever want to give it a try feel free to email me directly and I will pass along his info.

[Karen]

There are several NO ANNUAL FEE platinum Amex cards out there that connect you to the same concierge and travel services (I have one). The services that seem like a pain when you're paying $400 a year for them seem much better when they're free. If you don't care about the prestige of the classic look (my actual card isn't as pretty as the standard platinum amex - looks more like a visa card with a small amex logo) then these are a great deal.

[Concierge]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention - I’ve reviewed it myself now. A very enjoyable read

[Your Concierge]

I work in the Chelmsford, MA office. ONLY people with Platinum cards or the "black card", Centurion have access to AMEX Concierge.

While some of the criticsm levelled at us is warranted, no one said we could do magic any more than your personal assistant (whom you have to pay) can.

What we CAN do is save you time by doing all your research, finding hard-to-find consumer items or services, suggesting options, making reservations, researching and booking tours, etc.

A THINKING card member, puts us on speaker-phone while s/he waits and does other, more important things while we do the research.

We have no magic wand when you want a reservation at a totally committed restaurant that opens its book 30 days in advance and you want to eat there tonight.

We have no magic wand when you want to go to a sold-out show this weekend when others purchased their tickets weeks or months ago.

And.....we don't do airline tickets, hotels or regular car rentals. AMEX has a travel department for that.

Any Concierge will complete all the requests a cardmember has and then transfer them to travel for thier part.

We don't know your balance or why you were declined. It's not available to us. Why did you press the prompt for a Concierge if you had account questions?

Are we the greatest thing since sliced bread? Probably not but we are a useful tool for busy people who have seen how we can enhance their experiences and save them time.

But.........there's always going to be the whiners.....

[Brad]

I wish I had known you before you decided to get an AMEX card. I would have warned you against it. I have been a card holder for about 10 years now, and I found the service to be useless. Its a nice status symbol to place on the table at dinner, but that's as far as it goes. The people I spoke with on the phone were useless, as I asked them had they ever visited the restaurants they recommeneded and they were like no..I can't afford to dine at such a place!!!

I started looking online for other concierge services for my needs as this was the last straw with AMEX. I came across one called Lavish Lifestyles, they are not as large as AMEX but they offer the caliber of services I was looking for. Evrything was hands-on and the conciere I spoke to had either tried the places she recommened or had contacts that would visit the establishment on my behalf before booking. They're worth a try. Here's the link http://www.lavishlifestylesla.com