Great Customer Service Stories: American Express

Posted by Justin Goldsborough | 0 comments

There is no better marketing than a great customer service experience. Paid, earned, owned, whatever. It doesn’t exist. Because the customer is never more invested than when it comes to his or her own service issues. And in the end, your brand is what your customers say it is.

I had such an experience this Monday with American Express. Let me set the stage for you. I logged on to my account to print off a receipt for an expense report and noticed I had a late charge…a $40 late fee. Sweep the leg, Johnny!

I was pissed because at first, it looked like I had been charged the fee incorrectly. But after contacting American Express via phone, the rep explained to me that the late fee was from a previous billing cycle and I did indeed owe it. Wah-wah.

Usually the call would have ended there. But as I was waiting to be dissed and dismissed, the rep asked if he could run a question by me. Sure, I said. And this was the point where I started to be very, very impressed!

“Sir, was this late fee because you were waiting on reimbursement from an expense report to pay your bill?” he asked. “I noticed you have a corporate card and I know that happens sometimes with our corporate card holders.”

“Yes,” I said. “Actually, it was probably a combo of me waiting for reimbursement and I also likely could have filled out the expense report a little sooner than I did.” Honesty is the best policy, right?

“Well, sir,” he said, “I know that happens sometimes with corporate clients, so let me make a note on your account and we can review the issue and maybe help you out. Actually, a supervisor just walked in. Hold on a second.”

Ok, I thought. This was nice of him. Already taken this a step further than he had to.

“Sir, I just talked to my supervisor and we reviewed your account. You have no late fees in 2012 so far, and we have a policy for corporate accounts that if the holder has no previous late fees, we can remove a fee…especially for a long-time customer.”

Happy Monday to me! But he wasn’t done.

“We know how it is when you’re waiting on reimbursement to pay your bill,” he said. “And we just want you to know that American Express has your back.”

Indeed, they do. When it comes to customer service.