American Express Membership Rewards - AMEX Latest Telephone Idiocy

Called Amex today to see if a credit for returned item has posted to my account (Pls note Base account # is in husband's name. I have a "sub account with last 5 digits different but of course combined bill) I entered husband's 16 digit acct # into phone system. Next instruction I heard. Enter the month and day of your mother's birthday to verify identity. How stupid is that? Whose mother's birthday do they want mine or his? My mother and his have been dead for over 25 years. To be frank I don't remember the day of the month for my own mother's birthday much less my mother in law's. ANd of course he has never given AMEX this information so how can they verify it anyway.

Obviously they want his mother's birthday since you entered his account number in. If a thief stole the card, (s)he wouldn't enter their own mother's birthday, right?

You're either challenged for the birthdate information, or you're prompted to give it to AmEx. Since you were prompted, he must have entered that at some time during a previous call.

You're not supposed to remember his mothers birthday for this since it shouldn't matter to you. You're supposed to remember whatever number you entered in on your card number or on your account. It's not a joint account and, no offense intended, but being married and having a card on his account doesn't give American Express the right to disclose information about his account activity to you. Whatever you do personally is your own business.

As far as your own mothers birthday, I'm confident that you could use a four digit pin as a comparable secret code.

Why didn't you just enter in your actual card number and avoid all the hassle of pretending to be him? It seems that the "idiocy" prevented you from initially presenting yourself as someone that you aren't, so it sounds like it worked.

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daniel baker -- dbaker-flyertalk@ityt.com
Reliable, fast, and unmoderated forums at ITYT. (http://www.ityt.com/forums/)


[This message has been edited by dbaker (edited 02-24-2002).]

I must 100% agree with dbaker.

It's incredible how easy it is to get confidential informations about someone online or by phone with some big companies.

Amex's efforts to protect privacy goes in the right direction.

Even if the mother's maiden name or birthdate does not offer a high level of protection, it's a good way to protect you against most of the privacy threats.

You can't expect from Amex to be protected against all fraud cases etc. if you , at the same time, don't accept the security procedures that should protect you.

I totally agree with you dbaker.

KathyP, how would you like Amex to verify identity?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I entered husband's 16 digit acct # into phone system</font>

I'm willing to wager your husband's account # has only 15 digits. Maybe that was your problem.

this has actually happened to me recently on my OWN account..I have never given Amex my mothers birthday..but i entered the date anyway..they then asked for my last 4 digits like usual...and the call went through...as a test I called again and for mother's birthday I entered a different date...it still took me to the request for my pin...I was going to follow up w/ CS but I didn;t bother...


[This message has been edited by squeakr (edited 02-25-2002).]

Of course the system won't just hang up on you if you enter the wrong information in. I'm sure that the CS agent that takes your call is aware that you failed preliminary verification.

It's the same as if you entered your card number wrong or something.

This reminds me of the Continental forum where a lot of people claim that the Elite line's request for your Onepass # is just a hoax to slow down a call since these people have entered the wrong number and still gotten through. Obviously the system won't hang up on you if you don't have your Onepass number with you and I'm consistently greeted by name.

KathyP,
I side with you - it's a ludicrous question, and, as you indicated, they've never even, ever, asked for this info in the first place, so there can be no right answer anyway.

IOW - just as you can't prove a negative with a negative, nor can you correctly answer a question in which you, or likely, your husband, has ever provided the answer.

I'm all for security - but not for stupidity - which is what AMEX seems to have succumbed to on this one.

dbaker, if AMEX has the same relative bank of personal info on you that they have on mine....they don't need to serve up bogus questions to trip up my spouse (or me, since I literally do not know off the top of my head my own mom's b-day) on when she needs access to my card, or my two other linked AMEX cards.

I ran into the mother's birthday question late last week when calling AmEx; my first thought as well is that I never gave them that info! When the CS rep came on the line (no indication whether my entered response was correct or not) I asked her about it. She said many people had been asking as well, and she had no idea what the story was. Upon activating a new corporate AmEx card a few days later, I *was* asked for that info... so perhaps AmEx is looking for a new four-digit identifier other than the last four digits of one's SSN? Well, I suppose I applaud any move away towards SSN-based ID's.

I was prompted for this as well, and I laughed as I'd NEVER given them that info. I just hung up and called back and the next time the system didn't ask.

Sorry DBaker but I disagree with you. It is a joint account. How do I know? Because American Express reports every month to the credit bureau under my SSN as well as my husband's and the code on the Credit Bureau reports says it is a "J" for joint account. In the past Amex has requested the last 4 digits of husband's SSN to verify which of course was easy for me to remember

I've never been asked for this information, and it's honestly a good thing since I'm such a bad child I don't know my mother's birthday!

This must be something new. I recently opened an account with AMEX and was prompted to enter this information when I activated the cards by phone.

I guess the mom's birthday stuff is really a pin number with an easy to remember mnemonic prompt.

But it discriminates against orphans and test-tube babies.

This "additional" information "requirement "is something relatively new, at least within the last 12 months.
When activating a new Plat. card a few months ago I too ran into this. I refused and told the CSR that this was ricockulous. She gave the "added security" canned response but told me it wasn't required, that she will activate the card right away, and to have a good day.
Never has been an issue since.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by KathyP:
Sorry DBaker but I disagree with you. It is a joint account.</font>

So why did you enter his card number instead of yours? Certainly it would be easier to enter your own.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> How do I know? Because American Express reports every month to the credit bureau under my SSN as well as my husband's and the code on the Credit Bureau reports says it is a "J" for joint account. In the past Amex has requested the last 4 digits of husband's SSN to verify which of course was easy for me to remember</font>

This is true of all American Express Additional Cardholder accounts. However, if you sign up on the web, you'll only be able to see your transactions unless it's your account and you are the primary cardholder.

I entered my husband's account # because I was under the impression that I needed to enter the "main acccount #" which of course is his #. I have always done this and then the customer service people were able to get to my transactions. Just for information. Today I called them and entered my account # not his. This time they wanted the last 4 digits of my work phone #. I entered that and got response that "my input was not recognized enter again". I entered again and got the same response but was then told to enter my zip code. I did and then I got put through to customer service rep. I can absolutely guarantee you that I have never given my work # to AMerican Express. What are they doing there? It seems like they are just randomly trying out a bunch of different security prompts. Then when you answer incorrectly they put you thru anway.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dbaker:
Of course the system won't just hang up on you if you enter the wrong information in. I'm sure that the CS agent that takes your call is aware that you failed preliminary verification.

It's the same as if you entered your card number wrong or something.

This reminds me of the Continental forum where a lot of people claim that the Elite line's request for your Onepass # is just a hoax to slow down a call since these people have entered the wrong number and still gotten through. Obviously the system won't hang up on you if you don't have your Onepass number with you and I'm consistently greeted by name.</font>

I should have started this thread months ago. I ran into this mothers birthday thing also -- I'll admit it --I don't know it and never gave it to AMEX. I told the agent I was an orphan -- in typical AMEX fashion I was told not to worry about it, simply don't respond, just wait and you will get the last 4 digits of SSN prompt. BUT THAT'S NOT OK. It makes an already too long call LONGER. And there is no increase in security or more importantly for me, no increase in customer service.

My Gold card is gone after I wait another 6-8 weeks for them to fix another screw up (significant bonus MR miles which haven't posted from Nov.). Then, when I blow out my Delta miles, my Delta optima will be gone also. I have been a member since 1987, and MR participant since 91-92. MR is all that has kept me with AMEX through profoundly bad customer service and a total lack of value added. I am looking forward to being free of AMEX hell for the first time since the 80s

The problem with asking anything but your number when you hit the prompt to directly speak to an agent is that they ask you the security questions anyway.

A typical call (for me) goes like this-

1. Dial number
2. Press 0 when the message starts
3. Enter acct #
4. Enter last 4 of SSN
5. Agent answers and asks me some combination of name and SSN, DOB, address, etc.

Why bother with step 4? They're going to ask it anyway, it's just a hassle to enter it for no purpose.

I was having some issues with AmEx Membership B@nking recently. They ask you for every piece of information they can think of, every call - Name, DOB, SSN, address, e-mail address, ATM card number. They asked me each of these questions each of the 10 times I called them in the space of 3 days. What a hassle.

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