American Express Membership Rewards - Amex Centurion Travel Agent complaints - Hangs up the phone on Cent. member

I called CTS travel service today to inquire about why a previous reservation I made with them with Marriot Hotel and Resorts did not reflect an Amex promotion through the My Life My Card promotions. The reservation was made just last week and well within the time frame of the My Life My Card hotel promotions. Apparantly, the CTS agent do not have a CLUE what the My Life My Card promotion was and have not even heard of the web site.
I was very frustrated and tried to convey to them why as a Centurion member that even the CTS agents are not aware of any Amex affliliated promotions, especially the My Life My Card promotions. Well...guess what...the agent hung up the phone on me!!
I am really disappointed with CTS travel agents in terms of their service and knowledge. I hope all Centurion members call their agents and let them know that if Amex offers a promotion, the agents themselves should be aware of these promotions and it is not up to the Centurion members to look it up for them! What did I pay $2500 per year for???!!???

I have found most of the CTS agents (not really the ones in Fort Lauderdale especially Jackie) are demeaning, without any real information and experience and a complete waste most of time. I am not at all suprised at what you experienced. I plan on cancelling my card as it has no value anymore.

Yeah..why would you pay $2500 a year for the black card..its a status symbol that gets you "what"..i feel i am stupid enough for paying $450 for Plat..i will probably never be invited to the black card as i dont ever plan to spend $250k a year on amex..but thats ok..i think i survive with Plat.@:-)

The OP's experience is consistent with many reported in this forum. It's one of the many (albeit relatively minor, compared to concrete benefits devaluations) reasons that I agree with...

Yeah..why would you pay $2500 a year for the black card..its a status symbol that gets you "what"..i feel i am stupid enough for paying $450 for Plat..i will probably never be invited to the black card as i dont ever plan to spend $250k a year on amex..but thats ok..i think i survive with Plat.@:-)

I keep the Plat, I do have the spend that would support a Black Card invitation, but I have no interest in paying the fee.

My Plat card supports six-figure spend in a month, so I'm loathe to give it up. I use the CO/DL/NW lounge access. And the Amex FHR benefits are occasionally useful. Hoping that the new domestic companion ticket option proves useful. And while not a Plat-specific benefit, I do find useful the Membership Rewards ability to transfer points into most any person's FF account in many cases.

But to expect more than a mass market card, Circles concierges, and a has-been status symbol of the Black Card frankly expects too much, IMHO.

The OP's experience is consistent with many reported in this forum. It's one of the many (albeit relatively minor, compared to concrete benefits devaluations) reasons that I agree with...



I keep the Plat, I do have the spend that would support a Black Card invitation, but I have no interest in paying the fee.

My Plat card supports six-figure spend in a month, so I'm loathe to give it up. I use the CO/DL/NW lounge access. And the Amex FHR benefits are occasionally useful. Hoping that the new domestic companion ticket option proves useful. And while not a Plat-specific benefit, I do find useful the Membership Rewards ability to transfer points into most any person's FF account in many cases.

But to expect more than a mass market card, Circles concierges, and a has-been status symbol of the Black Card frankly expects too much, IMHO.

Domestic companion program has proven VERY useful to me so far. If things continue as they have been, you can pretty much expect $200+ savings with each fare you book. Two trips pays for the card.

As to the general topic of this thread, I am not sure what to say...Amex has always been very polite to me over the phone. You do have to do their homework for them, but I have never had anyone be rude to me (so far).

IMHO the AMEX customer service agents although some are very good they are not all as knowledgeable as we are. We use some of the services a lot more than the agents and have the experience so normally most people will combine our experience with the agents knowledge and as a team come up with what is best for us all.

But for someone to hangup a phone, let us all think about this for a moment, what did you say or were you saying before the CTS travel agent hungup the phone?

The CTS agent hung up on me in the middle of a sentence while I was expressing my dissatisfaction over her knowledge of Amex promotions. This is what I said "...why is it that the CTS agent who booked my reservation was not informed of the promotions with the partner hotel that Amex is offering through the My Life My Card program?... Agent response was something like..."we are not aware of any promotions through My Life My Card...etc." I then said "My Life My Card program is offered through American Express. It is not some program with another company, it is a promotion with American Express!! Why are you not even aware of the web site...it is mylifemycard.com..." Then I heard a "CLICK" on the phone and the representative hung up the phone in my mid-sentence.
Judge for yourself...I was not using any words to demean the agent, I did not use any vulgar words against anyone. Do you think it was appropriate for the agent to hang up the phone??

I called CTS travel service today...What did I pay $2500 per year for???!!???


Hello,
I had a very similar exp last year with AMEX - they hung up on me as well during a booking. I eventually spoke to enough supervisors that they gave me a $100 credit on my account. Not enough in my opinion but that is why I've transferred most of my monthly spend else where.
- SR

IMHO the AMEX customer service agents although some are very good they are not all as knowledgeable as we are. We use some of the services a lot more than the agents and have the experience so normally most people will combine our experience with the agents knowledge and as a team come up with what is best for us all.

But for someone to hangup a phone, let us all think about this for a moment, what did you say or were you saying before the CTS travel agent hungup the phone?

Here is what transpired between me and the CTS agent:
Changdmd: "...I made a reservation about a week ago through CTS and I was not informed of a promotion that Amex have with Marriot through My Life My Card promotional program. Can you check the reservation for me?
CTS Agent: "...I checked and I am not aware of any programs with Marriot through My Life My Card..."
Changdmd: "My Life My Card is a American Express promotion, how can you not know about it?!? I made the reservation within the promotional time frame and I believe I should be informed of the promotion so I can at least use it for my reservation..."
CTS Agent: "...I do not know what the other representative who made the reservation did...I am not aware of any promotions..."
Changdmd: "How can you not know of the My Life My Card program through American Express?!? It is Amex own web site!! You mean to tell me that I have to look up every promotion myself before making reservations?!?"
CTS Agent: "...sir, I am not aware of the promotion that you are referring to and do not know if it is applicable to your situation..."
Changdmd: "I do not understand why an Amex CTS agent cannot be aware of the My Life My Card promotion. Have you ever heard of the mylifemycard.com web site??!! ..."
CTS Agent: CLICK and hangs up the phone

After the CTS agent hung up the phone on me, I immediately called CTS again to ask for a supervisor. I was connected to a supervisor on the follow-up call and explained the whole situation to the supervisor on duty. She explained that the only times a CTS agent can hang up calls on anyone is when the caller makes crude or vulgar remarks and the agent warns the caller first. Then, the agent can hang-up on the caller. In this case, I did not use any profanities or demeaning remarks against the CTS agent. The supervisor profusely apologized for the CTS agent's behavior and offered to rectify the situation by calling Marriot and inquire about my reservation on the promotion offered through My Life My Card program. I thanked the supervisor. The supervisor remarked that ALL CTS agents should be aware of any promotions that Amex is offering and the Centurion member is the last person that should inform the CTS agent of those ongoing promotions. She explained that Centurion card members are paying for a service and that we should not have to search for these promotions then informing the CTS agents. They should be the ones doing the legwork. I thanked her and she offered to email me her contact info and would follow-up on my reservation next day.
After talking to the supervisor, I felt the Amex Centurion program has some issues to iron out. First, they should be aware that members are paying for a service. This service doe not include hanging up phones on members. I spent time to call them, waited for about 10-15 minutes to talk to someone, and for the CTS agent to spend 3-5 minutes time listening and talking then hangs up the phone when they decide they don't want to hear the complaints. Well, that just gets under my skin. These CTS agents should be we versed in phone etiquette and hanging up on someone is the last resort. They can always say "Sir, if you feel I am not doing my job properly would you like to transfer to another agent?" That would be more of an appropriate response in situations where the CTS agent feels frustrated. Second, if the CTS agent has no knowledge of a promotion or program, don't they have computers that can log into the Amex web site? Can't they look up the information in front of them and asking for me to hold while they look up the info??
Overall, Amex Centurion service is OVER-Rated and the only reason I keep the card like most Centurion members is probably because it looks impressive when I take the card out to pay for dinner...

Changdmd: "How can you not know of the My Life My Card program through American Express?!? It is Amex own web site!! You mean to tell me that I have to look up every promotion myself before making reservations?!?"
CTS Agent: "...sir, I am not aware of the promotion that you are referring to and do not know if it is applicable to your situation..."
Changdmd: "I do not understand why an Amex CTS agent cannot be aware of the My Life My Card promotion. Have you ever heard of the mylifemycard.com web site??!! ..."
CTS Agent: CLICK and hangs up the phone

After the CTS agent hung up the phone on me, I immediately called CTS again to ask for a supervisor. I was connected to a supervisor on the follow-up call and explained the whole situation to the supervisor on duty. She explained that the only times a CTS agent can hang up calls on anyone is when the caller makes crude or vulgar remarks and the agent warns the caller first. Then, the agent can hang-up on the caller. In this case, I did not use any profanities or demeaning remarks against the CTS agent. The supervisor profusely apologized for the CTS agent's behavior and offered to rectify the situation by calling Marriot and inquire about my reservation on the promotion offered through My Life My Card program. I thanked the supervisor. The supervisor remarked that ALL CTS agents should be aware of any promotions that Amex is offering and the Centurion member is the last person that should inform the CTS agent of those ongoing promotions. She explained that Centurion card members are paying for a service and that we should not have to search for these promotions then informing the CTS agents. They should be the ones doing the legwork. I thanked her and she offered to email me her contact info and would follow-up on my reservation next day.

After the CTS agent hung up the phone on me, I immediately called CTS again to ask for a supervisor. I was connected to a supervisor on the follow-up call and explained the whole situation to the supervisor on duty. She explained that the only times a CTS agent can hang up calls on anyone is when the caller makes crude or vulgar remarks and the agent warns the caller first. Then, the agent can hang-up on the caller. In this case, I did not use any profanities or demeaning remarks against the CTS agent. The supervisor profusely apologized for the CTS agent's behavior and offered to rectify the situation by calling Marriot and inquire about my reservation on the promotion offered through My Life My Card program. I thanked the supervisor. The supervisor remarked that ALL CTS agents should be aware of any promotions that Amex is offering and the Centurion member is the last person that should inform the CTS agent of those ongoing promotions. She explained that Centurion card members are paying for a service and that we should not have to search for these promotions then informing the CTS agents. They should be the ones doing the legwork. I thanked her and she offered to email me her contact info and would follow-up on my reservation next day.

I feel the Amex Centurion program has some issues to iron out. First, they should be aware that members are paying for a service. This service doe not include hanging up phones on members. I spent time to call them, waited for about 10-15 minutes to talk to someone, and for the CTS agent to spend 3-5 minutes time listening and talking then hangs up the phone when they decide they don't want to hear the complaints. Well, that just gets under my skin. These CTS agents should be we versed in phone etiquette and hanging up on someone is the last resort. They can always say "Sir, if you feel I am not doing my job properly would you like to transfer to another agent?" That would be more of an appropriate response in situations where the CTS agent feels frustrated. Second, if the CTS agent has no knowledge of a promotion or program, don't they have computers that can log into the Amex web site? Can't they look up the information in front of them and asking for me to hold while they look up the info??
Overall, Amex Centurion service is OVER-Rated and the only reason I keep the card like most Centurion members is probably because it looks impressive when I take the card out to pay for dinner...

Is this your personal travel counselor?

I used to just request the next available rep, as I was unhappy with my assigned personal counselor. I recently requested a different rep, who has been great so far. Ask for someone who travels frequently and has been to the places you travel to most often.

FWIW, I always do my research first and I'm usually able to tell them exactly what to book, and at what cost. For the times when an internet rate is lower than the FHR program, they will call and request the amenities and that rate.

I do think that the FT community as a whole has more travel knowledge than most travel agents, Centurion included.

Is this your personal travel counselor?

I used to just request the next available rep, as I was unhappy with my assigned personal counselor. I recently requested a different rep, who has been great so far. Ask for someone who travels frequently and has been to the places you travel to most often.

FWIW, I always do my research first and I'm usually able to tell them exactly what to book, and at what cost. For the times when an internet rate is lower than the FHR program, they will call and request the amenities and that rate.

I do think that the FT community as a whole has more travel knowledge than most travel agents, Centurion included.

The CTS agent that I talked to was not my assigned agent. I called on a Sunday and my assigned agent was not available.

What did you mean about transferring points into other peoples accounts?

the only reason I keep the card like most Centurion members is probably because it looks impressive when I take the card out to pay for dinner...

Do you think it does?

I've decided nothing impresses more than a wad of real cash these days... (of course there are no airmiles on spending cash... but that's a different issue)

If you divided the annual fee by the number of "important" dinners you have - and spent that on extra wine, better food, limo drop off for your guests etc., would that impress more?

Don't get me wrong... I agree with the prestige thing. Some years ago, as a "young" business man I found flashing a gold Amex around Asia impressed quite a bit. It worked then, but I feel the colour of plastic is not as important as it used to be (and Amex would have us believe).

Changdmd: "How can you not know of the My Life My Card program through American Express?!? It is Amex own web site!! You mean to tell me that I have to look up every promotion myself before making reservations?!?"
CTS Agent: "...sir, I am not aware of the promotion that you are referring to and do not know if it is applicable to your situation..."
Changdmd: "I do not understand why an Amex CTS agent cannot be aware of the My Life My Card promotion. Have you ever heard of the mylifemycard.com web site??!! ..."
CTS Agent: CLICK and hangs up the phone

In my little experience when I have an agent that is not "helpful" I do one of two things

1. Hangup and call again and speak to another agent
2. Ask to speak to a supervisor.

Most of the agents can handle the regular/routine/frequent requests. The moment they are faced with new products or promotions if I find that the particular person is not helpful I move on and do either 1 or 2. This is not only applicable to AMEX but every single company that I contact their customer service via phone or in person.

If for any reason you still do not get help we always have the FT community that can come to our aid and somebody will be able to help us out.

Finally we all have our moods/bad days. What someone may view as a regular conversation to someone else that maybe "yelling"

"How can you not know..."


Repeatedly asking a person "How can you not know..." is pointless and insulting. The agent either knows or does not know, if not it is a training issue that should be discussed with a manager. Nothing can be accomplished by berating the person who happened to answer the phone. This doesn't justify a hangup, but I imagine the agent was trying to switch your call to someone and simply made an error. The amount of your annual fee does not excuse your behavior.

Repeatedly asking a person "How can you not know..." is pointless and insulting. The agent either knows or does not know, if not it is a training issue that should be discussed with a manager. Nothing can be accomplished by berating the person who happened to answer the phone. This doesn't justify a hangup, but I imagine the agent was trying to switch your call to someone and simply made an error. The amount of your annual fee does not excuse your behavior.

I feel your pain for the representative. BUT, if the representative WORKS for American express and is a Centurion Travel Service agent, don't you think they should at least be trained to KNOW what American Express offers?? How can you justify the agents behavior of hanging up the phone because I was berating the agent. I SIMPLY stated the facts and kept repeating them. The agent herself did not want to admit she was NOT KNOWLEDGEABLE of the facts and just kept insisting " I am not aware of the program you are referring to..." Don't you think that is WRONG of her to do that??? She could simply answered " I do not know all the promotions and I can transfer you to someone that does." INSTEAD, she hangs up the phone.
Who do you think deserves that kind of treatment?? Today if I was a GREEN American express card holder, I would still COMPLAIN...

Hanging up on a client is wrong, Green, Gold, Platinum, or Centurion is irrelevant. Berating the agent is worse, the lack of knowledge is a management failure, not her individual failure. Your own description of your verbal behavior sounds as if it was intended to humilate her, and i think that's inexcuseable.

It is frustrating to deal with inadequately trained staff. American Express routinely overpromises and underdelivers, but what's more important, talking to someone who has the knowledge and authority to solve your problem or venting on frontline staff at a call center? As soon as the word's "don't know" or "cannot" are uttered ask to speak to someone with more knowledge or authority.

Hanging up on a client is wrong, Green, Gold, Platinum, or Centurion is irrelevant. Berating the agent is worse, the lack of knowledge is a management failure, not her individual failure. Your own description of your verbal behavior sounds as if it was intended to humilate her, and i think that's inexcuseable.

It is frustrating to deal with inadequately trained staff. American Express routinely overpromises and underdelivers, but what's more important, talking to someone who has the knowledge and authority to solve your problem or venting on frontline staff at a call center? As soon as the word's "don't know" or "cannot" are uttered ask to speak to someone with more knowledge or authority.


I did take it up with management immediately after the agent hung up the phone on me. How was I suppose to know the behavior of the agent, especially a Centurion Travel Service agent, while I was in the middle of my converstation with her?? If you recall my brief synopsis, I only talked to her BRIEFLY...How was I suppose to ask for another agent if she just hangs up the phone in the middle of the conversation?
All I am saying is, it is INEXCUSABLE for ANYONE in the service industry to hang up the phone on customers. Let alone a Centurion Travel Agent.

Here's a brief response from the supervisor that I received today "...My sincere apologies that the agent hung up on you. This is simply unacceptable and not the way we endeavor to treat our cardholders by any means."

How was I suppose to know the behavior of the agent...while I was in the middle of my converstation with her??

I suggest listening. She told you she was not familiar with the offer. That's the point at which the conversation could have ended with you politely asking to speak with a supervisor. Nothing to be accomplished by repeatedly asking her if she "should" know about it.

dennis

It *is* easy to get frustrated with CSRs, that's for sure. I've done it recently, but once I get rude, I don't complain about the results...

Check out this conversation with a Dell Live Chat representative from last night (I did it on behalf of my brother-in-law):


8:41:18 PM System Connected with Bruno Mathew
8:41:22 PM Bruno Mathew Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Service Chat. My name is Bruno. How may I help you?
8:41:34 PM XXX YYY I was double billed on my credit card for this order.
8:42:12 PM Bruno Mathew That's very unfortunate. I'll be glad to assist you with that.
8:42:17 PM Bruno Mathew Could you please verify the full name on the account?
8:42:40 PM XXX YYY Do you mean the Dell account, or the credit card account?
8:42:52 PM Bruno Mathew On the order.
8:43:05 PM XXX YYY XXX YYY
8:43:24 PM Bruno Mathew is 'zzz@qqq.com ' your current e-mail address ?
8:43:30 PM XXX YYY Yes
8:44:02 PM Bruno Mathew Are we discussing order # 12345678?
8:44:06 PM XXX YYY Yes
8:44:14 PM Bruno Mathew Thank you for the information. Please allow me 2-3 minutes to access your information.
8:47:22 PM Bruno Mathew Thank you for your patience.
8:47:32 PM Bruno Mathew I just checked the order details.
8:47:52 PM Bruno Mathew What I see is that you ordered a separate monitor online.
8:49:01 PM XXX YYY Yes. That is the order number I gave you.
8:50:07 PM Bruno Mathew You have a system order i.e. order # 12345677 and a monitor order i.e. 12345678.
8:50:15 PM XXX YYY This has nothing to do with the system order.
8:50:22 PM Bruno Mathew Okay.
8:51:37 PM Bruno Mathew So how come you were billed twice, I only see one order and one invoice for that order?
8:52:23 PM XXX YYY Which one of us works for Dell? I'm trying to ask you that question.
8:53:47 PM Bruno Mathew Was it on the same card ?
8:53:54 PM XXX YYY Yes.
etc.
etc.

related to poor customer service from centurion travel advisors.

the centurion travel advisors are supposed to be the "elite" of the amex staff. you would expect at least good service and knowledge if not excellent service all of the time, after all what are you paying the $2500 fee for??

to be treated poorly, deal with a poorly trained or outright incompetent travel advisor even part of the time is somewhat different from what the centurion "experience" is supposed to be about.

for those defending the poorly trained or less knowledgeable staff at centurion, remember, these staff members at the centurion level are held out as experts. the staff do this for a living, they should be expert, and they are supposed to be the elite. if they can;t live up to the tasks at hand, the advertising from amex should be changed to reflect the reality.

regards.

related to poor customer service from centurion travel advisors.

the centurion travel advisors are supposed to be the "elite" of the amex staff. you would expect at least good service and knowledge if not excellent service all of the time, after all what are you paying the $2500 fee for??

to be treated poorly, deal with a poorly trained or outright incompetent travel advisor even part of the time is somewhat different from what the centurion "experience" is supposed to be about.

for those defending the poorly trained or less knowledgeable staff at centurion, remember, these staff members at the centurion level are held out as experts. the staff do this for a living, they should be expert, and they are supposed to be the elite. if they can;t live up to the tasks at hand, the advertising from amex should be changed to reflect the reality.

regards.

I've had nothing like the OP's experience...ever. I had one incompetent CSR, and I got a $150 gift card to make up for it. But I've never had a rude CSR. When I was Platinum it was a different story.

these staff members at the centurion level are held out as experts. the staff do this for a living, they should be expert, and they are supposed to be the elite. if they can;t live up to the tasks at hand, the advertising from amex should be changed to reflect the reality.

Agreed, but to the extent that an agent fails to fulfill the cardholder's expectations this needs be communicated to American Express management. It does not justify berating the agent.

related to poor customer service from centurion travel advisors.

I used the personal travel advisors twice before I cancelled my Centurion card last Fall. The first time, they screwed up an award ticket using DL miles on Alitalia. The second time, their English was so poor I could not understand them.

Taking away the SPG Plat was the last straw for me.

I get much better service from Abercrombie & Kent.

The CTS agent that I talked to was not my assigned agent. I called on a Sunday and my assigned agent was not available.

I've had about 1 month of bad experiences in a row dealing wth universal agents as my personal guy was out of town. I dealt with people who nothing about the mandarin program, people who had to "call and get permission to make an int'l phone call."

Anytime you call CTS and hear, "Please stay on the line to take a brief 3 question survey..." you should already know that you're fightin an uphill battle. I have been mortified by the level of service I have received lately from universal agents. I had one leave me a voicemail telling me that since she couldn't find a Hertz Chauffeur in Dubai that she booked a car with Carey for the day...total price, $1800.00!!!! I went balistic and then they tried to charge me a cancel fee. I had to open up a CSI and fortunately was credited for this fool's mistake. ALWAYS TAKE DOWN THEIR FULL NAME AND EXTENSION NUMBER IF YOU ARE FORCED TO CALL UNIVERSAL AGENTS. THEY ARE HORRIBLE.

Agreed, but to the extent that an agent fails to fulfill the cardholder's expectations this needs be communicated to American Express management. It does not justify berating the agent.

He wasn't berating the agent.... She should know what the hell she is doing if she is working for CTS.

I wrote another post about my CTS agent who when I asked to help me set up some tours in the cities I was going told me that I should talk to the concierge at the hotel when I got there... :td: