American Express Membership Rewards - Platinum card service now routes to India?

I just called twice, and got routed to India. First time, I hung up, second time I asked the agent to get me a U.S. representative.

The agent said they couldn't do it, so I asked for a supervisor. After a wait, the supervisor came on and it turned out he was in the U.S.!

Haven't been knowingly routed to India previously, is this a recent Amex "enhancement" for Platinum card holders?

hmm, ive called a few times in the last couple days, to the concierge to make dinner reservations and both times its been a US rep...

As far as I know, the concierge simply connects you to the Circles office in Canada. As for customer service, which I haven't called lately, I'd be curious to know if it had been outsourced to a different country. Or if this has always been the case?

I've gotten quite a few CS reps from India, Concerige is different

As far as I know, the concierge simply connects you to the Circles office in Canada. As for customer service, which I haven't called lately, I'd be curious to know if it had been outsourced to a different country. Or if this has always been the case?

I thought Circles was in Boston. Either way, customer service is a different beast. Last time I called it was US-based, but it definitely has been a while.

I don't call Customer Service very often. Probably typically one or two times each year. I last called about a month ago.

As far as I know, I've never reached an offshore call center, and I wouldn't be particularly happy if I did.

(I'm planning to cancel my Chase card before renewal. One of the reasons for that is the offshore telemarketing calls I've received from them.)

I've called 4-5 times this month and all times have been transfered to individuals with every hard to understand accents...

It's been a real piss of, considering I usually get very well spoked people who I don't need to repeat myself with who I can joke around with and feel comfortable.

Last month when I had a host of problems while travelling, I was routed to India everytime. Without fail, they were powerless to help me and always promised to call back. No one ever did call back.

It is terrible customer service - no offense to India. But, I have expectations that one should not have to call 5 times to find out if a payment posted, why a charge was declined, or if they can follow up with my reservations.

if you can call during business hours, try account services instead

As far as I know, the concierge simply connects you to the Circles office in Canada. As for customer service, which I haven't called lately, I'd be curious to know if it had been outsourced to a different country. Or if this has always been the case?

ah right, didnt know it was another company that does the concierge. Well im none to happy with them atm anyway, they just wrecked my birthday by screwing up the reservations....twice....

but every other time ive called cust service its been a friendly american person, i think with Texan accent....though if i start getting support in India...il be mad.

probably more cost cutting, as AMEX is in the dumper, stock-wise, etc.

Recent down grade(s) from stock analysts, etc, don't bode well for customer service, or any other services.

Europeans seem to be more open-minded concerning languages and accents :rolleyes:

Languages in E.U. (http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/languages/index_en.htm)

Europeans seem to be more open-minded concerning languages and accents :rolleyes:

Languages in E.U. (http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/languages/index_en.htm)

I'm not sure what that link is intended to prove. Americans are typically quite tolerant of accents in English because we encounter so many of them in daily life. There are lots of people with Indian accents at my workplace, for example.

I make an effort and someone has to have quite bad speaking ability before I give up on them. This happens with Indian call centers, but not all the time. The bigger problem is that the call center staff, which is almost always outsourced to some contractor that handles many diffeent companies, are given no authority or training. So even if you understand them, they can't or don't want to help you and are often limited to reading from a script.

Being told, "sorry, I can't refer you onwards to a domestic service agent," and then being referred to one when I request a supervisor is a perfect example of that type of problem.

Platinum and Centurion concierge (Circles) has 3 call centers: Boston, someplace outside of Boston, and Hamilton Ontario (which is outside of Toronto).

Could it be some person migrated from India to US -- many Indians are US citizens and many work in call centers ..........

Yup got the same in the UK recently. Was surprised when called Card Services and it took a while to connect and was clearly an international call centre - I assumed India. Normally its a much clearer connection and UK representative (or sounds like one).

Although the international call reps can answer basic questions I find that something slightly out of the box confuses them and they can't answer and repeat themselves. The former (UK?) call centers seemed to be able to find a colleague who can help or try to dig out an answer from somewhere.

Hi,

Was just calling into AMX Plat CSR the other day last week to check on the status of a charge to my card by Sheraton in San Diego for a hotel reservation I'd made a year ago and had to cancel at the last minute just 48 hours prior (unlike the 72 they'd indicated online when I'd made the reservation). Long story short, was speaking with an English speaking rep who'd informed me that AMX had successfully gotten Sheraton's charge reversed and my account had been credited the full amount.

Eric

Avoiding the Indian call center has been for me probably the primary benefit of Amex Platinum (I rarely fly CO or DL, I already have access to all AA lounges courtesy of BAEC Gold status, have a TERRIFIC Virtuoso agent and so rarely use FHR, have never been able to get the restaurant of my choice when I've called Platinum Concierge, and have never needed any 2-for-1's). Having said that, I realize I haven't had to call them in a year, so I'm probably getting NO benefit this year, but in any event, if India proves true, I'll probably cancel my card.

I gotta admit, ever since Priority Pass came out, the only thing that's been making my Plat card something I want to hang on to was the US-based CSRs, the FHR program, and the 2-4-1 airfare.

Unfortunately, all that's left now is FHR, and that by itself is not worth $625/yr (my card +1 additional). The plat card is getting closer and closer to being a gold card now, even as they've increased the price. I think I will be downgrading. With the current state of the Plat programs, paying $625/yr for the sparse services I use is basically corporate charity.

Could it be some person migrated from India to US -- many Indians are US citizens and many work in call centers ..........

No, I asked them if they were in India every time and they confirmed it.

Strange. I call CS frequently and have never reached an Indian call center.