American Express Membership Rewards - how to complain about concierge....

ok so the concierge service ruined my birthday party last night and id like to complain to amex about it, i just typed a 2 page email to them using their website....which as soon as i hit the submit button cleared the entire thing....so rather then re-type it all over, what amex # should i call to best complain about it? i tried talking to the concierge last night about it and all i got from them was "well we had no way of knowing..." (bullcrap) they seemed more interested in avoiding blame, would my best route be to call customer service and talk to them? or email? or a actual letter?

Do you think the problem was because someone didn't follow through or because the program is inherently flawed? What is the end game that you expect from your complaint? Answers to those two questions will guide you to the correct avenue for a complaint.

If you want to complain about an individual rep not following through on something you'll need to call in, go to the concierge group and get a manager on the phone. That is more likely to happen during normal business hours. If you think it is a problem with the program in general or you are looking for some credit for payments made then you'll probably need to go through the customer service group.

If you really had a two page letter written out it might be a good thing it was lost. Most complaint letters that long digress far from what is necessary to actually state a reasonable complaint and request for redress.

Do you think the problem was because someone didn't follow through or because the program is inherently flawed? What is the end game that you expect from your complaint? Answers to those two questions will guide you to the correct avenue for a complaint.

If you want to complain about an individual rep not following through on something you'll need to call in, go to the concierge group and get a manager on the phone. That is more likely to happen during normal business hours. If you think it is a problem with the program in general or you are looking for some credit for payments made then you'll probably need to go through the customer service group.

If you really had a two page letter written out it might be a good thing it was lost. Most complaint letters that long digress far from what is necessary to actually state a reasonable complaint and request for redress.

hmm well basicly what happened was i called them to make reservations for 6 at PF changs for my birthday last night, they did, and i got a confirmation email from them that they had the right times, locations, etc. i called the next night to change the # of people to 5, same thing, confirmation email. but we get to the restaurant, and....they have no idea who we are or what reservation we are talkin about. so after a lot of arguing with them they give us the crappyst table in the place, whole mood for the evening is wrecked....i called amex back after the meal and turns out they called the WRONG one, somehow they had the phone # for the other changs listed for the one we wanted. and the rep was really defensive about how i couldn't blame them because they had no way of knowing....

i dont really want anything from amex for this, dont want a refund or free miles or anything. i just want them to know they screwed up and it was their fault. and i suppose its a mix of the rep (when they called they didnt make sure they had the right location) and the program (for mis-listing the phone # in the first place)

I'd call in to the Circles desk and ask for a manager and explain the situation. I have had similar issues where they mis-heard the name of the restaurant and made me a reservation across town. It happens.

Not for nothing, but when I really want to be sure that a reservation is correct I'll always call the restaurant itself to confirm. Should you really need to? Probably not. But when it really is important I would.

Needing a concierge service to reserve at a P F Changs, my mind boggles at that. Now if it was Chilli's or Applebee's, I could understand it.

Needing a concierge service to reserve at a P F Changs, my mind boggles at that. Now if it was Chilli's or Applebee's, I could understand it.

lol. the time it takes to "resolve" this issue is probably better spent calling restaurants directly for the next 10 birthdays.

Needing a concierge service to reserve at a P F Changs, my mind boggles at that. Now if it was Chilli's or Applebee's, I could understand it.

i didnt "need" the concierge to do it, i just figured id never used it before i wanted to see what it was like, after this....im never calling them again for anything. i had hoped it would be easy, call them, they know who i am via like caller ID or something, and quickly tell em what i need. nope...good 3-5 min of going through the phone menu, reading them my card, verifying my name and SSN.....yea probably NOT the best idea ive ever had for making a simple reservation.

lol. the time it takes to "resolve" this issue is probably better spent calling restaurants directly for the next 10 birthdays.

yea il be doin that no doubt!

PF Chang? Yikes, they were doing you a favor by skipping the reservation.

I don't see this going very far. Although they made a mistake, you still got in. PF's isn't exactly a place that needs a reservation far in advance.

hmm well basicly what happened was i called them to make reservations for 6 at PF changs for my birthday last night, they did, and i got a confirmation email from them that they had the right times, locations, etc. i called the next night to change the # of people to 5, same thing, confirmation email. but we get to the restaurant, and....they have no idea who we are or what reservation we are talkin about. so after a lot of arguing with them they give us the crappyst table in the place, whole mood for the evening is wrecked....i called amex back after the meal and turns out they called the WRONG one, somehow they had the phone # for the other changs listed for the one we wanted. and the rep was really defensive about how i couldn't blame them because they had no way of knowing....

i dont really want anything from amex for this, dont want a refund or free miles or anything. i just want them to know they screwed up and it was their fault. and i suppose its a mix of the rep (when they called they didnt make sure they had the right location) and the program (for mis-listing the phone # in the first place)


Why would you waste your time to call concierge to make reservations at P.F. Changs? Wouldn't it just be easier to call the restaurant yourself?

I would call Circles tomorrow, during normal business hours, and ask to speak to a supervisor. Hopefully you kept the e-mails with the correct PF Changs location listed, as you could tell the supervisor that the e-mail confirmation was correct, but the agent had called the wrong PF Changs and thus you had planned for a lovely birthday evening, but it all came crashing down.

I can't defend the concierge service, but I do have to say that put yourself in their shoes; they're probably using Google or PF Changs website to locate the restaurant, and if there are two in the same city, they really don't have any way of knowing which is which. You'd have to be specific, at least in my experiences.

As a side note, I was under the impression PF Changs (at least the ones in LA) don't take reservations. Maybe they do for parties of X number of people or more, but I've always been told that PF Changs doesn't do reservations, and when I had AMEX try, the best they could do was get me to the front of the waiting line. My experiences though, so consider yourself lucky you even got a reservation.

P.S. What do y'all have against PF Changs?!

As a side note, I was under the impression PF Changs (at least the ones in LA) don't take reservations. Maybe they do for parties of X number of people or more, but I've always been told that PF Changs doesn't do reservations, and when I had AMEX try, the best they could do was get me to the front of the waiting line. My experiences though, so consider yourself lucky you even got a reservation.

I guess they do now:

http://www.pfchangs.com/reservation.shtml

However, you do have to call in.

PF Chang? Yikes, they were doing you a favor by skipping the reservation.

Beat me to it. My mother, bless her soul, actually quite likes it, and she gets all upset if you disagree with her on this issue. Go figure.

Why would you waste your time to call concierge to make reservations at P.F. Changs? Wouldn't it just be easier to call the restaurant yourself?

well, like i said before, id never used the concierge service before, so i figured "what the heck" il give it a try. every other time i need a reservation there ive called myself....i just wanted to try to concierge service and see how it worked. well i guess i have my answer....it dosent!

Hopefully you kept the e-mails with the correct PF Changs location listed, as you could tell the supervisor that the e-mail confirmation was correct, but the agent had called the wrong PF Changs and thus you had planned for a lovely birthday evening, but it all came crashing down.

I can't defend the concierge service, but I do have to say that put yourself in their shoes; they're probably using Google or PF Changs website to locate the restaurant, and if there are two in the same city, they really don't have any way of knowing which is which. You'd have to be specific, at least in my experiences.

i do have the emails where they say "reservation for: 6, time 6:00PM, Location: PF change 2700 southdale center." when i called and made the original request i told them specifically which one and he was like "ok lemme find them quick.....ok PF Changs 2700 southdale got it." so they had it in thier own system i guess just with the phone number for the OTHER one next to it...