I have had some very unsatisfactory encounters with American Express and Membership Rewards customer service over the past few week. I have a Diners Club card that I am extremely happy with, as well as a UA and a BA Visa card. Keeping that in mind, I am thinking about cancelling my AX membership (I have been a member since 1991), but before I do so, I want to make sure I am not too quick in my decision. Is the decrease in customer service something that other FlyerTalk members have noticed as well, or am I just very unlucky? Would appreciate some feedback!

To give you an idea of Customer Service issues that I dealt with:
* An upgrade from Personal to Gold card took over THREE MONTHS to complete - and I was pre-approved!
* The toll free lines all end up in Voice Mail Hell - where you have to select over three menus before you get the option to speak to a representative. (Diners Club always answers with a live person!)
* Phone representatives have only very limited authority/capabilities, and need to transfer to another department on every single call - and of course, they don't announce the transfer to the next employee, so I perpetually have to repeat my name, account number, address, social security number, date of birth, etc.... Why can they not hold and tell their co-worker that I have already proven my identity?
* Four out of the five reps I spoke to today were less than friendly (and two of hem outright rude and uninterested).
* Hold times are outrageous - it took me 20 minutes to get a hold of a person today, and then I got cut off!
* And of course the programme does not credit miles on UA, my prime airline.

I am sorry - I definitely do not want to sound like I am bitter, but I am just very disappointed and am about to jump ship. Can anyone convince me otherwise?


[This message has been edited by DutchBoy (edited 03-17-99).]