divemistressofthedark

Massive fail. About three weeks ago I thought someone had stolen my wallet (it turned out to be lost in a friend's house, luckily)… Had purchased Amex Lost Wallet Protector for the past couple of years and maintained the database, so thought my bases were covered.

Long story short: LWP was only able to cancel/replace two of the eight cards I reported stolen. The only ones I got back within a couple of days were my Platinum and Gold cards - I could have achieved this by simply calling the Platinum dedicated line. I still had to spend several hours on the phone with other card providers giving my address, phone, social security, mother's maiden, birthday… and I don't have all the cards back three weeks later. Amex called me back within a couple of hours of the initial call to give me a list of the card companies that "wouldn't accept their call" and that I had to call myself. They did claim to have had some success with a couple others.

At least one card LWP told me would be cancelled and replaced was not - found it out today when I called to inquire as to the status and first was told I had not declared it stolen (I had). Then they came back and admitted I had declared it stolen but somehow they had not reissued it. This was a Dillards department store Amex co-branded card, mind you.

Guess I get to miss out on a Dillards.com massive sale today for cardholders since I know I won't be able to get anyone to give me a new number/code over the phone.

Thanks for nothing, Amex. Partly why I pony up for a Platinum card plus extra services is to avoid hijinks like calling all over the place, being stuck in an autoresponse loop that won't let me talk to a person, and being put on hold forever. Had to make at least five calls just today to get to the bottom of it all.

Heaven help me if this had happened when I was out of the country (although admittedly I would have been carrying far fewer cards had that been the case). It's only my relatively high credit score I guard with my life at stake, right?

mia

Note that this card is issued by GE Capital Retail Bank, not by American Express. If I understand correctly this means that LWP did notify GECRB and they failed to act?

Nicksta

I hope you report this to the service provider (Amex or third party) and demand all fees paid 'for the service' refunded. That's inexcusable.

divemistressofthedark

The person I finally got a few minutes ago after hitting on the right number-dialing combination to escape the automated robot that answers the phone at the number listed on my Dillards card said he was with "American Express Credit Services." Neither this AECS or LWP will say why my card wasn't reissued on April 6th when I called to report a stolen wallet, so I don't know if LWP simply failed to report it or AECS failed to reissue the card. (I suspect the former, since LWP first told me the Dillards card wasn't on the list of cards I had reported to be closed/replaced - but it appears on the notes I took 4/6/14 while on the phone with the LWP rep, and it's a card I carry daily so I'm sure I would have reported it.)

All I know is I'm going to wait another two weeks to finally get my replacement card - for a total of five full weeks since I called Amex to say someone had stolen my wallet. You'd think someone could at least have offered the opportunity to pay for expedited shipping since I mentioned repeatedly I needed the card right away.

uneeq

That's ridiculous, agreed with Nicksta that you should be entitled to a refund of all fees paid.

divemistressofthedark

Thanks folks - to their credit LWP did refund my 2014/2015 fee without complaint, which I had paid only a couple weeks ago.

Only posted a thread because I searched for various keywords associated with LWP and didn't find anything about it on FT. Just wanted folks to know to not expect great things from LWP if they're, say, embarking on a voyage around the world - one of the services LWP offers is lost passport replacement. A failure to provide that would be a much bigger problem than a delay in receipt of a store-branded credit card.

I suppose I understand how non-Amex providers would fail to accept LWP's calls, given increased security nearly everywhere these days… but you'd think LWP would be significantly more forthcoming about that, rather than promising a "Life Lock" style service to save your bacon in case of emergency that then fails to deliver.

MSPeconomist

If the wallet ultimately was found in the friend's house, why couldn't you just keep and continue to use any cards that hadn't already been cancelled?

mia

It appears that American Express is not currently offering this service.

Reading the terms discloses that the service is, of course, outsourced. This in no way excuses poor service, American Express chose to slap their name on it.

The service provider is Encore Marketing International, Inc.. I would wager that they operate similar services under other brands.

patrick.barnes

They now provide a similar service through Credit Secure (operated by Experian).