American Express Distress

If I wanted to call India I’d buy a Dell Computer

Like many other people who’s stories I have been reading, I am now done with American Express after my latest bout of having to call the customer service number 4 times to get through with a decent telephone connection where I could hear and understand their India-based customer dis-service staff and their broken English.

Marketing 101: When people buy a product or service they are buying a story. Look at Apple’s advertising and the success it brings them. They aren’t advertising a product, they are advertising a story: Fun music, Facebook on your phone, maps on your phone - not the iphone itself which lacks many capabilities that other phones have. Not the ipod itself. You can get fun music, facebook, and Google Maps on almost any phone.

Seth Godin used bottled water as an example in his talk at Google.

American Express’ marketing story was that yes you pay to be a card member, but membership has privileges and first class service. This is a value proposition that was proven to me early on in my years as an AMEX member. Issues were solved quickly and without fuss or hardship.

Now, however, calling customer service ends up in being stonewalled with a foreigner with no empathy and a preset script that includes nothing but false apologies. They have poked holes in their marketing story and without that the value proposition is negative. Why pay a yearly fee? If I want bad service I can get that for free and get a lower interest rate to boot.