’Excuse me sir, but are you holding an American Express Corporate Card ?’
Today, I’ve received my tenth call from a telemarketing agent that starts exactly this way .. I assume they all read from exactly the same script. Anyway, let me describe my experiences with this card issuer in chronological order.
When their telemarketing person first contacted me, I was interested in the American Express credit card, as it was being offered at no charge for people holding the Corporate Card from the same bank (which I was), and came with a good membership rewards plan. A negative of this card is that it is not affiliated to either Visa or Mastercard, and therefore has a lower acceptance with the merchants. But since I already had a Visa card, I felt this problem would not affect me.
So their DSA came to my office and took my details, at which point of time we ran into a snag - they needed a land line residence number, whereas I only had a mobile, probably just like thousands of young professionals like me who are new to Bangalore. I was then pestered to provide the land-line number of a relative or friend in Bangalore, which I did.
Two weeks later, I received a letter from American Express rejecting my application for a card, for reasons not cited by them. And to add insult to injury, the very next day I received a call from another telemarketer offering me the very same card !
It is just ridiculous that one department is totally unaware of what the other does. Anyway, carefully keeping my temper in check, I politely informed them that I had already been through the application cycle, and was no longer interested, and would they please note this in their database ?
No use. Today is the 10th time they have called me up, and I am now keeping my promise to them that I would post my account on this website. I will also be mailing these details to the concerned manager in American Express, if I can just find his name.
If their efforts are so uncoordinated even before I’ve taken the card, God only knows what kind of havoc they might wreak if I were to become a cardholder !