Another American Express Platinum Experience
by Mr Credit CardThis post is written by Mrs Credit Card :
I was very excited to hear about the new exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia - Star Wars : Where Science Meets Imagination. It started on February 9 and ends on May 4. http://www2.fi.edu/
One of main attractions is a 4 minute “ride” in a reconstructed Millennium Falcon which costs $5 each, over & above the admission charges. Since the kids have a day off on President’s Day, I decided to call go online to get the tickets. It turned out to be a 2 hour quest and here’s my story.
1. I went to http://www2.fi.edu/ and found out from the ticketing link that American Express cardholders have $2 discount off the adult price but I need a promotional code. I called American Express Concierge to request for the code.
2. I explained the situation to the customer service agent - Leqina (may not be the right spelling) and she will check so I had to be on hold.
3. Minutes later, Leqina said they could not locate the discount code in their program but the box office is willing to give me the “partner deal” discount which is $2 off each adult ticket.
4. I said OK and clarified all the convenience fees. I informed her that I wanted to include the tickets for the Millennium Falcon ride and ask her to clarify if those will be charged convenience fees too. She said OK & will check.
5. Minutes later, Leqina came back on the phone and said yes, the $5 ticket charge for the Millennium Falcon ride will be subject to the convenience fees charge. I reckoned that it will be very popular, I might as well get it now in case it gets sold out when I am there.
6. We confirmed the dates that we wanted the admission and the types & number of tickets we need. The total excluded the Millennium Falcon ride and asked her why it was not included. She said it has tp be processed separately. I told her it shouldn’t be the case as the ticket window on the site allows me to purchase the option in one transaction. She nicely insisted that the system is such and even checked with the box office guy. By now, it’s been an hour already so I said OK - whatever you say. Just get me those tickets.
7. She went ahead to confirm my purchase of the admission tickets & reminding me that they are non refundable.
8. Then she said please hold on while I process the second transaction. I was on hold for so long and finally she came back with bad news. Tickets for Millennium Falcon is all sold out on President’s Day. I was furious. I reminded her of my point 6 above and insisted that they voided the transaction and rebook us on the weekend dates that have the available space for Millennium falcon. I believe that she and the box office agent made a mistake when they refuse to put them in one transaction as they would have known the problem before the transaction went through. I can only imagine my kids disappointment when we get there & they are not able to get in.
9. Leqina went back to box office and I was on hold again. I have been on the phone for an hour and a half already. while I was on the phone with her, I keep going to the internet to try to book the tickets through the ticketing link but there was 2 error messages after I selected the Millennium Falcon option. The first error message was I provided the wrong discount code and the second error message said the the Millennium Falcon Ride was no longer available.
10. She came back and said the box office manager agreed to cancel the transaction. She asked if we want to continue to find another date. I said yes.
11. Leqina came back on the phone to say that they finally found a date that can accommodate the Millenium Falcon Ride - March 15. I said OK, please proceed. Leqina said thank you and please hold while we process the transaction.
12. Then she came back to say she has completed the transaction for the admission and to give her a few moments to complete the second part of my transaction.
13. Many “moments” later, she came back and said there has been a problem. They have a problem booking for the Millennium falcon Ride and needs more time to work on it. I said OK but I have to go and pick up my kids now and ask her to call me back an hour later.
14. One hour later, she told me that in fact ALL the Millenium Falcon tickets are SOLD OUT ! I cannot believe my ears. Al the way to May 4 ! I wasted 2 hours plus for this !
I am so exhausted just retelling this experience. It is ridiculous to think that Franklin Institute allowed that to happen. I will try my best to alert the local media.
While it’s nice to have the platinum card, sometimes I wonder if the concierge service is overrated? Am I being too demanding? Care to share your amex concierge experience?
February 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Hi…I’ve been watching for experiences with the Platinum Card as I got one last fall, and I’m wondering if the $450 or so cost will be worth it. So I really appreciate your discussion of this. A couple of points:
1. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Concierge can get blood from a stone. If AMEX does not in fact have anything other than an arms-length relationship with the Franklin Institute, then I would expect them to be up-front about that and not raise customer’s expectations. In this case, it would have been nice if AMEX had reserved a block of tickets for Platinum customers, and indeed when those were taken, that Conscierge would know about it and appraise you of that fact.
2. I would hope that you’d be able to telephone the Concierge with your desire for tickets, and then ring off and have them do the legwork you described in steps 8-14. What is the point of the Concierge if you end up on the phone for 2 hours anyway?
3. If the point of the Concierge is to add value to the transaction, they certainly have not done so in this case, and the whole Concierge thing is basically a scam that interposes yet another party into a transaction. I noted in a comment a few weeks ago that my experience with Platinum online booking was better than trying to book through the Platinum “travel agency”. I got better rates than they quoted, and didn’t have to pay a $40.00 fee for the booking “service”.
There is a lot of sillyness about the Platinum Card anyway…I just got their “catalog” of membership award “amenities” which included a year lease for a Masarati at 900,000 points, and way too much about private jet timeshares. What business travelers and people in the real world need are some help navigating the chaos of the whole “travel industry”, help in emergencies, and some more modest real perks that can save us time and aggravation. If Platinum can deliver those things, as I was lead to believe when I signed up, then fine, it will be worth the cost. If not…it is back to AMEX Gold for me.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:03 am
Sometimes if you have a more complicated request its better to email them clearly all the requirements you have and have them call you when its time to charge (i think they will anyway)
And the pt is taken that if they don’t have a special relation w the venue sometimes its worthwhile to just call and do it yourself, unfortunately. If they were really that great/smart/etc they wouldn’t be call center employees now would they. Thats why I usually have them reconfirm (or sometimes i call myself) some of the more important requests I put in.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Generally, I have found that the AMEX Platinum hotel upgrade benefit is well worthwhile. My wife and I had an excellent experience at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, with far more delivered than actually promised. We also have had good experience with this benefit with the Ritz Carlton in several locations.
However, a word to the wise: Always check the hotel’s actual rates on the Internet before booking with AMEX Platinum. In some case, the hotel will jack up rates by 20% or more, so that the AMEX Platinum “benefit” disappears. A case in point is the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore. When in Singapore, I generally stay at the Intercontinental which doesn’t figure in the AMEX Platinum list. I’ve had a few bad experiences with some five-star Singapore hotels who seem to think that misleading customers and mis-charging credit cards is OK. In the end, AMEX comes through and reverses the mis-charges, but it is a hassle. Caveat emptor!
March 11th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I just booked two cabins for an Easter cruise through American Express Travel Services online (www.americanexpress.com/travel). Using my American Express Platinum card.
Having clicked “purchase cruise now” and paying in full, I assumed all was well. Subsequently, I received a bounceback email from amex cruise stating that i should call an agent as the purchase was evidently only a “request”, not a purchase (although I had a confirmation and a printout stating that my card was being charged).
Several conversations up and down the American Express Travel Services agent food chain left me without reserved cabins. And now no availability at the cabin class that I wanted or the price.
Abysmal website, abysmal service, and now to see about getting a refund…..
September 14th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Your first problem is that, according to you, you were speaking with “Customer Service.” Customer Service is not Concierge. Concierge is not Travel. Travel is not Customer Service. They are three separate departments, with three separate groups of representatives, run by three separate contracted companies. Blaming a bad experience you had with Customer Service on Concierge is like being upset at the phone company because you don’t like the price of oranges.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I have been an AMEX customer for 11 years, 1 year at the Platinum level. I have always, truly, paid my bill on time. For the last several years I’ve used the online system and set my payment up several days in advance. Last night I rec’d a call that was probably transferred from a call center on the other side of the world - there was a 5 second delay when I answered. The man asked me, in perfect English but with an accent, when I would be paying my bill. I told him the payment due on 10/9 was already set up on line to pay on 10/9. He asked if I could pay it immediately over the phone with him. At first I thought it was a fraudulant call, but he had the exact amount due. When I asked why he said in these “hard economic times” he wanted to help me from having future purchases delcined. My balance due was 50% higher than average but not the highest ever. I use the card for everything I can, including business and travel expenses. I’ve charged as much as $15,000 at once paying for a large company dinner in Las Vegas and that was not an issue.
Is AMEX having problems and they need cash? Is this a new tactic to get good paying customers to pay faster? I’ve always liked using AMEX, but this call really bothered me. I am not going to pay a bill before its due. Has anyone had this happen? I’m not sure if I should call and complain or just stop using the card, and paying the high Platinum fee, and change over to an airline VISA.