Underwhelming service

AMEX Bank sent my husband a thank you card for his 1 year of loyalty. Nice gesture BUT he has been a member for about 10 years. 1 year ago, he did switch from a regular AMEX to the Gold card to take advantage of collecting more travel points. The card did not mention the gold program just a "thank for being our customer for the last year".

When he switched cards 2 things happened":

1) His credit credit history with AMEX was wiped out! They were not able to provide him credit with the previous 10 years of history with the card therefore our limits were reduced as if we were a new customer. When you spend upwards of $15,000 per month on business travel, this can be a problem

2) His customer history files became irrelevant. Regular AMEX and the Gold program systems don't talk to each other. So we became a brand new customer rather than 1 with 10 years of history averaging $150,000 of charges per year.

The sad reality is we still use the AMEX card because his company insists on it for all corporate travel...not because AMX has done anything to make us feel like they value our business. When he leaves the company, likely the card will go too

What can we learn:

1) All databases and systems that touch the customer, or contribute to the customer experience MUST be integrated. At Engage we have taken steps this way by integrating 3 customer databases we had into 2. You will notice this in the newsletters as we have merged our systems to help us better deliver materials to you. - I am still struggling with fully integrating our scheduling system into our database system and just recently think I have found a solution with infusion software. I will keep you posted.

2) Know who you are talking to before you congratulate the customer on the wrong information. Sure, the gesture was nice but the response they received from us was not intended. We were laughing at their ineptness are were not feeling warm and fuzzy.

3) Make thanks personalized and relevant. I would have been impressed if this card had been signed by a real person. That would show customer commitment. I know the excuses….."but there are 1000's of people getting these per day one person can't possibly sign them". - well then send an email and use the postage and printing savings to reduce my fees. I am sure no one would notice the difference. If you can't take the time to send a signed note, then an email is just as (in?)effective and a paper letter. The reason the hand written thank you note works, is because its hand written.

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen