American Express is a company that people either love or hate. I’ve come across websites dedicated to bashing American Express but I’ve had nothing but good customer service from this company over the years. The latest great thing they’ve done for me is forgive my stupid mistake. A few weeks ago I paid my statement via electronic bill pay and after waiting for 10 days to see the payment post I called them up rather upset about why it was taking so long (the funds left my account after 1 day).

The first agent told me that sometimes it takes a few extra days for the payment to post and that I should check back next week. I logged on today and checked the status of my payment again and still no posting. I double checked my electronic bill pay today and realized I had sent the payment to AMEX #1 (closed) instead of AMEX #2. I called up Amex and explained the situation. The rep offered to have the funds moved over to complete the payment to Amex #2. He also offered to refund any interest and late payment fees for the error.

I have to say I’m extremely pleased with the way they handled this compared to my nightmare with HSBC.

Comparing the two situations.

HSBC made the mistake and it took them almost 4 months to resolve the issue.

I make a mistake and AMEX offers to fix the issue within a few days refunding fees and interest.

Over the years, American Express has always been a great advocate whenever I have service or product issues and they’ve never let me down. I had recently canceled their gold card because of the increase in fees and change in the reward plan but I continue to use different American Express cards.
I hate to think what HSBC would have done if I had made a similar mistake with their account. I guess I won’t ever know because I’m in the process of closing down all my accounts with them.