Amex Fraud Alert - What Good Customer Service Looks Like
My partner received a fraud alert from Amex today. We still have no idea how the card details were compromised, but I have to give Amex credit for how they handled the situation.
We contacted Amex, and one thing that initially raised some suspicion was that the phone number provided through live chat was different from the one in the fraud alert message.
What impressed me was that the agent wasn't pushy at all. When we expressed concerns about whether the call was legitimate - eventhough I called them, they actually encouraged us to hang up and call the number on the back of the card instead.
Funny enough, when we called back using the number on the card, we ended up speaking to the exact same agent! The agent also sounded Australian rather than having the Filipino accent I've become accustomed to hearing when calling Amex.
Once everything was verified, they went through the entire account security process. They reset the app access, updated the security details, replaced the digital card number linked to Apple Pay, and arranged for a replacement physical card.
What surprised me even more was that they organised DHL delivery for the replacement card, despite us telling them it wasn't urgent.
The whole experience was efficient, professional and reassuring. No unnecessary back-and-forth, no passing us between departments, and no making us feel like we had to fight to get things sorted. I can't help but think that with some other banks, the fraudulent transactions might have gone through, followed by a lengthy dispute process and the usual headaches.
I've always believed that you don't really know how good a bank is until something goes wrong. It's how they respond when things go sideways that matters.