Customer service the way it should be: AmEx

I'll give a shout out to our bank, USAA, for great customer service. They've been brilliant. I had to take $1,500 out at the ATM last night, and they upped my (ATM withdrawal) limit over the phone with no haggling in less than three minutes.

Them is awesome.

 

Rough night at the blackjack tables?

 

USAA is great as a bank and for insurance.

 

Ha! No, I had to get enough money to close on the new house.

 

That reminded me of one of the (few) benefits of outsourcing customer service -- sometimes they don't know the difference between feminine and masculine names. I once had to call about getting the PIN reset for a card that's in my wife's name only. They didn't want anything to do with me even though I had all of her information, but when I called back and said I was my wife (her first name is obviously a woman's name) everything went fine.

 

I've found T-Mobile customer service reps to be helpful and cheerful.

 

I am biased, but by many objective measures BB&T is as good or better than Wachovia in customer service. And we actually have capital to lend because we didn't get involved in subprime.

 

AmEx is in some trouble: http://online.wSportsJournalists.com/article/BT-CO-20090723-721163.html

 

They're cheerful and they try to be helpful but basically can't do a damn thing. I live next to Canada and my phone has a mind of its own about roaming over onto international roaming charges. No matter how many hours I spend on the phone with T-Mobile, no one, and I mean no one, can fix this problem.

 

The Auto Club of Southern California (which is actually available all over the West, despite its name) has the best customer service on the planet. I get all my insurance and frequently travel with their travel packages.

 

We make shit wages, but man is that AmEx service good.

Another day in the SportsJournalists.com parallel universe.