So Kayak deleted their bad-judgement blog post in record time, and the comments on my last entry include a big "whoops" from one of their founders. Go kayak. I'm glad my good feeling about them seems still to be based in reality.
And now I'm annoyed at American Express. W and I stopped by an Apple store at a mall near SFSU, which is, as it happens, in a neighborhood where many brown people live. Bought a $49 iPod-to-AV cable. Tried to use my Amex. (I have a Starwood points card and a full-on platinum card with them.)
Apple store guy swipes my Starwood card and tells me in that awkward I'm-so-embarassed-for-you way that my card has been declined. WTF? I only have like tens of thousands of dollars in available credit on that card. I figure it's because I've been traveling too often and pull out the Visa I haven't used this week. It clears. We leave.
Heading home, I dial their 800 number. 10 minutes of phone-tree hell and hold messages later, I get a rep. She tells me (paraphrased) "Our fraud department will sometimes decline a charge. Your account is fine." Me: "So you'll just randomly decline charges I try to make and there's nothing I can do about it?" Rep: "Our fraud department makes the determination. Usually it's based on the store location. All you have to do is give us a call and you'll be fine. We're very sorry for the inconvenience." Me: "I'm supposed to call you? It took me ten minutes to get through to you. I was supposed to wait at the cashier for ten minutes so you could correct your error?" Rep repeats apologies.
Uh. Yeah. Think I'll be using other cards more often now. I love me some Starwood points, but there is no way I'm repeating that random "declined" scenario again if I can help it. I don't have time to stand in a store waiting for ages on my mobile to approve a $50 charge. And what if I were (gawd forbid) taking a client out for a meal in a zip code that Amex decided was sub-par?
I've totally left the house (or the city) with only my ID, a handful of cash, and my Amex in the past, thinking I was covered. That won't happen again.
[hour-later update: just opened my email to find an offer for American Express "Blue" for my business. hah! nooooooooo way]
Posted by Liz at March 25, 2008 10:52 PM