I have to admit that I have always been a bit of a sucker when it comes to the cache associated with having an American Express Card. As a marketer myself, I know that I have been taken in by very clever marketing that makes its card holders feel like exclusive club members. Very clever and very effective.
So imagine how disappointed I was in the brand when I read the following paragraph:
"In some instances, if it (American Express) didn’t like what it was seeing, the company has cut customer credit lines. It laid out this logic in letters that infuriated many of the cardholders who received them. “Other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped,” one of those letters said, “have a poor repayment history with American Express.”
I could hardly believe my eyes. American Express was cutting customers' credit lines because they shopped at the same place as someone who defaulted on their repayments. How could they possibly do something so ludicrous? Severing relationships with perfectly good customers because there was a slim chance that in the future they just might default on a payment?
Instantly, my love affair with American Express ground to a halt. All the good will that I had felt towards them over the years, vanished in an instant. Luckily for American Express I don't have a card with them at the moment, or I would be canceling it on the spot.
They obviously completely failed to see the damage that this would cause to their brand and that the 400 or 500 clients they might have sent such ill conceived correspondence to, would soon turn into many thousands if not millions of people who knew about it - word of mouth guys, remember?
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