American Express Concierge and Restaurants
One of the best experiences I’ve had with American Express Concierge service was early in 2011 when spending a few days in Kansas City for my wife’s birthday. On a whim, we decided to visit the Country Club Plaza and noticed a restaurant called Fugo de Chao. It is a place where they bring skewers of meat around through the dining area and cut off pieces at your table. My wife had been to one of their restaurants as a teenager in Brazil and had very fond memories. Unfortunately we were told that there was a 2 to 3 hour wait for “walk-ins”. The staff suggested that we get our name on the list and check back in two hours to get a pager. We weren’t planning on staying that longer at the plaza, so we left our name and left disappointed.
We walked to a nearby store and I decided to give the American Express Concierge a try. They advertise that they can help get you in to popular restaurants. I got a friendly concierge, explained that we were on a two to three hour wait for Fugo de Chao at the Plaza in Kansas City and wondered if she could do anything to get us in any sooner. She asked when we would like to eat and I told her “as soon as seats are available.” She put me on hold for 5 or 10 minutes and came back on the line.
“I’ve just spoken to the manager and they have a table ready for you right now.”
I thanked her and we hurried back to Fugo de Chao. I went to the hostess who had just told me there would be a two to three hour wait, gave her my name again and started to explain, but said, “Oh we have a table for you” and whisked us away to our seats.
I don’t really know what the concierge did, but we were certainly impressed. The question is whether or not she did anything we couldn’t have done on our own. I suppose I could have called, asked for the manager, and explained that we were in town celebrating my wife’s birthday and we’d really like to eat their if they could squeeze us in. That might have worked. However, it is probably easier to get a hold of the manager if someone calls and says they are with American Express then if I call and say, “I’m some guy on the waiting list.”
AmEx concierge may have some leverage or other agreements that I’m not aware of. In particular, I know that they make recommendations for restaurants so there may be a certain amount of “you move our customers to the front of the line and we’ll recommend you to others” going on.
Amex Concierge as a Virtual Assistant
In my quest to find a remote executive assistant, I decided to give American Express’ concierge service a try. If you have a Platinum or higher card, AmEx offers a concierge service. Basically you call or email them a request and they will get back to you–usually within three days. If you need to buy something (from a place that takes American Express) they can make the purchase and put the charges on your card.
AmEx gives some pretty interesting examples of concierge things they have done. One that stuck out to me was sending someone on a motorcycle to the Dead Sea to collect some water for a card holder’s child’s science experiment.
The concierge services are actually handled by a company called Circles. Circles concierge service is something that companies can provide as a value added option for clients or for their employees.
So here is one of my interactions with them:
I am going to be in Tulsa, OK this Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Could you find a local Volkswagen dealer and schedule my car for a tune-up and oil change on Saturday morning? The earlier the better. I will drop the car off and get a ride with a friend. I will be staying near XXXX S. Lewis in Tulsa so if there are multiple dealers start with the closest.
My car is a 2003 Passat Wagon.
Thank you.
Mark Shead
xxx-xxx-xxxx – mobile
I thought I had covered all the bases, but evidently not:
Dear Mr. Shead,
Thanks for using American Express Concierge! I understand from your email that you are looking to schedule a tune-up at a Volkswagen dealer in Tulsa. Below you will find the address for Brad Noe Volkswagen dealer and the web address where you can request an appointment. I did not release your personal information, as I did not have your permission.
Name: Brad Noe Volkswagen
Address: 4240 South Memorial Drive Tulsa, OK 74145
Phone: (918) 712-8989
Website: http://www.bradnoevw.com/ServiceApptFormIf you would like for me to schedule the appointment on your behalf, please don’t hesitate to contact Concierge. I’d be more than happy to do so with your permission. Concierge is also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ready to secure dining reservations or Valentine flower orders at your convenience. I hope you have a great afternoon and I look forward to assisting you again soon.
Ok I’ll try again:
Yes I wanted you to schedule the appointment per my instructions in the original message. I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear. You can give them the necessary information for setting the appointment.
Mark
And their reply:
Once again, thanks for using American Express Concierge. I was able contact Brad Noe Volkswagen in Tulsa. Unfortunately, they are unable to schedule a tune-up and oil change on Saturday. They are fully committed and the first available appointment would be Monday or Tuesday. I realize you will be out-of-town by this time, so I did look for other VW dealers in the area. These would be located quite a distance away in Lawton or Oklahoma City. I do apologize for the inconvenience and would be more than happy to research reputable mechanics in Tulsa at your request. Concierge is available by phone or email, if I can provide any additional conveniences. I hope you have a wonderful weekend in Tulsa.
This isn’t necessarily their fault, but it underscores the need to be very clear when explaining exactly what you want. It is entirely possible that the service was booked up when I sent my first request. I might have had better luck calling the service instead of emailing. AmEx kind of implies that the Circles concierge will be able to do things that you can’t do on your own (like get you reservations at fully booked restaurants), but I’m guessing that isn’t the case–unless they have some type of prior arrangement with the business.
It also looks like they might be a bit more useful for Valentine’s gifts or similar purchases, since they keep offering to do that in their email messages.
Another reason for using AMEX is their insurance on purchases.
(Recent personal experience: Apple’s iPhone is the only phone that’s uninsurable from the carrier upon purchase..and if you were to drop one and break it, you’d be SOL without a supplemental plan. like AMEX!)
AMEX is famous for such services for Concierge among other customer care services including Travel agent services etc. Saves time, frustration, and in the long run money. Nice post in connecting the dots between a ‘commodity’ and productivity.
And if you don’t have the Amex Platinum or higher, there are many personal and virtual assistants who provide the same or similar services.
Outsourcing tasks, whether administrative or personal, provides a considerable return on investment, giving the “user” more time to focus on more important income generating activities, or other personal business.
Partnering with a virtual concierge is a time-saving cost effective tool.
“AmEx kind of implies that the concierge will be able to do things that you can’t do on your own (like get you reservations at fully booked restaurants), but I’m guessing that isn’t the case–unless they have some type of prior arrangement with the business.”
I worked with Circles in their American Express bay (where the AMEX Platinum and Centurion concierge calls are routed) last year. Back then, they did have reservation arrangements with particular restaurants, but the savvy (or Centurion level) AMEX customers usually took the saved seats as soon as they were available.
We were taught to create a mystic around our service, but I’ll tell it to you like it is: we had almost no special access. Basically, anything Concierge finds, you can find too. But faster, and cheaper, because you’re probably already familiar with it. Tickets are through Ticketmaster. Dining reservations are through a service that anyone in the public can use (or simple cold-calling). Your special requests are dumped into a Google search engine. Etc.
I don’t recommend using AMEX concierge. The average age of the representative is mid-20s, and hardly any of them are sophisticated enough to properly, and intelligently, interact with the requests of the CEO-type clients. (And I am included in this criticism, which is why I quit the job.)
I think AMEX has reached too far with this one. They need to hire more experienced concierge representatives and create unique relationships with more businesses/restaurants, or simply tone down the promises they make.
Also, the overreaching creates for great disappointment with callers, and this adds to the stress of the representatives (who already make or receive ~80 calls a day). Since they are young, most cannot handle the steady stream of angry/disappointed customers; they quit regularly. And then even less experienced people are hired to replace them. This translates into, generally speaking, inadequate or mediocre service the majority of the time.
@Ex-Circles – Well so far no one has managed to create any “mystic” around the concierge service for me. :) Thanks for your perspective. It is good to hear a bit about what is going on behind the scenes.
Ah, yes, “mystique” is the word I was looking for!
I enjoy this blog. Thanks for the work you put into it.
They haven’t created that either. :)
I would have to agree with Ex-Circles with just about everything they have said.
I still work for the company and it is true how a lot of hype is built over nothing. I have no previous training. I was hired a year after graduating highschool. No college.
I must correct Ex-Circles on one thing though. We do not recieve 80 phone calls in one day individually. An average day is about 15-20 calls. We are normally quite busy, and our main tasks are dining and tickets which are done through opentable/phone call and ticketmaster/telecharge. I have often had to deal with a very angry person as they could not understand why I could not get them into a restaurant or get them great seats to a popular show, 2 days away. I long to tell them to do it themselves, that they will have better luck. ESPECIALLY with our ticket onsales.
It is true how almost everyone is young and unexperienced. Ages in the Burlington office range mostly from 19-30. Even our supervisors are the same age as us, with only a few being a bit older than 40. The turn around time in our job is incredible as well, due to the stress, and many people do not find it rewarding.
The funniest part to me, is how “different” they treat the Platinum and Centurion employees. Centurion employees get paid almost $2 more than Platinum. To become Centurion, you need to be very good on the phones, averaging a 95%. They then “certify” you by letting American Express listen to a phone call. If they like you, you get certified and the pay increase. If only there was that big of a difference for the actual job and services you provide to the cardmember. Call into the Platinum concirge and ask the rep to explain what extras you will get by getting a Centurion card. They will tell you that you get your own personal Concierge and then they will tell you to call the Centurion customer service. Know why? Because we do not have an answer for them. The services are exactly the same. Whether the concirege is personal or not, Centurion gets the same dining lists, the same restaurant recommendations, we use the same brokers, ticketmaster, telecharge. The ONLY REAL DIFFERENCE is behind the scenes. And what is worse? The Centurion employees get an extra week of training to “prepare” for the utmost elite group of people they are about to speak to. Yet, almost everyone of them, who get to work for Centurion, all agree their job is easier.
I like my job for the fact that I know so much. Pointless things like the hottest restaurants, nightclubs, things to do, all over the world. I know New York City like the back of my hand and have only been there once. I know which restaurants are good and bad, (though I will probably never be able to afford to eat at them regardless of their ratings) and I have the opportunity to get personal access by just saying who I work for.
What I dislike is how the company hypes everything up so much, to just disappoint. And I have to take the crap for it. And the best part? Each time someone calls in and complains, it is made into a resolution. If the resolution is brought back to you, you lose $25 for each one off of your bonus. Every time a cardmember asks me to do something, I make the company money. But if they get mad, due to the company mistakes, I lose.
This may sound immature, or angry to talk like this. But I personally would want to know behind the scene details of the company I call, and put my personal information into.
If you use the card, maybe you’ll speak to me one day. My name in the email is not real to protect myself. But if you don’t call ever again, we’ll all understand. haha :)
Glad I stumbled across this posting, as I am an American Express member and use the concierge pretty regularly. While I use them mostly for restaurant and nightclub access, I am curious to those of you who work/worked for Circles. I’ll take the Cheesecake Factory restaurant for example; I have on multiple occasions been to various Cheesecake Factory restaurants in the US, and been told there was an hour+ wait. As I was waiting I called Amex Concierge, explained I really did not want to wait an hour+, and within a few minutes they would get back to me, give me the name of a contact to speak to who would seat me within a few minutes.
How are things like this being pulled off if the concierges don’t really have any special connections? Are the concierges just calling the restaurant, asking for a manager, explaining they are calling from American Express and have an important client waiting to be seated and was wondering if there was anything that could be done to seat them faster?
@Bill – It is good to know where things seem to work well. I will have to give that a try sometime.
Hi Mr. Horn,
You wrote:
“Are the concierges just calling the restaurant, asking for a manager, explaining they are calling from American Express and have an important client waiting to be seated and was wondering if there was anything that could be done to seat them faster?”
This just about sums up the majority of restaurant calls I made. If AMEX did not have an agreement with the restaurant for seat reservations, I would try to use AMEX clout to get the customer a seat.
This method was hit or miss. Also, the more trendy a restaurant, the less likely people cared that an AMEX customer asking for a seat. (E.g. Good luck getting a seat at Babo in NYC by flashing your AMEX card.)
I’m glad you’ve had success with the concierge service. I hope to hear more stories like this in the future.
I’m wondering if the cost of a plat card would be worth it as opposed to hiring a remote executive assistant.
Besides restaurant reservation, tickets, and the things covered in this blog, what else can a concierge do? What are some of the stranger or more time-intensive requests you’ve had to fulfill?
Besides seeking adult/illegal things, are there guidelines for what a concierge isn’t allowed to work on?
@Joey – There is a very big difference. The concierge has some advantages because they have your credit card info and if you need to do a chargeback on something they ordered, they can do it for you. However, they are much slower to respond. It usually takes at least 24 hours to hear back from them in my experience. I tried using them to setup a car appointment and it didn’t work at all.
I had my remote assistant set it up and it was done nearly immediately exactly as I had wanted.
Joey,
There are is an extensive range of services that a virtual or personal assistant would provide, at a lower cost than having a platinum card. To see a list, you can visit: http://www.nhvirtualassistant.com.
Best,
Susan
President
Ace Concierge, LLC
@Susan – I doubt if you will get much from an assistant at a lower cost than a Platinum card. But there are a number of things the concierge services are going to be much slower at than an assistant. But you’ll pay a lot more for the assistant doing advanced tasks.
I was highly suspicious of the AMEX Platinum Concierge. The first two times I called, they were not particularly helpful — both with dinner reservations at trendy LA/Vegas restaurants. I had better luck calling on my own.
However, I have found them to be pretty helpful in terms of following up or doing research that I do not have time to do. There is apparently a 16 GB iPhone shortage in Las Vegas. My friend had his stolen and the Apple Store said there was nothing available in the city. I did not want to spend my time in Vegas calling to every AT&T Store in the area looking for a new iPhone with him, so I called Platinum Concierge.
They called me back within two hours, letting me know of the two AT&T Stores in the local area that had them in stock (the first four and closest they called were out). They also told me how much estimated cab fare would be to each, without me having to ask.
So, yes, I could have done this myself. However, it is not something I really wanted to do and was easier to have them do it.
Nevertheless, I was satisfied.
i have worked for circles…and i what i can say is yes alot of the things that they do during their time on the floor is something that you can do your self. they also have access to ticket brokers. but the company recmond certin places to go and things to do. i personally think that i was a horrible place, they are way to hyper about what they do. btu there are a few things that only the conserage can get but then again that depends on the relationship between the company and circles.
I am a current employee of Circles and I am not to surprised about the comments. I have had a wonderful experience and love my job! I enjoy the challenge and the research. The fact is yes you can do it on your own but why would you AMEX is adding this as a benefit to your card. As for the former and or current employees based on the comments; I am guessing you have never worked in a call center, and or you are very young. No place or company is perfect as far as our card members we have some concierge members that are fabulous and get the job done no matter what. Then others not so much and my guess is the people blogging here are part of that not so good group. I am fantastic at my job and I make sure my card members are taken care of!
In response to the man needing the VW tune-up: We cannot any aspect of your account information without your explicit permission. Saying, “please schedule a tune-up,” is not the same thing as saying, “Please schedule a tune-up. You may release the card number, exp date, and phone number in order to do this.” People like you are the FIRST people to yell at AmEx when they have suspicious charges on their account, while at the same time leisurely giving “permission” for your account details to be released….. In regards to the poster wondering what we cannot do: We cannot do anything related to adult services, realty, auctions, elder care, child care, medical, legal services, or anything that the government has explicit control over (issuing passports, social security cards, etc…)….. If anyone has any questions about the service, please feel free to ask me. I’m sort of annoyed with card members just assuming that they know how the service works. If you would like real answers, please let me know.
ohmyword1126 writes:
“I am guessing you have never worked in a call center, and or you are very young.”
One of the problems with Circles (a problem related to its efficiency) was the high turnover rate and hiring of inexperienced personnel. I’m not sure you can dismiss the criticisms of previous and current employees because they might have the wrong expectations, were young, or don’t enjoy the call-center environment. The issue is that these kinds of employees seem to exist in Circles (and, from my experience, in large numbers). This has a direct impact on the kind of service Circles provides.
“No place or company is perfect”
Yes, but people still differentiate between good companies and bad ones. It’s a sliding scale when it comes to the particular quality of a company’s products and services, even if none of the companies being judged are perfect.
“Then others not so much and my guess is the people blogging here are part of that not so good group. I am fantastic at my job and I make sure my card members are taken care of!”
I received good reviews while there but did not enjoy my job (for others reading, please note that a good review at Circles was not always dependent on pleasing the AMEX card holder). Isn’t it reasonable to assume that at least some of the people making criticisms of Circles are/were actually good at their jobs?
I think I should reiterate that the purpose of my comments (back in March) was not to review Circles as a general place of employment, but to make a suggestion as to why service is (or was, if things have changed) often poor–to note, as an insider, what goes on behind the scenes and how it might affect a caller.
If you can state that things have changed significantly within the company since I was employed there (over a year ago, now) as it relates to employee competency and turnover, improvement in the available services for customers, a more accurate description/expectation by Circles for card members interested in the service, etc. I welcome the information. It would be great if Circles has succeeded in solving its various issues.
I’m glad you enjoy your job at Circles. I would have loved to work near and with someone like you during my time there, and I hope you have a positive impact on your coworkers. It would just be more useful to talk about the larger scope of Circles (its available services and how they translate into customer convenience, employee training and disposition at large, etc.) than generalize from one aspect of one particular.
“Are the concierges just calling the restaurant… explaining they are calling from AmEx and have an important client waiting to be seated and was wondering if there was anything that could be done to seat them faster?”
Actually, it’s called being polite. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you are polite and civil with people. Yes, we have to say we’re from AmEx, but only because it’s the law. We don’t say it to try and impress anyone. Most people (especially reservationists) don’t really give a shit what color credit/charge card you have.
“The Centurion employees get an extra week of training to “prepare” for the utmost elite group of people they are about to speak to.”
I would hardly describe the majority of Centurion card members as the “utmost elite group of people.” Most of them are born into wealth, never really accomplishing much of anything on their own merits. If that makes them the “utmost elite of people,” then I guess I am Jesus Christ Himself, as I actually work 40+++++ hours/week.
@AmEx Concierge – To schedule an appointment the only information necessary would have been a telephone number and the make/model/year of the car. If they were concerned that I may have wanted them to schedule an appointment, but not give out my telephone number (which seems incredibly unlikely) then the concierge could have used their own number and just called me with any additional information that came in.
The point is they took action to mark the call as complete without doing anything close to what I needed done. If they had of truly been confused about whether or not to schedule the appointment, they should have called me on the number I gave them in the original message.
I didn’t show the time that lapsed between my messages, but from the time I said “go ahead”. It was 24 hours before they got back with me. If she knew that it would take 24 hours from the time that I answered her question about whether or not I truly wanted her to schedule the appointment she should have called me at the very beginning in order to clarify.
I had a virtual assistant do the same thing later on and it worked flawlessly.
@ Mr. Shead – Regardless of what information would have been needed, we wouldn’t have been able to give out your phone number. Additionally, we (concierges) don’t have specific phone numbers, so we wouldn’t be able to give them that either.
We don’t mark anything as “complete.” You originally sent Concierge an email, and in your last post you said we marked the “call” as complete. I am sure you meant to say we marked the “email” or even the request in general as complete.
Just to tell you a little about the process when you email a request.. It first goes to an assignor who gets 5,800+ emails a day, after a while it is then routed to a concierge. It stays with the concierge, who has about 25 requests to work on at any given time. Unless you set a specific time that you’d like to be notified back by, it will take 3 business days to be responded to. If there are other requests to be handled before yours, then you request goes to the bottom of the queue. If you want to use the service as it was designed, call in your request, and tell us EXACTLY when you’d like to be responded to.
Overall, if you want something done that is crucial to your safety, such as car service, I would suggest researching that yourself.
I am in no way having this exchange with you in an attempt to argue. I’m just letting you know a little about the process and restrictions placed on us by American Express. This way, you’ll be prepared the next time you call/email us.
@AmEx concierge – Don’t worry I didn’t think you were being argumentative.
My understanding was that Amex use to pay Circles based on a completed task and now they pay based on responding to an interaction (responding to an email, phone call, or whatever). I based this on what I’ve heard about how things were setup and the fact that there is not mechanism to “close” out a request and say it is complete. My understanding may be incorrect.
I have used Circles for a variety of other things and have yet to find an instance where they saved me time or money. I take that back. I was looking for radiometers and they located the best shipping price so that may have saved me some money over what I might have found on my own, but the product I ended up with wasn’t what I had requested.
Asking someone to schedule an appointment and then giving all the information (telephone number, etc.) necessary for making that appointment in the request seems pretty clear that you want them to use the information to make the appointment. However, I understand if they have a policy that says then need something more explicit.
If this was my only experience with the concierge service, I would give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just an odd event. However, please see the other 3 examples on this site. They all had similar results and I didn’t even write about the others.
I think I tried Circles about 10 times before giving up. There was one or two instances where things turned out ok, but it was something very very simple.
I’m guessing that they would be good at sending flowers or cookies to a client or friend, but I haven’t had a chance to try that yet because I haven’t needed to send something where I could afford the risk of it turning out like my other experiences. I do intend to try it when I have a situation where it would work.
@ Mr. Shead
I’ll address things one at a time:
Closing requests – Yes, we do close service requests. American Express pays Circles $100.00 for each Centurion request closed ($50.00 for Platinum). But by “closing” a request, that does not mean we forget about and dispense with you. All the information is saved, and any further correspondence stays with your original request.
Saving time/money: The service is not designed to save you money. I apologize if you were promised any sort of savings when you were offered the card. It is a supplement to your charge card, not a coupon booklet. As far as saving time, I totally agree. It is not a time-saving resource, we simply do the things that you don’t want to. It takes every person roughly the same amount of time to dial a number and ask for a reservation/appointment. If we can’t do it (like schedule the tune-up), then you wouldn’t have been able to do it either.
On most everything else you said: I can totally see it happening and I agree with your frustrations.
I know that I was demoted but I think people should give this a good read. Its all true but everyone else is a hippy like me so [expletive removed].
@AmEx Concierge – According to your numbers if I call in twice a month, then American Express pays Circles $2600 for the year. That seems amazingly high, but I guess it is possible. Thanks for your comments and clarifications.
@ Mr. Shead,
No. According to my numbers, AmEx would pay $2,400. I’m not sure where you came up with $2,600. It breaks down this way: $100.00 per request, at 2 requests per month ($200), with 12 months in a year = $2,400. Either way, it isn’t “amazingly high” at all.
Remember that AmEx charges merchants roughly 2.3% on every purchase you make. In order to have a Centurion card, you have to spend at least $250,000 per year on the card. $250,000 X 2.3% = $5,750. That means AmEx makes AT LEAST $5,750 each year on merchant fees alone. This doesn’t include the $2,500 annual fee, or the $5,000 initiation fee. So they make at bare minimum $13,250 off you in the first year and $8,250 every year after that. You can quickly see how $2,400 isn’t “amazingly high.” Also remember that roughly not even half of Centurion card holders actually use the Concierge service. AmEx makes their money, don’t you worry.
This is why I think it’s funny when people act as thought they “own” AmEx because they have a black card. “Own” us all you want, we’ll still get our money.
@ webmaster
It isn’t “damage control” at all. People just have NO IDEA how their black card works. Just trying to steer people in the right direction.
@AmEx Concierge – Oops typo, the $2,400 amount is correct. However I do think that is pretty high. If I have a platinum card and use it for an average of $5,000 per month, based on your 2.3% figure AmEx makes $1380 per year from merchant fees. Add in my yearly fee of $400 and the total comes to $1780 that they make off my usage of the card. On top of that are all the other expenses related to points, etc. Based on that, the $50 concierge service seems very expensive–especially since most of the responses I’ve received from them have been in the 10 to 30 minutes worth of work range.
I’m not questioning whether or not Amex makes money. I’m questioning whether they pay $50 per request for the concierge service when (in my experience) they could provide it themselves for somewhere in the $5 to $10 per request range (possibly even lower).
If Circles has managed to get Amex to agree to pay $100/$50 per request for the concierge service then they shouldn’t be in the concierge business–they should be in marketing and sales. :)
“Based on that, the $50 concierge service seems very expensive–especially since most of the responses I’ve received from them have been in the 10 to 30 minutes worth of work range.”
You complain that it takes too long for the research to be done, yet you aren’t happy when it’s done quickly. That’s confusing.
We get paid VERY well at Concierge. I’d actually like to see the per request fee go up. My paycheck would go up, and in turn the level of service would go up.
I can’t believe it costs Amex $100 every time I make a restaurant reservation through them? That’s insane! Am I misunderstanding?
Also, the $250k requirement is only for qualifying. You don’t need to continue to spend that much per year.
@Ronnie –
Yes, if you have a Centurion card, it costs AmEx $100.00 each time you make a request for a reservation through Concierge. It doesn’t matter if the we secured you the reservation or not, it still costs AmEx $100.00.
And you MUST spend $250,000 each year to keep the Centurion card. This can be spread out over all of your AmEx cards, but if you aren’t currently spending enough to have the card, you’ll be automatically demoted to our Platinum card during the yearly review process.
Amex charges merchants well over 2.3%
@Mike – I was using the figure the Amex Concierge employee gave. I know that I pay 3.5%, but I’m assuming larger merchants negotiate a discount on that rate. I have seen people say that they had a rate around 2.6%
Re: merchant fees.
Amex charges merchants depending upon the type of service/product they sell. 2.3% is the most common fee. Car dealerships generally pay around 7.8% in merchant fees to American Express.
As a note to merchants: If you want to get around paying any type of merchant fees to credit card companies, offer discounts on cash purchases. It’s better to do that than to institute a minimum purchase amount policy for those paying with cards. This is not only annoying, but it is a violation of your contract with Mastercard, Visa, AmEx, etc…
And just for those interested, the only time you can institute a minimum purchase amount policy is when EVERY other credit card company who’s cards you accept allow for it. Visa and MC will NEVER allow you to do this, and therefore, neither will AmEx.
Sorry!
@ AmEx Concierge:
“And you MUST spend $250,000 each year to keep the Centurion card. This can be spread out over all of your AmEx cards, but if you aren’t currently spending enough to have the card, you’ll be automatically demoted to our Platinum card during the yearly review process.”
That’s not true. It’s a well known fact around AmEx forums (I’m on the flyertalk one myself) and many cardholders that you only need to spend $250K to qualify and not necessarily to maintain. I’m sure many other cardholders from Flyertalk can chime in on this subject…
Just from personal experience, in our family business we have had years where we didn’t spend anywhere close to $250K and were never once told we would be demoted.
@Farhad M. – Some of the numbers AmEx Concierge is quoting seem out of line with my experience as well.
Hello,
I’m a reporter at a national business magazine, and we’re doing a report on corporate concierge services. Would a Circles employee (or ex-employee) be willing to speak on the record about the AmEx outsourcing of its service? Please let me know. Thanks.
Nathan Adkisson, I would be more than happy to speak to you regarding this. I was at Circles for about a year and have seen some good but some of the worst business practices ever. Please provide an email in which we can communicate
1. Circles (Amex concierge) management… worst in the world. Low lifes who have no education and after 5+ years of kissing a** taking phone calls made it somewhere in life for once. Then comes the power trip.
2. HR… Amex card holders should know that dedicated hard workers that would probably get there requests fulfilled in the most positive way are fired if they’re not in a “frenzy” or screwing a manager.
3. Just plain Lazyness… I have a Platinum Card and I have at one point worked at Circles… I will never use concierge because the time it takes to call some 17 year old kid to get on the internet for me and do what I can do, It probably would have been quicker to just do it myself. Think about it…. 20 minutes on hold, talking to them for 5 minutes then while they research and find there are no tickets. 25 minutes prior you could have clicked on Ticketmaster.com and got a ticket!!!!! WHY!!! LOL…. OH WAIT… BUT WHEN THEY ARE SOLD OUT, CONCIERGE GOT ME TICKETS….. UMMMM ITS CALLED BROKERS… THATS WHY YOU HAD TO PAY HUNDREDS MORE!!!!!
4. LET ME SCARE YOU FOR ONE MINUTE TOO!!! when i was there they talked about security measures like a holy topic. BUT NEVER IMPLIMENTED THESE MEASURES!!!! I have seen people leave the office with paperwork containing Centurion Members card numbers!!!! CAN YOU IMAGINE SCAM MASTER JOE GETTING HIS HANDS ON ONE OF THOSE!!!!
Amex needs to keep something that security sensitive onsite. They Audit Circles.. yeah… BUT THEY WARN THEM WHEN THEY’RE COMING!!!! okay everbody wear your dads business suit and tie today, Amex is coming… no loose papers on your desks… okay guys they’re gone… back to the led zepplin t-shirts and don’t worry about loose papers, it’s all good now LOL…. I personally think AMEX should have there own in-house rep onsite at Circles instead of TRUSTING them!!!!
I’m not trying to take down Circles, but would love for someone who actually knows how to run an organization in an ethical way have a contract like AMEX. Someone who runs the organization from inside the organization and actually monitors it’s day to day work and has PROFESSIONALS managing employees. ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE HANDLING CENTURION CARDS. They need people who know what a business wants and needs and aren’t just sitting down eating a doughnut while telling people to log-into there phones and take calls. DARE TO ASK THEM TO TALK TO AN IRATE CLIENT… UNDER THE DESK THEY GO…. “tell them i’m not available”…. MAYBE ILL CALL CONCIERGE AND SEE IF THEY CAN GET ME CHEAP GAS!
What an interesting accounting of the current AMEX concierge contractor. When did Circles win the account? Back in 2003 I worked for a previous contractor, TravelGuard, which has since been purchased by AIG. I can tell you the techniques used and the workplace practices at Circles don’t sound any different from when I handled Centurion cardholders. Hopefully they don’t also preach the Franklin Covey gospel.
I understand that Centurion members get to use the same concierge but can anyone tell me if it’s possible for a Platinum cardholder to work with a single concierge by way of some agreement between them and that concierge?
For example, if I’ve received great service from someone it would be great to be able to work with them again – especially for more complicated/research intensive requests.
Thanks!
@Platinum Member – I believe you can ask for a particular concierge when you call in or dial their extension. You might not get through to a particular person right away because they may be on the phone.
I used to work for AMEX concierge and started in Platinum before moving on to Centurion. It’s actually considered a benefit of Centurion to have a personal concierge as in Platinum, you CAN ask for a specific person, but we were encouraged to not allow that and take care of the request ourselves to ensure steady work flow and speedy service. I can’t say it is still the same but thats how it worked when I was employed there.
I hope that answers you question :)
I would also like to let everyone know of my “Business Needs Concierge”… It is strictly online and it deals with handling business needs/office needs. (purchasing promotional items, purchasing office supplies, booking corp. flights etc.) please email [email protected] for more information. We are currenlty running strictly online via facebook and have a website developer making our site as we speak.
Regards
Thanks Mark and “Former concierge employee”. Really appreciate the quick replies.
I’m fascinated by the behind-the-scenes info from all the current and former AMEX concierge employees. Thanks for all your submissions! :-)
“I have used Circles for a variety of other things and have yet to find an instance where they saved me time or money.”
– Mark Sheath
That is truly unfortunate. As I founded and currently manage a personal concierge service with global headquarters in Hong Kong, I find that statement cringe worthy. I can’t imagine one of my clients feeling this way because if they did, we would be out of business.
I encourage all virtual assistant and personal concierge users to get a better understanding of not only what your service can provide, but what you expect from your service. At the end of the day my team and I enjoy what we do on a daily basis and offer a tangible ROI (return on investment) to each client we service.
Nathan Adkisson: If you’re still looking for perspective from the inside on our contracts with companies (like AMEX) and our operational procedures, please do get in touch with me. I’d be delighted to discuss.
Highest Regards,
Greg Jones
Founder/CEO
Jones Concierge
http://www.JonesConcierge.com
I too am a concierge, offering both personal and virtual services, although not on a global scale. My clients utilize my services to save them both time and money. While I am managing the behind the scenes details, they are free to focus on other income generating activities, instead of the day to day business operations that take up valuable time.
Companies like mine are about work life balance and creating more time in someone’s day, enabling them to focus on what is important, rather than on what needs to be done. The scope of my client’s projects varies from administrative, to personal shopping, client follow up, website reviews…etc. My services save them time, increase productivity, enhance customer service, and reduces their workload. These are just a few of the benefits of working with a personal or virtual assistant.
Using this type of service is not just WHAT we do for you, it is about what you will gain, and according to my client base, they are all more than satisfied with the benefits of using my company. I am part of their team, their organization, and building their foundation towards a better company.
Best of luck.
Susan Poirier
President
Ace Concierge, LLC
http://www.aceconcierge.net
http://www.nhvirtualassistant.com
I think AMEX simply needs to find another source for there concierge. Circles is very poorly run. 98% of the employees arent happy which reflects on the customers. In regards to saving time and money. It’s costing you to use concierge. The time it takes for a representative at Circles to search on Ticketmaster, plus the time you were on hold probably cost you the tickets you wanted because you didn’t just go on Ticketmaster and do it. They make you think they can get things that you can’t. Nope. They use every resource that is available to any average every day Joe like myself. After working there, I can receive all the same concierge benefits as a non-cardholder.