There were plenty of options when Ann Murrell approached a gift card kiosk at her local Dominick’s store a few days before Christmas.
She settled on an American Express card for her son-in-law, largely because of the company’s holiday advertising campaign, which promised no fees, no expiration date and quick replacement if a gift card was lost or stolen.
Murrell said she paid $100 for the card, plus a $5.95 processing fee.
It didn’t take long for Murrell to put American Express’ promises to the test.
Lo and behold, on Christmas Day the gift card wound up missing.
The Villa Park resident said she consulted the pamphlet that came with the card, which said to call American Express with the gift card number and a copy of her receipt.
Murrell said she gathered the information and called, but the customer service agent asked for a different set of numbers from the card.
“I said, ‘How would I have that number if I don’t have the card?’ ” Murrell recalled.
She said she called American Express several times, and each time was told the same thing: Without the other sets of numbers on the missing card, she could not get a replacement.
“It was impossible,” she said. “They said, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’ ”
Upset, Murrell e-mailed What’s Your Problem?
“We keep getting a runaround and are very frustrated by this,” she said. “I don’t have extra money to replace his gift.”
The Problem Solver called American Express, which asked for the same information Murrell said she previously gave the company: the number on the front of the gift card and information from the receipt.
Using that information, American Express was able to locate the gift card in its system and issued a replacement card on Wednesday.
American Express spokeswoman Vanessa Capobianco said Murrell had provided the receipt number but not the card number. Murrell insists she gave American Express both numbers on several occasions.
Either way, she’s happy the card has been replaced.
Murrell said an American Express representative called her Thursday to say the new card would be sent by overnight mail to her house.
“She didn’t sound real happy,” Murrell said of the call. “I did just say to her real quickly, ‘I tried to do this myself, can you tell me why I couldn’t?’ She said, ‘We’re looking into that.’ ”
Murrell said the ads made it look so easy to replace a lost card. In the end, she said, that wasn’t the case.
“I think the customer service people are supposed to do what they did, to try to make it difficult so you just give up,” she said. “That’s how I felt and what I would have done. I was ready go give up, then I thought of you.”
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Read the original article from WGN Radio Chicago.