e-business:some get it right, some don't. American Express has at least one problem.
I have to say that I'm not a big proponent
of managing financial accounts on line. I still like getting my credit
card, bank and other financial statements through the mail and reviewing
and analyzing them on a monthly/quarterly basis. Occasionally though I
want to find out the latest status so I go online. With American Express
it has always been a painful experience. Today I finally found out why
- wait till you hear this one.
For a few years I've had a brokerage
account with American Express. When I opened the account I also setup online
access so I could place trades via the internet. I selected a 6 digit number
as my login and an appropriate password. Accessing the account was fine
for a while. Then after not accessing it for some time I went online and
found that not only couldn't I get into my account, but I also couldn't
retrieve the password to verify that I was entering the correct one. I
called customer service, they reset my password and I was then able to
get in to my account for that day only. The next time I tried to
log in I had to go through the same routine all over again. At one point
a customer service rep told me that the format of the user ids had
been changed and that was the reason I was having a problem. She also reset
my password and sent me on my way without recommending that I allow her
to change my user id to one with the correct format. Apparently the system
programmers decided to require one alpha character in the user id and provide
an upgrade path for existing account holders.
Yesterday I decided I wanted to manage
my credit cards on line. I set up a user id and failed to notice the size
limit on the password. I set up an alpha numeric password that was 10 characters
in length. I was able to access my account, look at my current activity,
etc. Today when I went back to check something else on the account, I once
again couldn't get in. The American Express customer service people are
trained to be helpful and polite and to automatically reset your password
if you are having trouble logging in. At my insistence, the customer service
rep helping me checked into my login problem to determine why I couldn't
login or retrieve my password from the system. It turned out that the password
limit was 8 characters, 2 less than the one I had setup.
I was flabbergasted. Apparently the
system was not programmed to validate the password when I created it and
apparently didn't store it or it was corrupted when stored, making it impossible
to retrieve or validate when I returned to the site.
So I ask you - is this any way to run
a business?
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