It’s official. I’ve finally had an amazing customer service experience with a credit card company. I started my company on credit cards. I had a LOT of them. So, being a responsible guy, I recently went through and closed all the accounts I’ve finally paid off.  The way you do that is to call the credit card companies and tell them what you want to do. Of course, I’ve decided to keep one or two cards open for regular use, and I’ve made my decision on which to keep based on the following:

1. Interest rate

2. Incentive programs

All that said, I started my calls and met with interest rates ranging from 13 to 25% from Citibank, Capital One and US Bank, as well as really lousy customer service. They’d say, “Oh, I’m so sorry you’ve decided to close your account! May I ask why?” To which, I’d reply, “High interest rates.” To which, they’d reply, “Oh. Well, I’ve closed that account for you. Can I do anything else for you? No? Goodbye.” *CLICK* That was, until I called Chase to close my Amazon.com card.

I called them and received all them same “Oh, I’m so sorry!” stuff, but once she (and I say “she” because I can’t remember the CSR’s name, but she should get a raise) got through that, she actually offered me a reduction from 13% to 9.5% on my interest and jumped through all sorts of hoops to make sure that my points program is optimized for my spending habits. When I asked her why she was so helpful, she said that every time I went to use one of my credit cards, she wanted me to use my Chase Amazon card. No other reason. From there, we talked about how we were both newly married and how she is expecting her first child. All in all, she demonstrated the level of customer service and care that companies HAVE to live in to if they want to survive the wave of Customer Service 3.0 that’s accompanying the digital marketing age.

Consumers are getting smarter and less patient with rude corporate dictatorships. It’s time to think things through on the business side and decide if you’re going to be a company that actively participates and plays nice with your customer base, or it you’re going to try to live according to the old rules.

Think about it and let me know where you land. Also, get a Chase Amazon.com Visa card. You’ll be happy you did.

Cheers