Amex Global Assist Experience – Left my car key in the car!

I was going to visit a new client today, but ended up at the wrong address. After clarifying the correct address, I agreed to meet them in about 45 minutes. As I was about to take off, I realized that I had left my car keys in my car!

Now what? I did not carry my wife’s AAA card with me. I did not know what to do. Then an idea came to my mind. I shall call my American Express Card. After going through the usual verifications, I was put through to the Global Assist Call center.

I told them my problem. I had left my car keys in the car and need help to unlock my car doors. Global Assist said that should be no problem. However, I said I was in a hurry. But they said that it usually takes 45 minutes to an hour. After a few minutes of holding, the “dispatch” team told me that they have arranged for a dispatch company to get to my location and that they will call me soon to confirm everything. I was told to leave my cell phone number so that I can be contacted. I made my call to Amex at 2:30pm.

By 3pm, I still had not received any call. So I called Global Assist to check what was going on. They said that dispatch should be at my location at about 3:30pm and that they probably forgot to call me to confirm. So I waited until 3:30pm, still no call and no sight of the dispatch.

I made another call back to Amex. This time, they got the driver of the dispatch service on the line. He asked me exactly where I was and how to get there. I gave him directions and asked him when he will arrive. He said about twenty minutes. Just after I hung up the phone, Amex called to check how were things. This was an automated phone call made to me by customer service center to check in on me. I told them what transpired and they asked if I wanted to call for another service. I said that I’d wait for twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes went by and still there was no sight of the dispatch service. I called Amex again. I was quite agitated this time. However, Amex said they were about two minutes away. True enough, the guys soon arrived in a white pickup. Using what looked like a little spade to create an opening in the door, they used a long wire and after about three minutes managed to unlock to my car door. It was now 4:00pm and it took one and a half hours since my call to Amex for dispatch service to arrive (when I was told it would normally take one hour).

Despite the fact that it took a little longer, I was quite pleased with Amex. They politely answered my call and were most helpful in trying to get this done as quickly as possible. Whatever happens, I will always carry my Amex in my wallet.