They closed my account for missing a payment. Not sure where the legendary customer service comment comes from perhaps their marketing is stronger than their offerings

Well that definitely sucks, I mean I didn’t even know you can “miss” a credit card payment, usually you’re late and they increase your bill accordingly.

Sucks to know they’re a bit trigger happy with the account closures

I'm not sure what legendary customer-friendliness means in the context of a credit card. If I want to dispute a charge, I've never really had an issue with calling up the bank and getting it resolved or, presumably, getting a new card issued. And the days where having a physical office in a foreign capital where I could cash a check or whatever is pretty much way in the past.

Good customer service can mean things like the people are pleasant, aren’t working from a stressed call center sweat shop, have the discretion to do what you need, have the knowledge to help you rather than just run some dialog tree.

Discover is much better every time I call them than my Capital One card. And Schwab (bank) is amazing compared to my other bank. The customer agents put me on hold to ask someone in the engineering department to help me with a very weird Zelle bug. It was all so pleasant and made me really appreciate the service. It’s especially noticeable when you need help with a weird situation that takes time to explain and doesn’t fit into some FAQ.

Meanwhile bad customer service is revolting on multiple levels, like revealing that the company wants to save money instead of spend on a good experience.

> AMEX's legendary customer-friendliness

My ex once pulled out his AMEX Gold card at dinner and regaled me on every perk and detail of the program. After that he spent 30 minutes on the phone trying to verify his identity, since they shuttered his account for suspicious long-distance activity.

He did get it sorted out, but the Benihana's folks were running out of patience.

> My ex once pulled out his AMEX Gold card at dinner and regaled me on every perk and detail of the program

Well there it is right there!

> After that he spent 30 minutes on the phone trying to verify his identity, since they shuttered his account for suspicious long-distance activity.

Well not every company is perfect, for credit cards I have I register foreign addresses and get flack. Using a VOIP number with a local area code does help.

> He did get it sorted out, but the Benihana's folks were running out of patience.

Funny considering Benihana is basically built on the concept of wasting time to cook a meal. I hope this happened in the early 2000s.

Just a fun anecdote I like telling, nothing against the company (or my ex =))

FWIW I also had consistent trouble with my debit account when traveling. After hearing all the perks I was expecting a concierge to materialize tableside with a full wallet and tray of Perrier. No such luck.

I just have a bit of an axe to grind when it comes to Benihana :)

Yeah, given your account and what people have said so far, clearly their marketing has been quite effective on me at least! Even Chase I've had great help from while traveling (letting them handle rebooking rental cars/hotels, etc).