Your call is important to us

MYSTERY GUEST

It takes a long call to answer a short query.

Getting a credit card is a fairly easy affair these days, or so I was led to think by all the calls I get from banks asking whether I need one. But my American Express credit card, the application for which had been put in way back in April, had not yet materialised.

So I called up the AmEx helpline number to find out what was wrong. The call went through quite fast "" no interminable wait with "Your call is important to us... our executive will be with you shortly." The girl at the other end too had surprisingly clear enunciation and a neutral accent as she introduced herself and asked for the 15-digit main card number.

But I had keyed that in at the very outset, so why did she need it again? "Sorry, could you tell me, the computer didn't pick it up," she said, the apology not masking the gentle exasperation in her voice.

She heard me out and then launched into her drill. Could I confirm my phone number and mailing address? (At least she didn't ask me for my mother's maiden name and my PAN number, as some have.)

That done, she asked me to wait a moment as she tried to find out what the problem was. Thankfully, she was back in around a half minute: the card had been despatched, but the recipient was not available. Did I want to make a fresh request?

"Yes, in fact I did... and anyway why was I not informed? And what if the same thing happens with this fresh card as well?"

Patience personified, the voice reminded me that this centre was only for inbound calls, and no one could possibly call me to tell me anything. But she could tell me the consignment number of the package with the card, if I called back in two days. Whew!

My next question concerned my credit limit. She asked me to hold for a minute. This time the minute stretched on, and after about two minutes (the girl came back once to tell me the server was slow), she was back.

As the call ended, surprisingly without any requests to try out any other of the bank products, I checked out the call duration on my cell "" 13.30 minutes.

That was quite a long call for a simple query.

Score: 6/10 for sticking to the polite spiel