Amex Website changes ....

[doneat54]

We use Amex for almost everything, and have taken two trips to Europe (one in Business Class) on reward points alone. The customer service I get from them is second to none. This past year, in Europe when I damaged a rental car, they sure enough took care of it for me. Been a card holder since 1986. Their website was awesome, categorizing charges, making it easy for me to keep tabs on our monthly dining out budget and easily seeing what the monthly (NOT billing cycle dates) charges were. Simple click to see "Restaurant" category.


Their website *was* awesome.


I logged in a couple nights ago to find it completely re-formatted. Gone are the graphs at the "Charges and Activity" page. Yes, eventually, I could find how to filter results by category and select a custom date rage (.. but the "Select a custom date range" button is gone......) but I can't seem to get a total for the category, for the date range.

VERY disappointed. The "What's different"? link takes you to a bulletized page that starts with "Based on feedback from Card Members like you, we've redesigned your transactions to provide more details, make them easier to find and filter, and give you more control over your activity."


No.

You took away lots of useful, meaningful functionality and this website now sucks.

I can't comprehend how/why a company that I think was a rare thing these days could/would do something like this. Their activity pages were brilliant, well thought out, now they are simple list with a couple pull downs.



Anyone else notice this?


I will call them. We do $80-$100k a year in charges with them. I can tell/know, that when I call, they can see that I am "that" client, with a stellar credit rating and decades of use.

I hope that they bring back the old format, or at least work in the needed functionality.

 

[GrayHare]

But it's new! New is always great!

Change for the sake of change is wasteful, not very efficient or green. If the new design is better, fine, but so often its not.

 

[Katsmeow]

Yes, I have noticed. I also download my transactions and can't find how to get to that page any more. I can do it by doing a Google search and getting there. But I can't figure out to get there from the Amex page itself. This is a significant pain.

 

[Aerides]

Yes, I have noticed. I also download my transactions and can't find how to get to that page any more. I can do it by doing a Google search and getting there. But I can't figure out to get there from the Amex page itself. This is a significant pain.

If you are on the page of the transactions, there's a little inbox/arrow/icon at the top of the list to download, next to the printer icon.

But it's really crazy odd to me that they made a big change this month. This was definitely only in the last couple of weeks. Usually the rule is no changes during the holidays unless something is on fire and 73 VP's agree!

 

[googily]

If you are on the page of the transactions, there's a little inbox/arrow/icon at the top of the list to download, next to the printer icon.

But it's really crazy odd to me that they made a big change this month. This was definitely only in the last couple of weeks. Usually the rule is no changes during the holidays unless something is on fire and 73 VP's agree!

They've had the beta version available for months now. and there was probably an end-of-year deadline for rolling it out. So....

 

[doneat54]

They used to have the graphs at the top and categories, and subcategories, you could just click on the graphical elements and see totals...... Still can't believe they dumbed it down like that.

 

[JoeWras]

I don't have Amex so can't specifically comment, but I've seen other websites go through the same process.

This is usually driven by two things:

1) Obsession with the phone experience. Make it pretty for the phone, and to heck with everyone else.

2) Software developer packages use an API that forces this look. It used to be a lot of rich web pages were designed using sophisticated software libraries that might cost the company a license with significant costs. Of late, managers have been driving software nerds to use a lot of "open" software. It may not have as rich of an experience for the API.

In Amex case, I have no idea if the above two apply. But they sure do in a lot of cases.

 

[MRG]

Nice job in explaining why it's a step backwards. I'd suggest you send those details to AMEX. Having worked in an environment where you're guessing how people use the system it's nice to see a detailed explanation of what is wrong.

 

[audreyh1]

If you go to the statements page you’ll find an option to choose the download format for Quicken and then select one or more statement periods.

Bizarre but true. It works.

Funnily for me - I have two different Amex accounts. When I log on to one, I get one UI, when I log onto the other, I get a different UI.

 

[HI Bill]

2) Software developer packages use an API that forces this look. It used to be a lot of rich web pages were designed using sophisticated software libraries that might cost the company a license with significant costs. Of late, managers have been driving software nerds to use a lot of "open" software. It may not have as rich of an experience for the API.

I'm not sure if its that, or just a new web developer trying to improve the site to meet their tastes. Apple does it all the time.

As does MS. Just look at MS Word (365): to insert a page break, you go to Insert, Page Break. To insert a Section Break, you now have to go to Layout, Breaks, Insert Section Break. [No, MS, even though it's been this way for several versions, I'm still not over this stupidity!].

 

[JoeWras]

I'm not sure if its that, or just a new web developer trying to improve the site to meet their tastes. Apple does it all the time.

As does MS. Just look at MS Word (365): to insert a page break, you go to Insert, Page Break. To insert a Section Break, you now have to go to Layout, Breaks, Insert Section Break. [No, MS, even though it's been this way for several versions, I'm still not over this stupidity!].

Well, ya. Good point. Apple and MS don't rely on 3rd parties so that makes some of my point invalid. I still stand by them for many others.

But you have a good point. It is baffling. I've been on the "other side" and seen some of the reasons why this happens and it is too hard to explain, i.e. complete BS baffling nonsense. Or internal politics. Etc.