Last week one of my colleagues who had flown in from Australia was having some trouble with his American Express Card. For whatever reason his attempted charges kept coming up as declined. We were in the process of raiding the local outlet mall, and he was stoked to save a hundred bucks on Calvin Klein and Timberland. As Amex was his only source of payment he was suffering a bad case of retail impotence. I offered him my cell phone so he could call customer support. When he called they told him they couldn't access his account information, and he would have to call the Australian office. Funny cause we had always assumed they were a global financial services company that advertises it’s capabilities for assisting international travelers with card trouble. Regardless, he was going to have to call Australia. Now even more frustrated, as he was closing the call, the agent on the line asked him, and I swear this is the truth, "Are you 100% satisfied with the service American Express has provided you today?"

Yep. Membership has it's privileges.