Shit happens! And sometimes it does despite you having taken every care that it doesn’t. Today was one such day.
Well, it’s a long story, but promise me that you’ll read it till the end and I promise you that you will not regret being patient.
When was the last time you thought Lord Murphy was hard at work and focusing entirely on you for want of other beings? I am sure not today, as today was reserved for me exclusively. Well, on second thoughts, not just today but about last 2 weeks since this thing all began.
My office has a number of frequent travelers including yours truly. But this time it wasn’t me. Two of my colleagues had traveled to Hong Kong and New York respectively in last month. Usually, to book the flights and hotels, each of us has an Amex corporate credit card, which is of course paid for by the company when its billing cycle requires. But unfortunately, both of them did not have a valid corporate card for some reason. In such a case, they had no choice but to ask one of the colleagues to use their corporate card. Incidentally, both of them had asked me, and I had given them the consent.
Ownership – I am sure you have heard this one if you have spent a reasonable time working for a corporate. A few months ago, “lack of ownership” was the management’s conclusion for the reason people did not submit their credit card expense invoices on time. It’s simple – it’s the company that is going to clear the credit card bills, and if the payment gets delayed the company will bear the late payment charges. But the company needed to depend on us, the travelers, to submit hotel invoices and air tickets on time, so that they could do proper accounting before making the payment. Despite reminders, some employees would slip the deadlines, costing company the unnecessary late payment charges. So, a new policy was put in place. If any employee delays the submission of invoices, the consequent late payment charges will be borne by the employee. Fair enough, a pragmatic deterrent for employees to not miss deadlines, and, not to forget, a great way of imbibing ownership amongst the employees.
Knowing myself, and the fact that my forgetful mind refuses to get deterred even by such monetary disincentives, I was careful from the beginning. I had tactfully scheduled a reminder well before the due date to submit the invoices. When the alarm rang, I immediately wrote to the two colleagues to send their hotel and travel invoices to me asap, so that I could raise the claim. So they did, and so I did. This was about two weeks ago.
As the process goes, once the claim is raised it goes to the manager for approval. Incidentally, my manager was traveling and I didn’t get a chance to remind him to approve the claim in person. So I wrote to him in a mail. I was 5 days within the company’s deadline of submitting the invoices. And 11 days from actual credit card due date. So far so good.
Just to remind you, submitting bills etc is not really my full time job and that I am usually fully occupied with other head-aches of my regular job which I find far more interesting nonetheless. So, I lost track of the credit card stuff for a week, until I got a mail from “Accounts Payables” team. These mails from such generic groups never smell of any human being. It sounded like a usual automated mail acknowledging the receipt of all the bills I had submitted, before I noticed one line that said “please provide the approval from your manager”. Oops, I thought, and looked at the calendar in the same breath. I was still 4 days away from actual due date of the credit card. Since the manager was still traveling, I contacted him on email again explaining why his approval is necessary. He replied this time, asking me questions about what are the bills for etc. Though I had explained these things earlier as well, I thought repeating them wouldn’t harm. So I did. Having not heard back from him with more questions, I assumed he would approve immediately.
Swamped with work, again I lost track of this stupid bills thing when 4 days passed and the due date arrived. Somehow I looked at the date, and thought that I should check if claim is approved after all. And to my surprise, it was not! And to no one’s surprise, the manager was still traveling. So I had no choice but to email him again! This time, a pleading one. He replied back in a phone call this time. “Hey, can you send me that link which I can click to approve?” I was annoyed. But I did send immediately. Phew, he approved immediately! Ok, I thought, I have just a few hours to go, let me catch the “Accounts Payables” team again. I sent them the approval, with an urgent request to process the claim immediately.
But like most emails to these “inhuman” groups, it went into a black-hole. I got frustrated, and tried to trace who actually works in that group and after multiple failed attempts I got to talk to one lady who seemed to belong to that group. She said “Why don’t you mail Accounts Payables team, that should solve your problem”. I thought “Listen lady, I wanted to speak with a human being, and I really thought you were one, my bad.” But then swallowed my thoughts.
Two more days passed. Now it was 2 days beyond the due date. But hey, the in-humans replied “Your claim has been processed and will be credited to Amex in 1-2 business days”. I was annoyed. I blurted out to them, “This is not acceptable, Why couldn’t you make payment 2 days ago when the approval came. Now this is bound to attract late payment charges.” Of course, such utterances only go into a black-hole.
I was really getting anxious. I wrote to the Admin team “What is the policy if an employee submits all the bills on time. But the manager does not approve the claim despite multiple follow ups?” Back came the answer “Employee gets two weeks to raise a claim and get it approved. If not approved, employee bears the charges.” I went furious, “I cannot accept this. I have been nice to two of my colleagues by offering my credit card to them. I followed up with them, submitted the claim well before the deadline. I followed up with my manager. Multiple times. Now if he forgets to approve, why am I being made to bear the late payment charges?” Guess what. Black-hole.
I decided to approach senior management. I was fuming with anger. But I thought I should calm down a bit. And maybe, talk to the credit card company directly first? Yes, that cannot harm, who knows they might have received the payment by now, and might tell me what the fine exactly is.
So I dialed the toll free number of Amex.
A customer service executive picked up.
“Hello Sir, I am Amit, may I know your good name please?”
His voice was more pleasant than a typical agent.
“Hi Amit, this is Siddharth. I have called you to know whether you have received the payment for this month.”
“Sure Sir, I will help you with that. May I know where you are calling from”, he said.
“I am calling from Deutsche Bank, Mumbai”
“Oh ok. Since you said Mumbai, I must ask you if you are safe and sound Sir”. He asked, unexpectedly referring to the terror attack that shocked Mumbai the previous night.
“Yes, I am fine, thank you for your concern.” I replied, feeling a bit relaxed by now.
“No problems Sir. The whole nation is concerned about Mumbai, and American Express are always there for support in whatever way possible”. He continued. “Sir, I have checked your account and I’m afraid we have not received your payment”.
Sad again, I said, “That was expected. Actually, I have been caught up in this hassle for no fault of mine. Our company policy… blah blah”. I told him the full story. “I guess I will need to pay the late payment charges.” sounding dejected.
“No worries Sir, I understand. As per Amex rules, you do need to pay the late payment charges. But considering that you have been a great customer for last three years, I would like to do something for you. We can waive off your penalty, but there are two conditions for that”
“What are they?” I asked.
“First is that, your payment must reach us latest by 1 week.” He said.
“Sure, they have told me 1-2 business days, so a week is more than enough.” I was getting relieved.
“Second condition is that, you have to say that you love American Express.”
I started to laugh. “I love American Express. And I can say that ten times!”
“Thank you Sir, I just wanted the smile back on your face. Amit from Amex is always at your service.”
“Thanks Amit, you made my day!”.
I wish I meet an Amit every time I call a customer care. I wish all companies realize how much difference good pleasant service can make. That's really "ownership" in my opinion.
Phew!
