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Unless you’re a glutton for punishment, calling customer service is usually like visiting the dentist. You’re hoping for the best, but you’re probably go to walk away feeling like you got punched in the mouth. I know this feeling all to well – I’m on the phone with reps a lot with my Award Booking Service. And if things couldn’t be worse…you have to listen to the dull elevator music while you’re waiting to get flogged. We all know about pressing 0 a million times, or garbling your words so the robot can’t understand you, but I thought I’d put together a quick list of 3 tips that I’ve used to cut my wait time down.
Tip 1 – Always indicate you’ll give feedback
Time and time again when I press the option that I will complete a short customer service survey after my experience, I’m fastracked to a rep. Makes sense, right? If someone has already said they aren’t going to take the time to rate your performance, you can make them wait longer than those who are going to rate your performance. Hint: there’s no penalty if you don’t give feedback and hang up.
Tip 2: Choose a language option that is different than your home country.
This is a common tip, but one that continues to work. For instance, in the US, Spanish is often given as a language option. Choose it. The Spanish speaking reps speak English as well, and since there are fewer people choosing Spanish…you’ll get to a rep faster.
Tip 3: Utilize foreign call centers.
American Airlines is based in…America. So it makes sense that callers utilizing their US 1-800 are going to face longer wait lines than say, those who use the number for Hong Kong. You can access the list of worldwide number here for American. Angelina Travels pointed out that a Mexican number got her through to BA ( notorious for insane hold times ) in 12 mins. WOW.
PS…use skype or the like – don’t get hit with insane phone charges dialing straight from your carrier.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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