Over the weekend, my friend and I got to talking about customer service. He recalled an incident when he was touring Europe. He lost his wallet!

He had to call his credit card providers: American Express, Diners Club International, and Standard Chartered Bank. The last two didn’t give him that real-time customer service. He was told to wait and do this and that. But American Express (Amex) was different.

Amex asked him where he was at that time they were speaking to him, and what was his next stop. He told them he was now heading to Florence. He was instructed to go to the Amex office in Florence.

When my friend reached Florence, he immediately went to Amex office and an Amex guy was waiting for him with a replacement of his Amex credit card, and went, “Would you like to make a cash advance now, sir?”

Of course my friend needed cash. He lost his wallet. My friend said yes and a few seconds later, the Amex guy left and came back, and handed him an envelope with cash in it.

No questions, no red tape!

When my friend came back to the country, he canceled all his other credit cards and is now sticking with Amex only.

Now, that’s what I call real-time customer service that inspired loyal customers.

What kind of customer service do you have?