johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (10/24/89)
I mentioned in a previous message that I had heard that American
Express had a Caller ID-like feature on their 800 number, and had tied
it into their computer so they could guess who you were based on your
phone number; but that when I called Amex a while ago the rep claimed
they couldn't do that.
Several private messages have opined that Amex still gets the caller's
number, but they'd retrained their reps to act as though they couldn't
tell since customers found it creepy and identifying a caller by the
number he is calling from is unreliable and confusing. ("Hello, Mrs.
Smith!" "No, this is Ms. Jones, and you can just forget where I'm
calling from.")
So when I called Amex this month (Compuserve keeps billing me for
usage on an account that I cancelled six months ago) I called from my
computer's phone line. The rep asked me if my phone number had
changed. Hmmn.
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl