We live in a world where computers make many decisions before a human considers them. Your most recent credit card application went through an algorithm to decide if you were eligible for instant approval. If you’re traveling outside the country, the banks decide if a charge will go through and many of them don’t even have a way for you to tell them if you’re traveling anymore. The same thing goes for a credit card company approving any charge.
Banks have gotten much better at fraud detection. They can suspect that a large purchase outside your regular spending pattern might be fraudulent and will reject the charge. This can be a problem if you are trying to make a purchase and have to wait for the fraud department to contact you to unlock your account, but it’s a small price to pay. Otherwise, we’d be back to when you’d have to prove to your bank that you didn’t purchase tickets to a music festival in Miami when you were on the other side of the country.
While it’s a pain to deal with a declined charge, it’s also nice to know that even the rich and famous have the same problems as we do. We’ve covered several instances where fame doesn’t mean you’ll get special treatment.
- Harry Potter Star Slams Air Canada For Rebooking
- If Airlines Treat Celebrities This Badly, How Do You Think They’ll Treat You?
- American Airlines Lost Dave Baustita’s Luggage & He’s Not Happy
But we seldom hear about a bank failing to meet the expectations of a celebrity customer, especially when that customer is Shaquille O’Neal. However, it seems that American Express is not hesitant to inconvenience even the largest of customers.
I just came across this video of Shaq explaining how AMEX declined his purchase at Walmart:
It’s worth noting that Shaq was attempting to make a $70,000 purchase at 3 AM in a town where he had just been traded. While he didn’t specify whether he has a Centurion Card or not, I would assume that such a large transaction at an unusual time and location would trigger a fraud alert on his AMEX card. However, you’d think that a celebrity of his stature would require human intervention? Or maybe AMEX feels its fraud alert system is sufficient to handle the situation.
As I was watching this clip, it was the first time I had ever thought about an NBA superstar and said to myself, “I know exactly how you feel.”
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