The Magic Number...

So when my Amex statement arrived a few days ago I thought I had it figured out as to how I would pay it: I'd go down to the bank or post office and transfer a payment as per the instructions on the bill. It should've been that simple. No. Things didn't turn out that way.

I guess a portent of things to come was the reaction from my office manager on Saturday when I told what I was going to do. Her response was that "What?!" which makes no attempt to hide confusion and skepticism. She had never attempted to do such a transaction. "Too complicated", was her remark. That conversation came back to haunt me today when I got to the banking counter at my local post office.

First off, the clerk at the post office explained that it would be cheaper to do the transfer using the ATM because the service charges are lower than if I do the transaction using my account passbook at the counter. Okay. I have no problem with that. I go to the ATM, pick the "English Guide" option and pick the best looking option: "Remittance". There didn't seem to be anything else fitting the bill for what I wanted. So on my first try I run into a requirement to enter a recipient transfer number. That isn't on the bill. I withdraw, take a seat and ponder my next step.

So I phone American Express. I press '2' for service in English and get a Japanese speaking customer service representative (who I assume can't speak English). I ask for an English speaking rep and she checks for me. "There's no one available to take a call because of call volume", she reports. So, I step up to the plate and try to get the information I need from her whilst carrying on the conversation in Japanese. She provides me with the bank code and bank branch code. I figure I have what I need and I thank her.

So I attempt to do the transaction with the information I've gathered. No luck there. I have too many digits to enter. I try a couple of permutations but give up my station at the ATM once I notice there are others waiting to use it (the small post offices usually only have one ATM). I decide to head off and pay my gas bill. After doing that I head into another post office.

After another failed attempt to make the transfer I walk up to the post office banking counter and ask the clerk what it is I have to do. I show him the information I have and he asks if I'm trying to do an international bank transfer. No. "In that case there's an option on the ATM you an use with your cash card", he explains. Ah, this might be the turn in the right direction. I explain I'm not a local once things start getting complicated. He kindly writes down the text I'm supposed to hunt down on the ATM menu on a piece of paper for the option I need to choose.

Armed with that I return to the scene of my previous defeat at the hands of the ATM. This time I weather the menus in Japanese. Voila! The option I need is there. I navigate my way to the point where I enter the Amex destination account and the amount of my payment. A small alarm bell goes off in my head. Why haven't I been asked to enter my credit card number. No sooner said than done I'm asked to enter my phone number. I duly do that and receive a confirmation screen. Everything seems to be in order. So the magic number that sealed the deal is my phone number? When I think back to the time I called Amex I recall that their system told me they had confirmed my identity based on the phone number I was calling from. Now that is interesting.

So what did I learn today? One, yes, Virginia there may be options on the post office ATMs which don't get shown when the user switches to English. It's either that or the translation becomes misleading and you miss it. I suspect the former. Two, having an IVR system identify customers by their phone numbers is an interesting tactic. They do ask for a PIN so it's not a completely wide open access point to one's accounts. But it is a bit of a surprise when first encountered.

There you have it...the magic number when dealing with Amex Japan.