AMEX Platinum Card Membership rewards cut!

[3eef]

I got this note, nicely hidden on the back page of my eStatement today!

Basically all membership rewards points now rounded down....

At the moment they round up from $0.50 to the so you earn a point and you get the bonus, a small thing but with 100+ transactions a month it ads up over time!

OLD way

$1.50 = 2 Membership points + 1 bonus = 3 points total!

New way

$1.50 = 1 Membership point + 0 Bonus = 1 point total!

This month alone this would have cost me 102 points so 1200+ points over a year - ok not much in the grand scheme of things but seriously amex!!! :evil:

"From 1 August 2011 we are changing the way you accrue Membership Rewards points so that each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by the applicable earn rate to determine the number of points. Clause 4 of your Membership Rewards Terms and Conditions is replaced with "Except for promotional offers, you will accrue a designated number of points (earn rate) (as notified to you from time to time) for every one Australian dollar spent on goods and services, charged and billed on your account. Subject to these terms and conditions, points are calculated on each purchase of goods or services charged to your Card. Each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by each applicable earn rate to determine the number of points awarded. However, only full points will be earned. We will disregard and not accumulate a fraction of a point".

Not Happy :evil:

Is it the same for Cent?

 

[Homer]

Is it the same for Cent?

Not according to Centurion card services which I called just now.

Is your AMEX card an AMEX Platinum Charge card or an AMEX Platinum credit card? Or is it a co-branded card, eg an NAB Amex? Different cards have different policies around award points.

 

[oz_mark]

I got this note, nicely hidden on the back page of my eStatement today!

Basically all membership rewards points now rounded down....

At the moment they round up from $0.50 to the so you earn a point and you get the bonus, a small thing but with 100+ transactions a month it ads up over time!

My experience is that what they have been doing is carrying the cents forward, and then giving an extra point when all those cents add to a dollar.

"From 1 August 2011 we are changing the way you accrue Membership Rewards points so that each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by the applicable earn rate to determine the number of points. Clause 4 of your Membership Rewards Terms and Conditions is replaced with "Except for promotional offers, you will accrue a designated number of points (earn rate) (as notified to you from time to time) for every one Australian dollar spent on goods and services, charged and billed on your account. Subject to these terms and conditions, points are calculated on each purchase of goods or services charged to your Card. Each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by each applicable earn rate to determine the number of points awarded. However, only full points will be earned. We will disregard and not accumulate a fraction of a point".

For me, the real change would be that they stop accumulating the fractions of points.

(Not that this has appeared on my statements yet, but I am due for one shortly!)

 

[3eef]

Re-posted somehow put it on the wrong site!


I got this note, nicely hidden on the back page of my eStatement today!

Basically all membership rewards points now rounded down....

At the moment they round up from $0.50 to the so you earn a point and you get the bonus, a small thing but with 100+ transactions a month it ads up over time!

OLD way

$1.50 = 2 Membership points + 1 bonus = 3 points total!

New way

$1.50 = 1 Membership point + 0 Bonus = 1 point total!

This month alone this would have cost me 102 points so 1200+ points over a year - ok not much in the grand scheme of things but seriously amex!!!

"From 1 August 2011 we are changing the way you accrue Membership Rewards points so that each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by the applicable earn rate to determine the number of points. Clause 4 of your Membership Rewards Terms and Conditions is replaced with "Except for promotional offers, you will accrue a designated number of points (earn rate) (as notified to you from time to time) for every one Australian dollar spent on goods and services, charged and billed on your account. Subject to these terms and conditions, points are calculated on each purchase of goods or services charged to your Card. Each purchase is rounded down to the nearest dollar then multiplied separately by each applicable earn rate to determine the number of points awarded. However, only full points will be earned. We will disregard and not accumulate a fraction of a point".

Not Happy :evil:

Is it the same for Cent?

 

[3eef]

Moved to amex, sorry meant to post there. No Idea how I got it on the AA forum....

 

[Homer]

You haven’t explained what type of AMEX Platinum card you have. Is it an AMEX Platinum Charge card or an AMEX Platinum Credit card or a co-branded card? They are not all created equal...

 

[Masonic Phantom]

Not according to Centurion card services which I called just now.

Is your AMEX card an AMEX Platinum Charge card or an AMEX Platinum credit card? Or is it a co-branded card, eg an NAB Amex? Different cards have different policies around award points.

Sounds co-branded to me.....but i will have to check Plat Charge statement.:shock:

M.P.

 

[3eef]

Hey Homer - sorry I meant to post an update...

I have both, the credit card is as a freebie attached to the charge card.

But to provide clarity the statement above came from my Charge Card Statement issued today. So I assume this is the "higher" of the cards only exceeded by Cent.

Pi$$es me off that they would make such a change in such a way for a card that costs $900 a year, fair play if it was just the credit card.:!:

 

[3eef]

Is an AU Platinum Charge Card

 

[Homer]

It’s odd that the guy at Centurion knew nothing about this given that, I believe, both cards have the same rewards program albeit with slightly different limits. The guy I spoke to even told me he was sitting next to the “go to girl” on rewards and she knew nothing about a change like this.

 

[3eef]

Strange they don't know about it!

See attached from my statement

 

[Ricardo]

Strange they don't know about it!

See attached from my statementView attachment 2424

They just keep downgrading the value of this card, it must be a cost cutting exercise with all the extra fractional points costing money??? So we have to pay our accounts earlier or pay a late 'liquidated damages fee' and now this .....

Time to ask for a discounted fee again or close my account ...........

 

[zig]

It’s odd that the guy at Centurion knew nothing about this given that, I believe, both cards have the same rewards program albeit with slightly different limits. The guy I spoke to even told me he was sitting next to the “go to girl” on rewards and she knew nothing about a change like this.

Unless the Centurion staff are dramatically different to the Platinum staff I wouldn't be at all surprised that they don't know anything about the changes. There seems to be an information vacumn in AMEX which is clearly illustrated by the different versions of 'facts' that you get everytime you make contact with them. Just a brief scan of some of the Amex threads on this site shows how many different versions of reality there are with staff not knowing about promotion t&cs etc etc... I would have been more suprised if someone at Amex had actually been able to provide a clear and coherent explanation of the change.

 

[xevious]

def not in my May centurion statement. *PHEW!

 

[futaris]

Not mentioned in my Amex Gold statement from May 29, 2011.

 

[pangwen]

My one on June 1 mentions this. Since I have a platinum edge, and have maybe 15 transactions at supermarkets in a month (go there every second day for lunch/supplies for work, plus an evening shop), I'll be down about 45 points a month. This doesn't sound like much, but it adds up over a year!

EDIT: On the Platinum Edge

 

[netaddict]

Same clause is on my 1 June 2011 statement for Platinum Reserve Credit Card, also a Platinum Charge Card member (that statement won't issue to mid month). Really getting frustrated, more devaluing of the card as the rewards are linked!

EDIT: Just spoke to someone at AMEX platinum charge card cust service. They didn't even know about the change however he did say after talking to a college the statement is correct. There rounding down 100% of the time.

 

[SeaWolf]

This is especially frustrating given that it's pretty common for stuff to cost $XX.95. Those 95cents used to be a point, now they're almost a point.

 

[Cynicor]

Can confirm this is on my Plat Credit statement for cycle ending June. Step in the wrong direction but will likely only cost me about 10-20 points a month (assuming 20-30 discrete transactions monthly with an equal split above and below the 50c mark). Hopefully the next change is a positive one.

On the plus side, really liking the occasional amex network freebies.

 

[mily]

MR points being rounded down to the closest dollar?

Anyone noticed Amex changed their MR points and always round down to the closest dollar now?
It used to be either normal rounding or accumulate the cents, which is better than other CC rewards AFAIK.
I normally get 10 points for $9.95 purchase and even for $9.55 purchase, and 9 points for $9.2.
But now I got 19 points for $19.99 purchase and it seems to round down at all time.
Based on my point statement, this change started to happen between 3/Aug and 6/Aug,
as I got 25 points for $24.75 on 3/Aug and 14 points for $14.65 on 6/Aug.
Other purchases between 3rd and 6th are either integer or less than $xx.50.

I think this is a negative change as we only lose points.
Is there any T&C on how we accumulate our points and do AMex need to inform us the change before it happen?