10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[wiz]

I've been slightly reluctant to post the following information because it may just cause further confusion but, in any case, I have an explanation for why some were receiving bonus points in November. I obtained this information directly from a consultant in Membership Rewards, who was surprisingly forthcoming...

Essentially what happened is that, after the dust had settled, AMEX decided that they would reinstate the "instantaneous credit" of bonus points to "selected members". I was not told how these members were singled out, but it may have something to do with their usage. As November went on, apparently the demand on the system was too high (read; the crediting of points was still higher than anticipated) and some members were "deselected" from instantaneous crediting. For those members, and members who never received any points at all during November, the standard 10 week waiting period applies.

One point that was reiterated, however, was that the ten week waiting period is taken from the end of month. I suggest to the many members who will be flooding the call centres from 3 - 5 December, to reinforce the fact that this was never stated as a condition, and therefore does not apply.

 

[kamchatsky]

I've been slightly reluctant to post the following information because it may just cause further confusion but, in any case, I have an explanation for why some were receiving bonus points in November. I obtained this information directly from a consultant in Membership Rewards, who was surprisingly forthcoming...

Essentially what happened is that, after the dust had settled, AMEX decided that they would reinstate the "instantaneous credit" of bonus points to "selected members". I was not told how these members were singled out, but it may have something to do with their usage. As November went on, apparently the demand on the system was too high (read; the crediting of points was still higher than anticipated) and some members were "deselected" from instantaneous crediting. For those members, and members who never received any points at all during November, the standard 10 week waiting period applies.

One point that was reiterated, however, was that the ten week waiting period is taken from the end of month. I suggest to the many members who will be flooding the call centres from 3 - 5 December, to reinforce the fact that this was never stated as a condition, and therefore does not apply.

The terms and conditions does not say 10 weeks from end of the month. They shall expect to receive a flood of calls come 4th December ..... since I have a feeling they won't be awarding the points by then ....... Not to mention a flood of emails filling up their email boxes .....

 

[QF WP]

One point that was reiterated, however, was that the ten week waiting period is taken from the end of month. I suggest to the many members who will be flooding the call centres from 3 - 5 December, to reinforce the fact that this was never stated as a condition, and therefore does not apply.

Well, 10 weeks from the 30 September (a Tuesday) is 9 December; so I'd expect the crediting of Septembers to start by then. They have had quite a long time to get their systems in order...not difficult to find programmers at the moment.

 

[serfty]

The following is pure conjecture:

Perhaps the "selection" may have some relation to spend; over the last three years over 200K has been pumped through my Amex accounts.

And ALL were getting the 10T/5k every 10 trx ... at least they did in November.

 

[anat0l]

Well, 10 weeks from the 30 September (a Tuesday) is 9 December; so I'd expect the crediting of Septembers to start by then. They have had quite a long time to get their systems in order...not difficult to find programmers at the moment.

I think it's a combination of some or all of:

• Not enough infrastructure
• Not enough systems and processes
• Not enough smart management (wait a minute, there's "smart" management now?)
• Not enough support training

I think more code monkeys is not the solution to whatever problems Amex are having at the moment.

 

[vet]

Anatol might be on the right track. On 1st November a business report on Amex's last four quarters said Amex decided to scaleback spending on techology and was reviewing costs of rewards programs.

 

[snufl]

The following is pure conjecture:

Perhaps the "selection" may have some relation to spend; over the last three years over 200K has been pumped through my Amex accounts.

And ALL were getting the 10T/5k every 10 trx ... at least they did in November.

I can throw cold water on that theory. My husband rarely used his card over the past 12 months and he is part of the "selection" group. He received 5K every 10 transactions through Nov however he only registered (once)for the 5T/5K pre Sep 20.

He made a quick phone call mid November to check he had not been changed to the 10T/5K promo. He was told no, the points allocated in Nov were for Sep/Oct transactions for the 5T/5K promo.

Once again, no consistent info from CSRs.

BTW I spend much more than my husband (funny that ) and have a different Amex card. So far I've received absolutely nothing.

 

[oz_mark]

The terms and conditions does not say 10 weeks from end of the month. They shall expect to receive a flood of calls come 4th December ..... since I have a feeling they won't be awarding the points by then ....... Not to mention a flood of emails filling up their email boxes .....

Quite something to go from "Please allow 8-10 weeks for Bonus Points to be creditted to your account" to a seemingly hard and fast "10 weeks from the end of the month".

Anyhoo, here we are 10 weeks from when points stopped posting (for those it had started for), and 9 weeks from the end of September.

 

[simongr]

Oh and another data point:

Interestingly I too had 102T in Nov - mind you 5 of them were non-eligible as they were in HK.

Make that 104

 

[nowork]

Quite something to go from "Please allow 8-10 weeks for Bonus Points to be creditted to your account" to a seemingly hard and fast "10 weeks from the end of the month".

Anyhoo, here we are 10 weeks from when points stopped posting (for those it had started for), and 9 weeks from the end of September.

Excitement builds to see if they will give us the points.

 

[Zippy7]

Has anyone received a reminder postcard in the mail???

 

[QF WP]

Month      Transactions      Points Credited      Points Owed 
September^      23                5,000               5,000
October         70                    0              35,000
November       102                    0              50,000
December#        7                    0                   0

^ from date of registration (18/9)
# up to and including 2/12, with at least 2 transactions to post from today (plus any from my wife). Goal is 120, so I'm on track for my target

Can't wait to clear the last column numbers to zero, commencing from 9 December. Amex, you are on track to meet the times in your T&C's aren't you (otherwise you'd be telling us, wouldn't you)

 

[oz_mark]

Has anyone received a reminder postcard in the mail???

No reminder, just an offer of a capped version of the promo. Have you received a reminder?

 

[glass]

remember whe we 1st signed up, it was 6-8wks.
Then it became 8-10. And some ppl also say 8-12 or 10-12.
At this rate, your Dec points may not make the cutoff for QFF transfers next year! :evil:

 

[simongr]

remember whe we 1st signed up, it was 6-8wks.
Then it became 8-10. And some ppl also say 8-12 or 10-12.
At this rate, your Dec points may not make the cutoff for QFF transfers next year! :evil:

That is not correct. Check out the original post card:

It clearly states 8-10 weeks.

S

 

[drewbles]

That is not correct. Check out the original post card:

It clearly states 8-10 weeks.

S

Slightly unrelated, but notice their wording in the postcard above?

"Dinner at your favourite restaurant once a week - 4 Transactions
Weekly grocery shop at Coles or Woolworths - 4 Transactions
Take away dinner once a week - 4 Transactions"

Either I have a different definition of 'once a week' to what they do, or they're encouraging bill splitting (tongue-firmly-in-cheek here)

 

[oz_mark]

Slightly unrelated, but notice their wording in the postcard above?

"Dinner at your favourite restaurant once a week - 4 Transactions
Weekly grocery shop at Coles or Woolworths - 4 Transactions
Take away dinner once a week - 4 Transactions"

Either I have a different definition of 'once a week' to what they do, or they're encouraging bill splitting (tongue-firmly-in-cheek here)

Once a week over a month gives you the 4 transactions quoted, which is how it reads to me.

 

[docjames]

Slightly unrelated, but notice their wording in the postcard above?

"Dinner at your favourite restaurant once a week - 4 Transactions
Weekly grocery shop at Coles or Woolworths - 4 Transactions
Take away dinner once a week - 4 Transactions"

Either I have a different definition of 'once a week' to what they do, or they're encouraging bill splitting (tongue-firmly-in-cheek here)

Uh, that's 4 times for the month, so once/week = 4 transactions

 

[anat0l]

Slightly unrelated, but notice their wording in the postcard above?

"Dinner at your favourite restaurant once a week - 4 Transactions
Weekly grocery shop at Coles or Woolworths - 4 Transactions
Take away dinner once a week - 4 Transactions"

Either I have a different definition of 'once a week' to what they do, or they're encouraging bill splitting (tongue-firmly-in-cheek here)

I believe they were implying that if you had followed that 'normal' schedule for the month (i.e. in one month you dine out once a week, hence 4 times in a month), that would give you the 20 transactions and you would get 10k points.

In other words, the sample schedule supplied describes your monthly spending activity, not weekly.

Having said that, it is clear here that many people would easily get more than 20 transactions per month, which doesn't necessarily mean eating out four times a month.

EDIT: Gah, got beaten twice to the same thing!

 

[beardoc]

At the risk of saying what everyone is thinking, I am coming to the belief (note, this is my own conjecture) that Amex now are stalling - not in the sense that they've got things sorted and they will have the bonus points crediting exactly 10 weeks after the spend, but more in a "we need to buy time because we haven't really planned this well and now we're chasing our tail" sort of way.

Hence the points went from instantaneous, to "please wait 8-10 weeks as per the T&C" (which is fair enough), to "10 weeks from the end of the month in which the transactions occured" (which is not within the scope of the original promotion, and I suspect the "buying another week" tactic.

On 4th December, the points from the 24th September (the first day that points did not credit for transactions on the day they were earned) should credit in order for Amex to stay within the bounds of the T&C of the original promotion. If they do not, then this is the first true breech of the promotion for most people (not taking into account things that have been happening with vet and file51). In order to launch something with the Banking and Financial Services Ombudman (BFSO), you need to attempt to resolve the complaint by contacting Amex and airing your complaint, and if you cannot resolve it then to your satisfaction (i.e. points under this promotion credit within 10 weeks of the transactions), then you should launch the free complaint process with the BFSO. The thing is that then you are referred to a special department in Amex in order to try and fix it - usually with more success.

The thing about this promotion is that enough people have complained such that it is deemed a "systemic problem" and the BFSO will be aware of the problem. This would hopefully get things resolved quicker, but in many of these things, the action can drag on for months. Be prepared for a long wait. Fortunately there are so many of us here that are watching intently, and we'll compare notes, etc., similar to the Citibank debacle a few years back.

But you have to be prepared to put in the complaint - everyone please consider putting one in. The thing is that the complaints cost Amex REAL money, as they have to fund the complaints (they're charged by the BFSO based on the number of complaints, and how protracted they become). So ultimately it will be in Amex's interest to honour the original promotion T&Cs.

Hopefully, anyway.