10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[Tiki]

Actually this promo was about changing behaviour rather than rewarding loyalty.

Your approach to this promo seems to be "If I do nothing I will get 40K extra points for free" which is contrary to a number of other who think "if I make some changes and earn amex more $ I can earn a 40k points or more".

Who do you think Amex are targetting with this specific promo?

The ones who are changing their behaviour will be the battlers/low income people like me. The high income/expense account people have easier ways to get points/miles without putting in so much effort.

sash213 Re: 10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions
I dont think amex woud suspend bonus points accrual from 24th - 30th. I think they are just playing catch up.

So on the 1st of Oct, they will allocate all the bonus points achieved from 24th.

Thats my theory unless someone who spoke to them can say 100% that the CSO confirmed they really are not going to honour this promo for 6 days in the middle of it.

I hope so, I have over 20 transactions in that period that I could have postponed until Oct. It's not my fault their software is down and I went shopping based on the T&C from the website and over the last 3 days I have not made more than one transaction at the same place and most were over $10.00.

I think Amex needs to stop giving all this verbal information to various people and POST the exact T&C on their website and STICK to it.

There is nothing on the Amex website that says transactions from Sep 24-29 are not eligible for the bonus.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

No, 1.5 pts now but was notified by Amex that is changing to 1.25pts.
Can't remember the date it will come into effect, but I think it is around the end of March 2009. If you haven't got something in the mail about it, you will.

Thanks..I know about the change.

I thought you meant with your current use.

cheers.

 

[file51]

The ones who are changing their behaviour will be the battlers/low income people like me. The high income/expense account people have easier ways to get points/miles without putting in so much effort.

I wouldnt call myself a low income person, however I certainly dont have a silver spoon sticking out of my mouth. Most of my card spend is personal.

My main reason for changing my spending habits was to be able to take my partner to places that I have been to for work, however she has not been able to due to not being able to afford it. Our spending habits would probably also have continued after the promotion, call that a loyalty thing, I dont know... now, well who knows...

To basically be labelled as a "have not" for doing what was encouraged does not sit well with me, and I do feel very sorry for the people that have purchased items either in advance, or things they may not have really needed purely to try and get something in return that was offered to them.

Does that make me and others greedy, I dont think so

 

[zig]

I have at least 17 transactions over the last few days that I put in a HUGE effort to do even after a full 8 hour work day just because of this promo. I normally would NOT be going to the mall after a work day and I don't think it is fair that I (and anyone else who made the effort) should lose those bonus points.

I'm in the same position as you Tiki and over the last week have changed my shopping patterns to maximise earning points during the promotion - including going shopping most days after work (something I usually try to avoid) and ordering Dominos online ( an experience that will not be repeated :shock: ) I believe that the bonus points earned during this period should be honoured. The system wasn't totally 'down' as the standard MR points for these purchases have been allocated. Likewise I don't know whether to continue trying to maximise use of my AMEX next week until I receive some clarification directly from AMEX about the ongoing T&C's I hope that comes soon.

 

[simongr]

The ones who are changing their behaviour will be the battlers/low income people like me. The high income/expense account people have easier ways to get points/miles without putting in so much effort.

That is very unfair and typically australian I am sad to say. Battlers are the hard done to majority and the tall poppies should be cut down.

 

[Mal]

Minimum spend?
Never part of the T&C's as a set figure.

Multiple transactions at the one store/merchant in one day not allowed?
Never part of the T&C's as not allowed.

If Amex detects someone having 5, 10, 20 or more trans at a store in one day, or hundreds over the length of the promo, then perhaps there is a case for investigation and potential dealing in accordance with the T&C's. Below that? Nah, they're on pretty shaky ground methinks to redact points.

Minimum spend? Legit transactions occur from 1c to many $$$$$$$$'s. They are again on shaky ground if they want to try and define legit.

BTW, I have every confidence Amex will not let the current missing points disappear, but will credit them in accordance with the promo once they work out what is going on.

 

[snufl]

Can we all take a deep breath and avoid making broad statements that may offend others. I think these statements are coming purely from confusion/frustration/disappointment/anger (take your pick or add your own) but they are being directed at the wrong target.

 

[straitman]

Can we all take a deep breath and avoid making broad statements that may offend others. I think these statements are coming purely from confusion/frustration/disappointment/anger (take your pick or add your own) but they are being directed at the wrong target.

snufl,

Thank you. That is one of the more sensible posts on this thread :!:

 

[QF WP]

Many thanks to Lord Garlic for advising their discussion with Amex. From your point #1, it certainly sounds like there has been quite a lot of discusion in Amex HQ over the past couple of days since the promo went sour and with their position changing so much (from their continual updates to their CS staff), it certainly doesn't appear to make it easy for either side (for their CS staff to advise an exact position, or for us to understand what is happening).

I'm thankful that I signed up on 17 September and rang CS on 18th to discuss the two promo's I had linked to my account and then advise which one I wanted.

 

[oz_mark]

Many thanks to Lord Garlic for advising their discussion with Amex. From your point #1, it certainly sounds like there has been quite a lot of discusion in Amex HQ over the past couple of days since the promo went sour and with their position changing so much, it certainly doesn't make it easy for either side (for their CS staff to advise an exact position, or for us to understand what is happening).

It also sounds as though anyhting that has been discussed here is but the tip of the iceberg as far as things have gone. While our discussions may have given them palpitations at our suggestions, when they looked at what was going on in overall they had a full blown heart attack!

 

[Mal]

It also sounds as though anyhting that has been discussed here is but the tip of the iceberg as far as things have gone. While our discussions may have given them palpitations at our suggestions, when they looked at what was going on in overall they had a full blown heart attack!

And keeping in mind, AFF wasn't the only place these offers were publicly published. I could name at least 3 or 4 other Australian based websites where they were published. Some of those sites have a totally different type of clientele than AFF has. So yep, there would have been some interesting uses of the cards recently.

 

[QF WP]

Tiki, from my reading of Lord Garlic's reply to you back on Page 123, those 17 transactions do qualifying towards bonus points accrual as they happened before their "weekend" suspension happened for those on MYREWARDS promo. It does sound like they are trying to catch up over the weekens, so next week they can post bonus point transactions in a timely manner (daily).

Now I don't know what to do, at least return the clothes and books, ask the store to hold them until Monday or what? I would not have bought them if not for the promotion and I don't see why we should be penalized when we follow their rules to earn the bonus points. I can't afford to keep buying clothes and books indefintely like this and I wouldn't have ordered pizzas for dinner if not for the promo.

I'm concerned for you if that is your position below. If you can't have afforded to buy things, why are you buying them (just because there is a promoton on to get more MR points should not be sufficient reason). No use getting MR points to transfer to another program if you can't go anywhere to use them. This is how people get into debt trouble.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Now I don't know what to do, at least return the clothes and books, ask the store to hold them until Monday or what?

I would not do that...as one post today indicated that returning purchases was one of the potential forms of abuse...and you would not want to risk being made ineligble.

Like others I would imagine that all points will eventually post.

I would imagine they have stopped them for various reasons including giving them time to review each registrant to decide what category they should be in...and whether to allow or reverse points...or even complete banning.

 

[QF WP]

...if I promise something to my customers I deliver it, not change my mind several weeks later and try and reneg on the original deal, no matter what T&C I can fall back on. This is more about accepting an offer, having that offer thrown in your face, then expecting us to be all ok and fine about it... c'mon, wake up. Amex wanted to generate business via this promotion, what they may have done is turned a lot of people away from using them.

Whilst I don't agree with Amex's methods, I think they handled the issue to mitigate the issue getting worse for them. Not sure if they hadn't realised how some people would seek to maximise the "loose wording" in the T& C's to obtain bonus points - I'd wager that their estimation of how many bonus points they were to have "issued" after the end of the first 10 days of the promo's was woefully under the actual issued - then they have realised the extent of the "creative" tranactions meant they had to shut down the issuing of the bonus points to do some in depth analysis of the tranactions (the level of which they probably also underestimated). They, of course, have both the T&C's of the promo's and the MR to "prosecute" those that they believe have broken those rules - unless proven otherwise by the cardholder.

Of course, overlaying it from their viewpoint is whether their increased fees obtained from merchants (and future interest payments from amounts unpaid at the end of interest free periods) has been greater than the costs of the points when transferred to other programs (QF, SPG etc).

Honesty and integrity do actually have a place in business, My opinion of Amex has somewhat darkened in the past few days over the way this has been handled

Here I have to agree with you totally. Like brownie points, loyalty is earned over a period of time and can be lost quickly. They will be working hard to replace it.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Many thanks to Lord Garlic for advising their discussion with Amex. From your point #1, it certainly sounds like there has been quite a lot of discusion in Amex HQ over the past couple of days since the promo went sour .

This may be pedantic of me, but this promotion did not so much go sour.....as it was conceived sour, and then executed sourly.

It had a great goal though. To increase Amex transactions througha wider variry of locations.......but the promotional point award rate was miscalcuted.

In addition just having a minimum spend if even only $5 or $10 would have removed many avenues of this promotion being shall we say "stretched" too much.

Add to this the virtually non-existant T&C including the obvious clause to say that it could not be used with concurrent bonuses etc...

What has happened since it was rolled out in the form it was, was entirely obvious and predictable.

 

[JohnK]

I am absolutely amazed at the lengths some people will go to get the bonus points. Purchasing things you do not need because of the promotion.

This is more about accepting an offer, having that offer thrown in your face, then expecting us to be all ok and fine about it... c'mon, wake up.

Tough. Such is life. Not the end of the world either.

Amex wanted to generate business via this promotion, what they may have done is turned a lot of people away from using them.

Which people? I have read a couple of people on AFF threatening to cancel their cards over this promotion.

I call it greed. You call it what you like....

 

[file51]

JohnK, your perception of reality is somewhat distorted

Trying to belittle members gets you nowhere, "Dear oh Dear...." pfffft

You know nothing about such people as Tiki, yet you redicule them.

Did I say it was the end of the world? I think not.

Greed hey....

Normally I stick to attacking a topic, not a person, but such blatant stupid commnts will not go ignored.

 

[JohnK]

Actually this promo was about changing behaviour rather than rewarding loyalty.

Which in my opinion is a mistake made by many businesses including Amex.

Your approach to this promo seems to be "If I do nothing I will get 40K extra points for free" which is contrary to a number of other who think "if I make some changes and earn amex more $ I can earn a 40k points or more".

Wrong. I have mentioned a number of times that I will use Amex wherever possible and have been actively sending feedback to Amex where it is not accepted. I don't need a promotion to make me use my Amex card more. I am happy accumulating everyday Amex MR points and I will gratefully accept any bonus points they throw my way. If that makes me wrong then I apologise. I can see this promotion has brought out the dark side in a lot of people.

Who do you think Amex are targetting with this specific promo?

Obviously Amex has made a big mistake. They appear to be targetting the type of people who will go out of their way to use Amex during the promotion and then return to normal spending patterns once the promotion ends.

 

[QF WP]

GENERAL COMMENT

I must admit that I find all the angst against people trying to legitimately maximise points rather odd.

If you read this forum a lot, and I do...you will see terms such as Mileage Runs and Status Runs mentioned all the time, and more than that lauded by many (for different reasons) as be a great and worthwhile thing to do.

Yet in this thread those doing a Reward Point Run (am I the first to use such a term?? ) are somehow meant to be greedy etc.

I certainly haven't seen anybody coin the phrase RPR, I like it...

Why are Mileage Runs and Status Runs so worthy....but Point Runs not?

Why as long as one follows the rules is maximising the reward from a bonus promotion a bad thing????

Personally the game for me is all about aquiring maximum numbers of points at mimal cost so that I can build enough points to redeem airfares for my family to take International Holidays.

This why I have the Amex Maximiser (earns at 1.5)..and the Citibank Free for life Card (earns at 1.0).

We all have different goals....and I have no problem with those that gain a buzz from putting together a Mileage run for the sake of the challenge rather than necessarily an economic point earn.

An excellent post explaining it IMO. This RPR is definitely worthwhile based on the number of us who registered for one of the promo's.

This whole Bonus Promotion was designed to alter spending behaviour. For me what was offered was sufficient to do exactly that.

The Promotion had 3 different levels...all clearly designed to increased the number of transactions for the targetted groups of which I was one. This it has done in my case.

As mentioned by a poster earlier the problem that Amex really have is not abuse of the promotion, but rather use of it simply because Amex did not do their numbers correctly.

I agree - I'm sure that the number of transactions has increased more than Amex thought. What was probably disappointing for Amex is that some people have been allowed to change or register for MYREWARDS and those would not have been in Amex's calculations. I would think this has been their biggest loss factor.

 

[QF WP]

The ones who are changing their behaviour will be the battlers/low income people like me. The high income/expense account people have easier ways to get points/miles without putting in so much effort.

Change of behaviour comes in two ways - people spend more (whether they can either afford to, or not) and those who change their habits (change to Amex, walk out of stores that don't take Amex. etc). Both of these groups require additional effort and are important to Amex in their marketing, but I presume the second group are more profitable.

I think Amex needs to stop giving all this verbal information to various people and POST the exact T&C on their website and STICK to it.

There is nothing on the Amex website that says transactions from Sep 24-29 are not eligible for the bonus.

Here I am in total agreement - one of the disappointing things in this situation is that Amex surely could have moved faster in damage control.