I agree with spamalert. I have been a Centurion member since 2006 and have never found their concierge/lifestyle services competent except for the most trivial of tasks. Taken from a previous thread on the subject, here are my two Centurion concierge stories.
1) I wanted to get a friend a particular Hermes wallet that was no longer made for his 35th birthday. I sent the Centurion Lifestyles team an email and explained that Hermes had stopped making the wallet several years ago and that I had seen it offered on ebay recently but the colour in the ebay listing was not what I wanted. I included the pictures (and listing) from ebay so they could see the exact model and style I was after. Several days later I received an email saying. "We have tried contacting several stores and they unfortunately do not sell the orange wallet any longer. However, I have found this particular Hermes wallet on ebay which is almost similiar (sic)."
Since the wallet the Lifestyles team referred me to wasn't anywhere near similar to what I was seeking, I wrote back stating that I was disappointed in their lack-lustre efforts to procure it for me and that I found it particularly ironic that they had referred me back to the source that I had originally referred them to (ebay) with a suggestion that I purchase something that in no way resembled what I was seeking. I asked them to please try again and suggested that perhaps calling the manufacturer (Hermes Paris) might be a good starting point. About a week later, I was told that the both the Sydney and Paris Hermes stores had told them that the wallet was no longer made and that this wallet was no longer sold by Hermes in Australia or France and that they were sorry they couldn't help me.
After receiving this email, I called the Hermes Paris store myself, explained what I was looking for (by providing the model number from the original ebay listing I had supplied the Centurion Lifestyles team) and the very helpful Hermes representative referred me to a Parisian boutique that specialised in vintage Hermes items. I called the boutique. They had the exact wallet I was after and sent it to me that same day. (Although the boutique accepted Amex, I paid for it with my Visa card.)
2) While travelling in France, I left my iPhone in a taxi and despite repeated attempts to track it down, it was never returned. Since I was traveling for several more weeks, I needed the iPhone replaced quickly. At the time, unlocked iPhones were not available in France.
I called the Centurion Lifestyles team, explained what had happened and asked them to purchase a new, replacement iPhone from the Apple store in Australia and express courier it to my hotel (I thought that this was a relatively simple and straight-forward request--tailor-made for what a Centurion concierge could do). The next day I received an email from the Centurion Lifestyles team stating that Apple Australia did not ship their products outside of Australia and that even if they did, it was illegal to send mobile phones by courier since they contained lithium batteries and that mobile phone batteries were not allowed on airplanes.
I didn't even reply to the email. I just asked a friend to go to the Apple store in Sydney, buy the phone and send it to me via DHL. I received the phone two days later.
After these, and several other similar experiences with the Centurion Lifestyles team, I no longer use them. I agree with spamalert and believe that the Amex Centurion marketing literature creates entirely unreal expectations of what they can and are willing to do for their Centurion card members and borders on fraud.
