Amex "I'm going to cancel my card" - bonus points given thread.

[Mr H]

Dont say "i want to cancel" despite apparently lucky anecdotes from others, by law they must accept your request and not coerce you to change your mind.

I had not expected an offer because I knew the law had changed and reports were that offers had dried up. I did say I wanted to cancel because that was my intention - to reduce my available credit in order to sign up to a new card. I was therefore as surprised as anyone to get the offer.

100,000 QFF points. So, that would be equivalent to 200,000 AMEX MR points.

Yes

 

[Ade]

I had had the card for two and a half years, had not been paying off the balance so I had been paying interest. According to my account, I had got 322,000 points from the card including the sign up bonus of 100,000, so that's about 90,000 points a year, divided by 1.5 gives about $60k a year of spend.

I phoned up asking to cancel and they said yes. They asked why I was cancelling, and I said in order to open a different card to get a sign up bonus. They asked was it an Amex, and I said no, a Mastercard. They asked how many points I was going to get, and I said 120,000 (the Qantas card). So they said they would see whether they could make me an offer to stay, and came back and said 100,000 QFF points. Fine by me.

If I may ask, was it Australian call center? Last time I called, I was directed to an offshore call center and they didn't offer any retention bonus, despite spending over $120K on the Qantas Ultimate

 

[Mr H]

If I may ask, was it Australian call center? Last time I called, I was directed to an offshore call center and they didn't offer any retention bonus, despite spending over $120K on the Qantas Ultimate

The guy sounded Australian.

 

[theblank]

The guy sounded Australian.

whats an Australian sound like?
I worked in a call centre once before, and we had indian, chinese and filipino staff as well (and too many kiwis)
It was so funny to hear the indian guy sometimes having to defend the common allegation that my company had outsourced to mumbai.

 

[DC3]

Well, I can tell when I’m talking to the Phillipines.

 

[JessicaTam]

I just rang to cancel as the annual fee had just hit. Evie assured me that would be reversed.

I was offered 30,000 points to reinstate it during the call, however I declined.

I told her that the devaluation of the MR program was why I was giving it the flick.

Edit: Amex Explorer

 

[SOPOOR]

I just rang to cancel as the annual fee had just hit. Evie assured me that would be reversed.

I was offered 30,000 points to reinstate it during the call, however I declined.

I told her that the devaluation of the MR program was why I was giving it the flick.

I just got charged mine too

Will try next week when i get back

 

[foggy]

I just rang to cancel as the annual fee had just hit. Evie assured me that would be reversed.

I was offered 30,000 points to reinstate it during the call, however I declined.

I told her that the devaluation of the MR program was why I was giving it the flick.

which card was this for?

 

[JessicaTam]

which card was this for?

An Explorer.

(I will edit my post)

 

[Dave G]

Damn Tried pretty hard with the plat charge on the weekend - charge (pun intended ) due in Feb.
Low / Moderate spend per year - $50k-$75k
no joy Nothin Nada. Even spoke to supervisor who repeated nothing flagged on the account

 

[DC3]

Damn Tried pretty hard with the plat charge on the weekend .... nothing flagged on the account

So, you will be keeping it.

 

[Dave G]

Yeah probably -
$850 travel credit + Offer / shop small + Hilton Gold + Accor free night+ Virgin Lounge access is worth it for me.
Dont want to sit them out a year waiting for the churn period.
But definitely not as super as before

 

[LaceyWanderlust30]

After reading through this thread for helpful hints, I rang Amex yesterday to try and get a retention offer on my Qantas Ultimate. First guy I think was offshore, he told me that due to the Royal Banking Commission they can’t offer me any incentives if I say I want to cancel – but I had never said I wanted to cancel, I only said I was coming up to renewal and did they have any offers available. I pushed him a bit but he offered nothing. I hung up and called back, got the Australian call centre, tried a slightly different way of wording it (still without saying cancel) but I still got the same spiel about the Royal Banking Commission. So I’ll be without an Amex for 18 months. Hoping others have better luck than I did, it’s always worth a shot!

 

[JessicaTam]

After reading through this thread for helpful hints, I rang Amex yesterday to try and get a retention offer on my Qantas Ultimate. First guy I think was offshore, he told me that due to the Royal Banking Commission they can’t offer me any incentives if I say I want to cancel – but I had never said I wanted to cancel, I only said I was coming up to renewal and did they have any offers available. I pushed him a bit but he offered nothing. I hung up and called back, got the Australian call centre, tried a slightly different way of wording it (still without saying cancel) but I still got the same spiel about the Royal Banking Commission. So I’ll be without an Amex for 18 months. Hoping others have better luck than I did, it’s always worth a shot!

I have been offered the points after they have processed the cancelation. I take it you were offered nothing once you cancelled, or have you yet to go through with it?

 

[LaceyWanderlust30]

I have been offered the points after they have processed the cancelation. I take it you were offered nothing once you cancelled, or have you yet to go through with it?

I did wonder about that, I will cancel next week once I've sorted out my direct debits etc and report back!

 

[Ade]

report back!

That'd be great ... I've got my Qantas AMEX Ultimate fee coming up in March ..could use your experience

 

[LaceyWanderlust30]

That'd be great ... I've got my Qantas AMEX Ultimate fee coming up in March ..could use your experience

No worries, will definitely report back. For info, I haven't used it much in the last few months as I've been cycling other cards and haven't ever paid them a cent of interest... so maybe I'm not desirable to keep as a customer!

 

[k_sheep]

Urgh I'm ready to cancel but I really like the 1 year extension on warranties. I'm pretty good at destroying phones and laptops.

 

[Ade]

haven't ever paid them a cent of interest... so maybe I'm not desirable to keep as a customer!

Ah, then I think they might not be interested in keeping me as a customer .. I always pay my dues in full. But if I think about it, I have used at least A$120K last year on their card ... may be they'd like to keep me ? <confused>

 

[zqsn5678]

Called today for my Play edge (NZ) card. I was asked the reason for cancelling and told the agent (in the Philippines) that I am seeing a better sign up bonus with ANZ (NZ) offering 300 Air NZ Airpoints Dollars. And of course the usual not seeing much value of the card with annual fees and reward earning...etc

After mentioning the cancelling and she offered me 220 Airpoints Dollars (despite Play Edge earn MR points). Initially she offered 220 Airpoints Dollars or 22,000 MR points which are not equal in value (150MR = 1 Airpoints).

She asked for my Airpoints number and said she will personally monitor the transfer as it has to be done manually which will take up to 10 days.

I was hoping she would deposit the MR points to my account right away and I can do what I want.