AMEX Platinum 80,000 bonus points offer

[Masonic Phantom]

Hi,First post for me on the site but am a fan of lurking!I applied yesterday for the Platinum Card 80,000 points offer, having been a "loyal" Amex Gold Card holder for 25 years. Have done my research and made several calls which seemed to contradict each other. The first call that sound like it may have gone to an off shore call centre said I would not be eligible for the 80,000 points promotion as I was an existing Amex customer, yet a Sydney based employee yesterday reaffirmed I would indeed be eligible as I was a "new" Platinum customer.Has anyone else struck the same and/or are you able to change up and get access to the promotion?CheersTRUSTY

Trusty,
Try this link American Express®

Regards M.P.

 

[skywalkerLAX]

Should be fine as long as applied through the link and appropriate offer code!

 

[tinkybelle]

ANSWER 2

Well that was quick.

My wife just received her shiny new Amex Plat and activated it a couple of days ago.

We just set up tonight access online for the card and on logging on for the first time noticed that the 80,000 bonus points had already posted without a single $ yet having been spent!!!!!

So they have not in this case waited for the $500 minumum spend.

However it is list as being from the "Refer a fried camapign". So it looks like under that program that points are awarded to both referer and referee on approval.

youre lucky I applied mid oct got it right away spent the 500 in the first month and still have not received my points. when I emailed them I received a reply from an indian name who said wasit till end of 10 weeks aka late jan and "see" if it posts. not relaly good enough is it!

 

[sparoy]

Ring AMEX prior to your renewal fee being due next year and you might (I managed to) get a discount on the fee. Some have failed (see above) but I managed to with one ten minute call get it cut to $450.

It took me longer than 10 min, but eventually got it halved to $450 after asked to be transferred to the cancellation department. It seemed that it's getting harder to negotiate the fee nowdays.

 

[angusburns]

youre lucky I applied mid oct got it right away spent the 500 in the first month and still have not received my points. when I emailed them I received a reply from an indian name who said wasit till end of 10 weeks aka late jan and "see" if it posts. not relaly good enough is it!

After your posts, I called Amex today as I spent over the $500 threshold last week - they said can take from 6-8 weeks for the 80k points to be credited.

FWIW, they also said that it will take until the first statement arrives for the option to transfer points to Qantas is added to my list of travel partners.

I don't know if my existing Amex points will magically also become eligible for transfer to Qantas but I guess we shall see...

Hope this helps

 

[DualCitizen]

Got offered a $200 discount, decided it wasn't worth it - cancelled.

$450 it would be worth it for my current usage.

 

[Masonic Phantom]

After your posts, I called Amex today as I spent over the $500 threshold last week - they said can take from 6-8 weeks for the 80k points to be credited.

FWIW, they also said that it will take until the first statement arrives for the option to transfer points to Qantas is added to my list of travel partners.

I don't know if my existing Amex points will magically also become eligible for transfer to Qantas but I guess we shall see...

Hope this helps

Hi Angusburns,
Yes they will become transferable to Qantas.

Cheers M.P.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

youre lucky I applied mid oct got it right away spent the 500 in the first month and still have not received my points. when I emailed them I received a reply from an indian name who said wasit till end of 10 weeks aka late jan and "see" if it posts. not realy good enough is it!

It appears that they may do the register a friend differently. Was a nice surprise.

Anyhow, I just re-read the T&C on when joining point boni are awarded......and I have noticed that the T&C on this is now different for all cards than what it was in the past.

Offer only available to new Platinum Charge Card members who apply via this page, are approved by 31 January 2012, and spend $500 in the first two months of Card membership. Please allow 8 to 10 weeks after the two-month Card membership for the 80,000 Bonus Points to be awarded to your account once the spend benchmark has been met.
​

However looks like a typo......of should have been in there as per below:

Offer only available to new Platinum Edge Basic Credit Card members who apply, are approved by 31 January 2012 and spend $500 in the first 2 months of Card membership. Please allow up to 8 to 10 weeks after 2 months of membership for the 25,000 Membership Bonus Points to be awarded to the Card member's account.

It used to be 8 to 10 weeks from when the qualifying spend was completed.

So it looks like it is now basically say boni to be awarded after 19 weeks of membership if you spend $500 in the first 2 months.

 

[aussieflya]

I've read various reports about Amex pro-rating the annual fee when cancelling.

Anyone have any experience with this card?

 

[GCC]

Ring AMEX prior to your renewal fee being due next year and you might (I managed to) get a discount on the fee. Some have failed (see above) but I managed to with one ten minute call get it cut to $450.

I gave this a try recently, although our bill wont be due until Feb or maybe March. I signed up in Feb 2011 with the previous promo which got me 75k bonus points, and with that offer the value of the card in travel insurance + the free flight on the plat reserve was pretty good value. At $900 it is harder to justify....

The CSR I spoke to didn't offer me any discount - rather she suggested that I consider Amex Gold charge or downgrade to the platinum edge "as most of my spend seemed to be on groceries and you spend less than 2k per month". I pointed out that we have spent over 100k in the 10 months we've had the card- and very little of it on groceries - and she was a little embarrassed by the error but still not offering a discount. I didn't actually get transferred to a cancellations department but maybe that's where the haggling starts?

I'll try again and my thought on strategy is avoid suggesting that you have the wrong card and cant afford / dont get value from the fee. That triggers "we have a better card for you". Instead I'll suggest that Amex itself is a problem - limited acceptance, too many surcharges, and that the premium services like travel and concierge haven't delivered as promised.

11sjw - woud be interesting to know how long you had the plat card and what sort of spend you had on it?

 

[zig]

I didn't actually get transferred to a cancellations department but maybe that's where the haggling starts?

In all my previous 'negotiations' with Amex it has been the cancelllations department who make the offer. When I ring up now I don't bother speaking with anyone else, just ask to be put through to cancellations.