Cost justification to renew my Amex Charge Platinum

[New Chump]

Update: after a little bit of phonetag, eventually got to talk with an Amex person today. i did not get her job title but by implication, she seemed to be an account manager.

Anyway, it was a quick call. My fee was halved to $450. Deal done and dusted for another 12 months.

Thank you all for the helpful views. I appreciate it.

Cheers
Sigh!

Good work sighing.

What was your annual spend on your AMEX Platinum Charge and Platinum Credit Cards to justify AMEX giving you the $450 SPEND INCENTIVE REBATE CREDIT (AMEX speak), if you dont mind me asking.

Cheers

NC

 

[QF029]

I called up again today and have cancelled the card. I gave them every chance to offer me a discounted renewal but the lady was not interested. She did offer me 3 points per dollar but only until the end of the year (or $40k whichever came first )but I didn't think it would be worth my while.

I am a little bit disappinted they didn't make much of an effort to keep me but life goes on!

 

[Ricardo]

Update: after a little bit of phonetag, eventually got to talk with an Amex person today. i did not get her job title but by implication, she seemed to be an account manager.

Anyway, it was a quick call. My fee was halved to $450. Deal done and dusted for another 12 months.

Thank you all for the helpful views. I appreciate it.

Cheers
Sigh!

Hey Sigh, nice work, do you mind if I ask what your spend was? I am going to try and adopt the same tactic, it worked for me last year, and I have had some issues this year with service etc and they would not reduce the fee. I guess it depends on who you talk to sometimes I guess.

 

[Ricardo]

Update: after a little bit of phonetag, eventually got to talk with an Amex person today. i did not get her job title but by implication, she seemed to be an account manager.<br>
<br>
Anyway, it was a quick call. My fee was halved to $450. Deal done and dusted for another 12 months.<br>
<br>
Thank you all for the helpful views. I appreciate it.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Sigh!

<br><br>Hey Sigh, nice work, do you mind if I ask what your spend was? I am going to try and adopt the same tactic, it worked for me last year, and I have had some issues this year with service etc and they would not reduce the fee. I guess it depends on who you talk to sometimes I guess, and I have been a card member since 1999.

 

[sighing]

Hey Sigh, nice work, do you mind if I ask what your spend was? I am going to try and adopt the same tactic, it worked for me last year, and I have had some issues this year with service etc and they would not reduce the fee. I guess it depends on who you talk to sometimes I guess.

For those interested, I do spend a fair amount on the card (recently had an invite for Centurion but the annual fee is just mad). For example, I recently used the card to purchase a new car (about 20+K) and considering we (family) did a 3 month RTW trip last Xmas, figure about 50k spent just on that.

That won't happen this year and I'd expect that my next renewal will not go as smoothly but hey, while I got some leverage, best to use it!

Cheers
Sigh

 

[Ricardo]

For those interested, I do spend a fair amount on the card (recently had an invite for Centurion but the annual fee is just mad). For example, I recently used the card to purchase a new car (about 20+K) and considering we (family) did a 3 month RTW trip last Xmas, figure about 50k spent just on that.

That won't happen this year and I'd expect that my next renewal will not go as smoothly but hey, while I got some leverage, best to use it!

Cheers
Sigh

Agree, any leverage is good, and double agree with the Centurion fee, I could not see much difference for myself between Plat and Centurion cards, and the fee difference is rather large.

 

[beardoc]

After getting a platinum charge card in January, I will say I'll keep on paying the fees for many years to come. The insurances are very good, and settled with a minimum of fuss. With flight delays and cancellations, I've had free stays and meals in Hilton hotels all over the world, and purchased entire new wardrobes due to the delayed bags. All up, about $2500 of insurance payments back to me this year alone.

The insurance is always sorted out with a minimum of fuss - first an email saying they have your documents, then another one saying they'll pay it into your charge card in a week.

It's all very good. Highly worth it. The insurances cover you, spouse, and dependent children. I have given cards to my brothers and sisters, and they, their spouses and dependent children are covered. All up, about 16 people covered by an annual policy.

It also has a very generous definition of "pre-existing condition" - so a person with ischaemic heart disease who hasn't been to hospital for six months and and has only had check-ups and been stable is fully covered if they have a heart attack overseas. This is very rare, and a real boon for my partner.

If you travel less, don't rent cars, etc. you might find it less useful. I love it, personally. They've got me for life.

 

[Stephen65]

I also think the insurance cover is excellent. I particularly like the fact that you are covered regardless of whether you bought the tickets using the card which is usually a condition of other cards' coverage. This means trips funded by FF points are covered.

 

[k3nnis]

Slightly OT, how about the platinum edge CC, which I suppose will need the ticket purchased with the card, is insurance covered if I fly using FF points but I need to pay taxes which I will do using the AMEX plat credit card. Is this still eligible for the insurance?

 

[straitman]

Slightly OT, how about the platinum edge CC, which I suppose will need the ticket purchased with the card, is insurance covered if I fly using FF points but I need to pay taxes which I will do using the AMEX plat credit card. Is this still eligible for the insurance?

The T&C of each of these policies is slightly different.

I suggest that you ring AMEX and select the insurance option which puts you throughout to the insurance company. They will as which card and then email you a new set of T&C. In the case of the Platinum Charge Card they are quite readable so hopefully the same applies to the others.

 

[moa999]

if you threaten to cancel (and do) what happens to points in the ascent premium account - do they get converted to ascent or do you lose them?

 

[sighing]

One year on and boy, has the landscape has changed!

I rang up Amex today after spotting the renewal fee ($900) on my last statement in an effort to either negotiate a better annual fee, downgrade to a lower annual fee based charge card, or be sold on why I should stick with the Platinum at the current rate. My calm and collected discussion around diminished benefits, hard to see value for money, etc, etc, had absolutely no effect at all on the CSR. When I eventually mentioned other competitor rates and that perhaps it may be more value-add to move across to them, there was absolutely no effort made to persuade me to stay on with Amex. In fact, the call ended with me cancelling my cards (incl. 1 x supplementary plus the CC Reserve) - with me feeling, I confess, somewhat disappointed with the lack of Amex desire to negotiate with me, I must say.

After the call, I thought about it and still could not fathom why there was no attempt to keep a 10 year customer with last 12 month's spend of AUD $65K on board.

An hour later I called back and spoke to another CSR to request my card be reinstated on the basis that I was having second thoughts, to a green charge card only to be told that the original CSR had put a note on the account to say that this account may not be re-instated. This CSR said the original CSR would need to call me back so I agreed to leave my telephone number and await the callback within the hour.

4 hours later and no returned call, I rang Amex again and this time spoke with another CSR. I explained what I wanted to do and before long was put through to yet another CSR. This new CSR was apparently able to re-instate the account and even arrange for temp cards to be collect on Friday - which was just as well, as I'm off to Bangkok this week.

In summary, I got an outcome that I am happy with (sans Platinum with a cheaper annual fee) but I still feel a little miffed as to the efforts of the original CSR and wondered if anyone has experienced similar responses of late. It certainly was not the kind of customer focused attitude that Amex are normally proud to proclaim.

Cheers, sighing.

 

[k3nnis]

So did you end up with the green charge card?

 

[sighing]

Hi k3nnis

Yes, i ended up with the green charge card.

 

[wxxnxs]

Hi k3nnis

Yes, i ended up with the green charge card.

Interesting, so basically you were not preparing to cancel your card at first stage, you'd like to get a better annual fee. However AMEX doesn't care about that, and sends out a clear message that if you want to leave, then go, negotiating annual fee, no way. You end up with calling back and ask AMEX to reinstate your card, and I believe this gives AMEX an even stronger vision that people will come back and no matter how. If I were you, I won't be calling back at all because this just makes me like a clown.

 

[Foreigner]

Empty threats backfire. I would threaten only if I was prepared to ditch.

My suggestion would be to pay the fee and ask for MR points. Amex would likely give points.

 

[sighing]

Empty threats backfire. I would threaten only if I was prepared to ditch.

My suggestion would be to pay the fee and ask for MR points. Amex would likely give points.

It's true. I did try to bluff and in this case failed big time! However, I was not happy with the $900 annual fee given the reduction (my perception) on benefits over the past 12 months. I could have ditched and gone elsewhere but I am still mindful of my 10 year track record with the brand. I would prefer to maintain this and of course, there is always the opportunity to renegotiate at another point in future.

Cheers,
sighing.

 

[k3nnis]

Am I correct in saying its 1 point per $ with the green charge?

 

[Pukka]

I'm guessing Amex are losing bucket loads of customers spending $65K a month let alone $65K a year after the recent enhancements to rewards & insurance. Citibank signature select is a way better option now than platinum Amex for less money. The only thing going for Amex as far as I can see Is huge monthly credit limits, if you don't need it go elsewhere.

 

[lovestotravel]

Empty threats backfire. I would threaten only if I was prepared to ditch.

Yep they are more than happy to cancel the card this year