"Enhancements" to MR earn on Platinum Card, Reserve & Centurian

[edman]

I rang to enquire on my Platinum Reserve renewal and was not offered anything for the first time in a few years. They cited that because I was CPA and already getting a discount, and they had given it to me free for the last few years, they couldn't do anything at all this year. Perhaps I am not as important to them since in the last year my spend has come down to about $1.5k per month, the lowest its ever been with most stuff having been moved to my Citibank Visa. Still considering, seeing as I got it waived the last few years I'm still in front, but surprised I couldn't even get a points offer.

 

[bismarck]

Anyone know how long after a referral the bonus points usually post?

 

[wafliron]

Anyone know how long after a referral the bonus points usually post?

I just had some referral bonus points post today - friend was approves a couple of days ago.

 

[Hammando]

Rang to cancel my Platinum Charge Card yesterday.
No annual fee reduction offered. They offered one extra point per $1 on all spend up to 50,000, as has been mentioned here previously. But decided against it.

 

[xtoss]

I thought we were done, when she asked if I'd be willing to keep the Plat Reserve, if she waived the $395 fee? Umm, yep! That will do nicely thanks. I was willing to pay $149 for the Edge (QF isn't a deal breaker, but I wanted an AMEX for SPG), but the Reserve for $0 was even better.

Yep, They waived the fee for me as well on the reserve card after I cancelled my charge card, so I've kept that around for the time being.

 

[greenfrog86]

Rang to cancel my Platinum Charge Card yesterday.
No annual fee reduction offered. They offered one extra point per $1 on all spend up to 50,000, as has been mentioned here previously. But decided against it.

Whilst I agree that the changes won't be great for everyone and am personally disappointed that basic spend is only 1pt per Dollar there is an upside for me based on my personal spend...

I am a wage earner and have no ATO payments so have never had this benefit to lose... My spend is mostly on eating out, travel (domestic and international) and general expenses.

Therefore the 3 points for eating out has been great to me (in the points sense, not my waistline!) and the 2 points for travel have also been good. I've had many bonus point offers work in my favour as well...

As an example I've booked a few elements of my travels through the Amex Travel site which earns another point per dollar. In addition to these bookings I've booked hotels and flights with this card for my upcoming trip to the USA.

Overall my ~$6500 spend so far has earned me ~25000 points which I can't really complain about...

This consists of mostly 2 point per dollar transactions that were supplemented by the extra point given out by Amex to keep customers, and for some of the transactions I also got extra points for booking through Amex Travel.

So at the moment I'm getting the same rate on OS purchases that the Citi Select card would net me, I'm getting more than Citi offers for travel and I'm getting bonus points that aren't possible with Citi...

Pretty happy at the moment but once my bonus point per dollar goes away it might be a different story however!

 

[edman]

So after fruitless discussions with Amex on a fee reduction/waiver on my Reserve, I rang to look at moving to Velocity/Qantas premium cards looking to get at 1.5 points per dollar on my ATO spend seeing as Citibank changed its policy, but was told that these cards were being moved to the same kind of points structure as the reserve anyway as I raised on another thread. So instead I ended up back at the cancellations department, where the guy I got this time seemed very keen to keep me and without asking any questions, went through why they would do their best to keep my business and told me that although no managers were around to approve his request, he would ring me back the next day with an answer. He did ring, and it was positive, so I'll keep it for another year although I can't really see myself using it much. This is the 4th year I've managed to get the fee waived.

My spend has gone from mid $20-30k pm to last month, less than $300, while my Citibank last month had nearly $100k on it, although admittedly there was a car purchase in there (but no ATO payments). I really can't understand why they would even be bothered keeping me, I'm very well at the point where if my usage doesn't change much I will honestly look to cancel it next year. The free flight is great but I'm not going to keep it on false pretences which wouldn't be fair on anyone.

 

[wafliron]

This consists of mostly 2 point per dollar transactions that were supplemented by the extra point given out by Amex to keep customers, and for some of the transactions I also got extra points for booking through Amex Travel.

"...extra point given out by Amex to keep customers..." - what is this? Have I missed something?

He did ring, and it was positive, so I'll keep it for another year although I can't really see myself using it much. This is the 4th year I've managed to get the fee waived.

Well done, and interesting - is this the first recent report we've had of Amex waiving a Plat annual fee? Perhaps the "mood" is changing over at Amex?

 

[greenfrog86]

The offer is 1 bonus point per $1 for a max of 20,000 points

"...extra point given out by Amex to keep customers..." - what is this? Have I missed something?

The bonus points have been discussed earlier in this thread (pages in the early 40s I believe) - basically Amex had a company call lots of Platinum Charge holders to do a survey and check on their thoughts... This was done after the points restructure, and there were obviously a lot of cancellations. At the end of the call they offered a one-off deal where every dollar spent would earn an extra point up to 20k points or June/July this year I believe.

 

[wafliron]

The bonus points have been discussed earlier in this thread (pages in the early 40s I believe) - basically Amex had a company call lots of Platinum Charge holders to do a survey and check on their thoughts... This was done after the points restructure, and there were obviously a lot of cancellations. At the end of the call they offered a one-off deal where every dollar spent would earn an extra point up to 20k points or June/July this year I believe.

Ah, thank-you for jogging my memory - I do recall that now. Pity I didn't receive said offer

 

[kpc]

Ah, thank-you for jogging my memory - I do recall that now. Pity I didn't receive said offer

i did reecive that offer but cancelled my Charge Card just as the annual fee of $900 was due.

 

[Ricardo]

Ah, thank-you for jogging my memory - I do recall that now. Pity I didn't receive said offer

Yes I missed it as well.....

Will review in June/July when my fee is due, it looks like the 80k bonus for new card members is in play again, another good reason for a fee reduction.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The bonus points have been discussed earlier in this thread (pages in the early 40s I believe) - basically Amex had a company call lots of Platinum Charge holders to do a survey and check on their thoughts... This was done after the points restructure, and there were obviously a lot of cancellations. At the end of the call they offered a one-off deal where every dollar spent would earn an extra point up to 20k points or June/July this year I believe.

Yes I gained the 20K capped offer before my date was due.

When my date was due I was offered a second lot with the cap several times higher. I elected to go though, as 80k with no spend is better, and so I will look to rejoin in a little while.

 

[k3nnis]

Once you cancel how long do you need to wait before you can rejoin Amex plat charge to get the bonus points?

 

[lovestotravel]

My renewal is due in June again, although they offered me nothing last year when I rang in about September

Will ring again in June/July though

 

[lovestotravel]

I need to book a large chunk of accommodation and have found a tour operator that accepts Amex...

I would like to get the 2x points per $1 instead of the 1x point per $1

Looking at https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/platinum-reserve-credit-card/

Which lists 2 points[SUP]2[/SUP] per $1 spent on:

• Airlines, accommodation, major cruises and tour operators paid directly or through
  travel agents listed here

The link to the list of providers above, goes to Merchant Geo

Which is for restaurants...

So how do I know if this small tour operator will earn 2 points instead of 1 ?

 

[greenfrog86]

I need to book a large chunk of accommodation and have found a tour operator that accepts Amex...

I would like to get the 2x points per $1 instead of the 1x point per $1

Looking at https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/platinum-reserve-credit-card/

Which lists 2 points[SUP]2[/SUP] per $1 spent on:

• Airlines, accommodation, major cruises and tour operators paid directly or through
  travel agents listed here

The link to the list of providers above, goes to Merchant Geo

Which is for restaurants...

So how do I know if this small tour operator will earn 2 points instead of 1 ?

The travel listing is at the bottom of the page... It's a button and that takes you to a PDF file

 

[lovestotravel]

The travel listing is at the bottom of the page... It's a button and that takes you to a PDF file

Ah yes, thanks, totally missed that, but yes only major tour operators.

Oh well will use the CBA Amex card for 1.5 points per $1 then I guess

 

[kyle]

I need to book a large chunk of accommodation and have found a tour operator that accepts Amex...

I would like to get the 2x points per $1 instead of the 1x point per $1

Looking at https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/platinum-reserve-credit-card/

Which lists 2 points[SUP]2[/SUP] per $1 spent on:

• Airlines, accommodation, major cruises and tour operators paid directly or through
  travel agents listed here

The link to the list of providers above, goes to Merchant Geo

Which is for restaurants...

So how do I know if this small tour operator will earn 2 points instead of 1 ?

Amex Travel offering 3 points per $ until end of May for hotels and tours.

 

[mick]

Yes I gained the 20K capped offer before my date was due.

When my date was due I was offered a second lot with the cap several times higher.

Whoops, I must've missed the part where they said it is capped at 20k... I noticed the bonus points stopped earlier this month and lodged a query with Amex before reading your post... Oh well, when they call back, I'll see if they'll extend the offer for me.