Qantas Amex Renewal Offers

[albatross710]

Just to update the forum.

I tried to cancel the above card in Feb and they said just to keep it in case I need it. When the renewal fee arrives (May09) to cancel it at the time.

May 09, I received a bill with the annual fee. Once again called to cancel the card. The removed the renewal fee and allowed the card to stay fee free for another year.

4 th June. Booked a token Qantas flight on the card.

Will be interesting to see if I receive the 2 QP invites which are promised upon the first spend each year.

I think Amex are setting themselves a bad standard giving in to easily on the renewal fees.

Alby

 

[AVM]

This happened to me last year - my partner signed up as Qantas AMEX Platinum and I was made a supplementary card holder. I decided there was no point in two AMEX cards so decided to cancel my Ultimate Card. The gentleman at AMEX said because I had a good spend history they would refund the annual fees after they became due and were paid. I did this and called them up, the annual fees were refunded. I still got 2 QC passes but as I am a member of QC gave them away.

I must admit I am happy with the service of AMEX but this year will probably give up my card and use my supplementary AMEX

AVM

 

[SnowYeti]

Depending on your spend, I'm sure they'd refund you again. I think having you as a customer is better than losing you!

 

[chrisb]

I think Amex are setting themselves a bad standard giving in to easily on the renewal fees.

Alby

Not really... I've already replaced my AMEX and called up to cancel it. They managed to talk me into keeping it by waiving the annual fee. I figured why not, and i'll buy some QF points for $20 and get a couple of QP entries when i need them.

My only reason for leaving is the pain in the butt amex can be with people not taking it or surcharges. I just decided it wasn't worth it anymore.

Maybe sometime in the next year it'll pay off for them and i'll start using it again. They did say they're working hard to solve the issues with card acceptance. We'll see how that goes.

 

[albatross710]

Maybe sometime in the next year it'll pay off for them and i'll start using it again. They did say they're working hard to solve the issues with card acceptance. We'll see how that goes.

Umm - reduce the Merchant Fee?

 

[chrisb]

Umm - reduce the Merchant Fee?

Yes, they mentioned that.

 

[one9]

Yes, they mentioned that.

If they reduced the merchant fee, then they may need to offer a less attractive reward program.

 

[albatross710]

If they reduced the merchant fee, then they may need to offer a less attractive reward program.

I've been considering that the attractiveness of Amex is all about the rewards program, more so than convenience of the product.

 

[jingles]

Umm - reduce the Merchant Fee?

The merchant fee for amex really isnt that high.

A business i am close to pays about 0.02% more for amex than it does for visa.
Both would be around the 0.7% mark.

Its not like they are processing a huge volume of transactions on amex either.

 

[albatross710]

The merchant fee for amex really isnt that high.

A business i am close to pays about 0.02% more for amex than it does for visa.
Both would be around the 0.7% mark.

Its not like they are processing a huge volume of transactions on amex either.

Hmm...I am goign to give AMex another call. They are still slugging us 3% at work. Visa/Mcard 0.7% We stopped accepting Amex until they come to the party.

 

[docjames]

Hmm...I am goign to give AMex another call. They are still slugging us 3% at work. Visa/Mcard 0.7% We stopped accepting Amex until they come to the party.

This seems to be the issue. Some retailers can get Amex down to near the 0.7%, others are stuck up around 3%. There is some correlation with size of business (eg. telstra is the same (0.67% iirc?) for visa/mc/amex) but it's not exact as some small businesses seem to get good rates (1-2%) but others cant.

FWIW (maybe it helps albatross710), my optometrist (an independant, not a huge chain store) was recently offered 1.49% by Amex.

They actually had an offer some time ago of 1.29% but it lapsed before they accepted and Amex refuse to come to 1.29% currently.

 

[JohnK]

Will be interesting to see if I receive the 2 QP invites which are promised upon the first spend each year.

If my experience is anything to go by then you will still receive the 2 complimentary Qantas Club invitations.

 

[chrisb]

If my experience is anything to go by then you will still receive the 2 complimentary Qantas Club invitations.

Agreed. Amex have refused to waive my annual fee, but will charge it and then refund it. To me this means the account should be no different to any other card.

I will be doing a Qantas points topup later in the year to get mine, even if i don't use the card.

 

[nlagalle]

This seems to be the issue. Some retailers can get Amex down to near the 0.7%, others are stuck up around 3%. There is some correlation with size of business (eg. telstra is the same (0.67% iirc?) for visa/mc/amex) but it's not exact as some small businesses seem to get good rates (1-2%) but others cant.

FWIW (maybe it helps albatross710), my optometrist (an independant, not a huge chain store) was recently offered 1.49% by Amex.

They actually had an offer some time ago of 1.29% but it lapsed before they accepted and Amex refuse to come to 1.29% currently.

NAB Offered me Amex with my merchant account for 1.10% from memory. Westpac also have a similar deal as well.

 

[burmans]

Well I rang Amex up to ask if they will waive the annual fee as last year I sent them a letter that basically I'd cancel due to annual fee and can get better elsewhere and they did.

After some discussion the guy came back and said "oh I can only waive if you threten to cancel", my response of course was " we'll I'm happy to do that".

He suggested that writing is better, and explicitly request to cancel so have done so.

 

[Mal]

I just cancelled my Qantas Amex Premium card yesterday.

Rang up and asked for it to be cancelled. Was asked why (moving overseas and consolidating accounts). Was asked if I was coming back to Australia, and was offered a waiver of the fee for 12 months. I got them to cancel the card outright, and the credit limit to be transferred to another Amex card of mine.

I can call up again anytime in the next 6 months and get the card back if I change my mind.

 

[albatross710]

This seems to be the issue. Some retailers can get Amex down to near the 0.7%, others are stuck up around 3%. There is some correlation with size of business (eg. telstra is the same (0.67% iirc?) for visa/mc/amex) but it's not exact as some small businesses seem to get good rates (1-2%) but others cant.

FWIW (maybe it helps albatross710), my optometrist (an independant, not a huge chain store) was recently offered 1.49% by Amex.

They actually had an offer some time ago of 1.29% but it lapsed before they accepted and Amex refuse to come to 1.29% currently.

Thanks DocJames. I went back to Amex and got a 0.5% reduction by reclassifying our business from Retail to Wholesale. Still above 2% though.

My feeling about the Optometrist rate is that it might have been an offer to their association. At the moment I'm not in an association in my industry.

 

[docjames]

That's a good point - many industry associations do negotiate rates.

Might pay to ask you association if they have an arrangement. Would pay for membership if it's a decent discount.