Transferring Gateway points between Amex accounts

[kpc]

So I convinced (OK I badgered her until she relented ) +1 to open an Amex Explorer card as well to take advantage of the recent 110K bonus promo...i just spent $1500 on her card tonight so hopefully the points post soon.... so the Q is can I transfer her Gateway points from her to my Amex account?

A quick google search came up with the following which suggests that it can be done once per year up to 50K points....is this correct?

https://www.americanexpress.com/australia/pdfs/customerservice/amex_mrpoints_gift_requestform_v5.pdf

 

[purpleparrot]

At a cost of $5 per 1000 points it wouldn't represent good value for me. You're paying $500 for an extra 25000 points. I haven't heard of anyone being successful in transferring from one person's Gateway to another person's Ascent. Given that form is likely to go to an Australian to be processed I don't like your chances of convincing them to transfer for free. Good luck though, please report back if it works!

 

[kpc]

At a cost of $5 per 1000 points it wouldn't represent good value for me. You're paying $500 for an extra 25000 points. I haven't heard of anyone being successful in transferring from one person's Gateway to another person's Ascent.

Going from one Gateway to another Gateway account so there should not be any fees.

 

[purpleparrot]

My apologies. I assumed it was going into your Ascent account - there's a lot of that going on at the moment

I don't see why there'd be any issue.

 

[BacchusMarsh]

At a cost of $5 per 1000 points it wouldn't represent good value for me. You're paying $500 for an extra 25000 points.

Are you not out by a factor of four?

 

[purpleparrot]

Are you not out by a factor of four?

The 100k Gateway points could be converted to 75000 FF miles. Alternatively if you sought to transfer all 100k of them to Ascent and then FF miles you would get 100,000 FF miles for a $500 fee.

However, the OP was only looking to transfer Gateway to Gateway so the fee shouldn't apply.

 

[tizey]

The fee definitely doesnt apply Gateway to Gateway - I did one transfer in December, and am currently waiting for a 2nd transfer.

It is not the most user friendly experience (I've had to lodge forms twice via the online document centre because somehow the first one went missing.... still waiting for it to be actioned a week later). My brother posted a form in before Christmas to the address they designate on the form - its definitely gone missing as no action has been taken. Super frustrating!

If you're in a hurry - dont count on it being done quickly as it simply wont be.

 

[fairbasa]

I can attest to what tizey said. Took a month and multiple phone calls to action my two transfer forms. In the end, I complained until they transferred me to a manager who just manually processed it on the spot for me and I had the points within 24hrs.

 

[psi999]

The fee definitely doesnt apply Gateway to Gateway - I did one transfer in December, and am currently waiting for a 2nd transfer.

It is not the most user friendly experience (I've had to lodge forms twice via the online document centre because somehow the first one went missing.... still waiting for it to be actioned a week later). My brother posted a form in before Christmas to the address they designate on the form - its definitely gone missing as no action has been taken. Super frustrating!

If you're in a hurry - dont count on it being done quickly as it simply wont be.

50,000 points each transfer?

 

[Ghostdunks]

I can attest to what tizey said. Took a month and multiple phone calls to action my two transfer forms. In the end, I complained until they transferred me to a manager who just manually processed it on the spot for me and I had the points within 24hrs.

Ya I had similar issues last December when I tried to get 3 x 50k transfers from my mum, wife, brother's Amex Platinum MR accounts to my MR account(consolidating all the points to my account for ease of use). Got all the points gifting forms faxed in to their specified number. They managed to process 2 of them fine, but the last one they claimed they never received. Kinda bogus since I faxed all 3 at same time to same number, and I even had the fax confirmations for all 3.... After about 5 phone calls to followup, they finally processed the final one on 29th December manually as a points adjustment, even after I uploaded it to their document centre because it would take a few days for them to get the uploaded form to their MR team. This was all key, as I needed them to get all 3 done before end of calendar year, as its maximum of 50k per calendar year and wanted to transfer another 50k for each one in January 2017 this year.

Fast forward to end of January and I'm having trouble getting the next batch of 3 x 50k gifted to my account again. All 3 gifting forms were uploaded to their document centre around 11th Jan so I now have a record of the forms being submitted using their own system. After calling up customer service to find out why the points haven't been gifted/transferred as requested, I have now been informed that the MR team have denied the gifting for all three because of the 50k per year gifting limit. The CSR I have following up for had to send them a copy of their own T&Cs, highlighting that its 50k per CALENDAR YEAR, and we're still waiting to see what comes of that. Dunno about their definition of calendar year, but as far as I know, calendar year is January to December, not some arbitrary year they decide on.

 

[tizey]

Exactly the situation I've found myself in - 50,000 in December, 50,000 in January. Wanted to do this for 2 other accounts from family, but the December ones never got processed. Given the difficulty with transfers - I'm going to try and get 50k done this year, and then top up their accounts with velocities so they can book SQ. I need the MR to convert to SPG.

All that said, I'm still waiting on the 50,000 to actually be transferred in January, but have got a secure message from Amex saying that the MR team have confirmed my gift has been processed... this was just recently so giving it 24-48hrs to take effect as nothing seems to happen quickly. Last time I was told this on the phone for the December transfer, it took effect the next day I think.. so I hold some hope.

Its such a painful process. Will report back tomorrow if actioned.

 

[fairbasa]

I did exactly this also, 50k in Dec, 50k in Jan. However, the Dec transfer wasn't processed until Jan. I just kept ringing every 3 days or so. The Australian based 'manager' I spoke to processed the manual transfer even though the first 50k was only completed in Jan (due to incompetence on their end). He just looked at the extensive call history and acknowledged I had done everything I could.

 

[unfunkable]

is it a different form to transfer between same programs?
Or is it the form linked above, and you don't get charged a fee?
cheers

 

[tizey]

Same form.

Just had my january 50000 transfer actioned and reflected in accounts. So as a data point - did one in December, and another in January.

Just seriously, lodge it via document centre don't post it, and just follow it up constantly. They will stuff it up.