Review: What does the Harrods American Express charge card offer?

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• camille55 says:

  23 Feb23 February 13:24

  @ George K – loving the stacking at the GR restaurant! Recently noticed the new Platinum Tier. Free parking is another useful perk for Black. I think I was Gold once and got invited to a race today at Goodwood, which was fab.

  I remember the Harrods card issued by GE Capital.

  I reckon black + this Amex useful today, if have a home refurb or bunch of high end spending planned. Also about the only way to get discounted LV.

• Cranzle says:

  23 Feb23 February 17:32

  Has anyone noticed how poor the quality of food at some of the new outlets in the dining hall are?

  • Lumma says:

    23 Feb23 February 18:43

    There’s some interesting reviews of the Gordon Ramsay burger restaurant on YouTube

    • JDB says:

      23 Feb23 February 22:22

      GR is yesterday and his numerous outlets even more so.

• Josh B says:

  23 Feb23 February 19:24

  Pointless product for a pointless store. Great match!

  • HD says:

    23 Feb23 February 20:23

    I love the smell of envy in the morning.

    • Throwawayname says:

      23 Feb23 February 22:47

      What’s there to be envious of? Those department stores may have been superb shopping destinations during much of the 20th century, but they no longer serve a real purpose.

      With a few clicks, I can buy my clothes directly from the Sir Lemon factory in Spain or the ISTO designers in Portugal and get detailed measurements, full traceability in terms of provenance (‘corozo buttons made of Peruvian wood’), in-depth technical specifications (‘97% 180gsm cotton, 3% elastane’), and the opportunity to provide them with direct feedback which I know will be considered in the development of future designs. I can’t see what value can possibly be added by the Harrods salesperson struggling to make ends meet on £27k working in a neighbourhood where nannies earn £60k+.

      Last time I went to Selfridges for some aged balsamic vinegar, nobody could find the viscosity of what they had on the shelf. Complete waste of my time and even theirs as I ended up returning to Waitrose to buy a cheaper brand which however displayed it on the label.

      • Rob says:

        24 Feb24 February 07:05

        But by your own admission even a local nanny has the money to shop there ……

        • Throwawayname says:

          24 Feb24 February 09:15

          Of course she does. The issue with these places isn’t that they’re expensive, but that they can’t match the internet for variety and/or product knowledge.

        • Cats are best says:

          24 Feb24 February 11:01

          Online shopping does not allow trying on clothes, shoes, jewellery, watches, smelling perfume etc., nor is it good at tailoring, special requests etc.

          There’re also the products that are not available online.

          I’ve used the Internet since the 1980’s and buy a lot of online, but it’s no substitute for the personal touch from staff who know what they’re talking about, offer you a drink and have a natter because they’ve known you for years.

          Long live the high street with proper shops staffed by proper people.

        • Throwawayname says:

          24 Feb24 February 11:52

          Oh yeah, there’s real value in specialist high street shops – indeed, going back to the balsamic example, I only got seriously interested in it after visiting an Italian delicatessen and coming across one that had been matured for 25 years. The problem is that it’s very hard to recreate that experience within a department store environment as they just can’t afford to pay salaries which are sufficient to retain highly knowledgeable staff.

          Some physical distribution networks are also getting tighter as a result of the rise of online shopping – e.g. one of my favourite perfume brands is the Brazilian Natura which is extremely popular throughout Latin America, with lots of its own shops and popular websites in multiple countries, but you can’t find any of its products at any airports because Dufry have a virtual monopoly on the shops there. Same goes for the clothing brands I mentioned upthread- they prefer controlling their distribution channels and making larger % margins on smaller turnover, so you won’t see their products in department stores.

• The Urbanite says:

  24 Feb24 February 10:38

  I’ve had the card for a few years, this post is a good reminder to cancel it as I can’t justify paying the annual fee!

• Mohamed says:

  1 Mar1 March 10:19

  I still remember when this card was launched around 2007/08,the time of Al Fayed, I was black member, when spending £4000 on card gives you free nights at Ritz Paris, managed to stack up 3 nights.
  There used to be great events at Christmas time, a 7 set dinner by Hélène Dorroze before she launched her restaurant at Connaught, once a dinner at Lannesboraugh to launch Italian designer at Harrods, it was the time before the Qataris took over, each event comes with great baggy gift, as for the 2 points earn on card there was always discrepancy, as black I should be earning 3points and Harrods Amex extra 2 points but the credits were always wrong and staff always confused, the card is just nice designed and whenever I used to use if abroad merchants were impressed to see Harrods logo which fades up within a year.

• Roger that says:

  1 Mar1 March 11:16

  When I lived in Cadogan Place and before this loyalty stuff exploded, I had a Harrods account card, all white and different size from current cards (more ‘oblong’), no black stripe, account details embossed.

  The idea of using Harrods as my local grocer was attractive in a pulling sense. In the end, I hardly used owing to impracticality and the opening of a big Sainsbury’s on the King’s Road.

  Lots of changes in my personal life around then and I often wonder what may have happened had life pointed me in a different direction.

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