-
Was just offered £55 statement credit via chat on my business platinum card. Pretty abysmal considering my annual spend on this card is c. £500k but its better than nothing I guess.
Was just offered £55 statement credit via chat on my business platinum card. Pretty abysmal considering my annual spend on this card is c. £500k but its better than nothing I guess.
I spend less than that and I got double points for 6 months by not accepting first two offers. Just say your mate got offered it.
About to renew at the end of this month. Got offered 50k points just now on live chat
just paid the renewal fee. Called to ask about retention bonus and was offered 75k.
just paid the renewal fee. Called to ask about retention bonus and was offered 75k.
Wow that’s the highest I’ve seen. So it may be better to wait until after you’re charged the renewal fee then?
just paid the renewal fee. Called to ask about retention bonus and was offered 75k.
Wow that’s the highest I’ve seen. So it may be better to wait until after you’re charged the renewal fee then?
I waited after paying the fee myself recently, only 35,000 offered, and was told in straight terms that it was the best the system offered on my account. I think other factors like your original sign up bonus, bonus from referral, and if you are getting retentions offered on offer cards (I had the £3k spend 10,000 Avios offer on my BAPP few months ago and maxed on referral bonuses for the last two years
Wow – I didn’t know this was a thing…
I cancelled mine last month and didn’t get offered anything! Just a “Thanks and Goodbye” 🙂
I’ve had the Platinum Card since January 2005 (annual fee then £275). I didn’t use it that much initially, but for the last few years I’ve been using it as my main card.
I can’t really justify the £575 fee these days.
Wow – I didn’t know this was a thing…
I cancelled mine last month and didn’t get offered anything! Just a “Thanks and Goodbye” 🙂
I’ve had the Platinum Card since January 2005 (annual fee then £275). I didn’t use it that much initially, but for the last few years I’ve been using it as my main card.
I can’t really justify the £575 fee these days.
Your experience epitomises perfectly why retention bonuses are both ridiculous and unfair to the majority of people. This thread tells us that many are just calling opportunistically rather than because they actually want to cancel and have now come to expect an annual retention bonus, others say they were going to cancel straight after banking the points – ie various types of grifter. You call having held the card for 18 years and get nothing!
Wow – I didn’t know this was a thing…
I cancelled mine last month and didn’t get offered anything! Just a “Thanks and Goodbye” 🙂
I’ve had the Platinum Card since January 2005 (annual fee then £275). I didn’t use it that much initially, but for the last few years I’ve been using it as my main card.
I can’t really justify the £575 fee these days.
Your experience epitomises perfectly why retention bonuses are both ridiculous and unfair to the majority of people. This thread tells us that many are just calling opportunistically rather than because they actually want to cancel and have now come to expect an annual retention bonus, others say they were going to cancel straight after banking the points – ie various types of grifter. You call having held the card for 18 years and get nothing!
That’s on AMEX. To quote the 90’s: don’t hate the playa’, hate the game
Wow – I didn’t know this was a thing…
I cancelled mine last month and didn’t get offered anything! Just a “Thanks and Goodbye” 🙂
I’ve had the Platinum Card since January 2005 (annual fee then £275). I didn’t use it that much initially, but for the last few years I’ve been using it as my main card.
I can’t really justify the £575 fee these days.
Your experience epitomises perfectly why retention bonuses are both ridiculous and unfair to the majority of people. This thread tells us that many are just calling opportunistically rather than because they actually want to cancel and have now come to expect an annual retention bonus, others say they were going to cancel straight after banking the points – ie various types of grifter. You call having held the card for 18 years and get nothing!
That’s on AMEX. To quote the 90’s: don’t hate the playa’, hate the game
Completely agree, @JDB’s choice to not play the game and complain on the sidelines.
Wow – I didn’t know this was a thing…
I cancelled mine last month and didn’t get offered anything! Just a “Thanks and Goodbye” 🙂
I’ve had the Platinum Card since January 2005 (annual fee then £275). I didn’t use it that much initially, but for the last few years I’ve been using it as my main card.
I can’t really justify the £575 fee these days.
Your experience epitomises perfectly why retention bonuses are both ridiculous and unfair to the majority of people. This thread tells us that many are just calling opportunistically rather than because they actually want to cancel and have now come to expect an annual retention bonus, others say they were going to cancel straight after banking the points – ie various types of grifter. You call having held the card for 18 years and get nothing!
Capitalism works both ways. It certainly doesn’t tug at my moral compass to maximise my rewards (legally!) with a multibillion dollar earning corporation !
@anuj – I’m not sure how the size of the corporation on the other side should affect anyone’s moral compass, but that is a different issue. Amex, unlike any other UK card provider offers huge retentions that favour a small group of people. It does so for its own ends to report higher cardholder numbers and retentions in its communications to the market, so it sets up a conflict of interest which is against FCA principles, as well as the unfairness to those who don’t benefit although the cards are sold with one set of terms/benefits and these retentions are not included.
Amongst the posts in this thread and similar ones there are more than 30 who openly admit to calling and pretending they want to cancel just to get a few MR. That’s deception (or BAU in Boris’s world). It’s their problem, but very likely also one from which their partner and employer will also suffer, and these deceptions can often escalate. I also wonder what they teach their children is OK and not OK.
Anyway, people posting/boasting here about retentions will ultimately bring an end to it as it has for some of the other dubious activities facilitated by pro-rata refunds.
Capitalism works both ways. It certainly doesn’t tug at my moral compass to maximise my rewards <B>(legally!)</B> with a multibillion dollar earning corporation !
Exactly. And if they choose to up the price, rejig the T&C or reduce the benefits because of this – “punishing everyone else”, as is often claimed – I will decide whether I keep the product or not, and “everyone else” should too. Those that claim that that Amex has weakened the product because of those “taking advantage” of said multibillion dollar earning corporation, yet choose to keep the card… Well, that’s on them.
Capitalism works both ways. It certainly doesn’t tug at my moral compass to maximise my rewards (legally!) with a multibillion dollar earning corporation !
Neither it does to me. I respect @JDB’s POV though, as he do so to those willing to legally stretch the rules. I have made numerous Deliveroo accounts on their 10 off 15 new customer offer. Many would say its fraud of the highest order but I havent yet struggled to sleep at night. Many will call for my head too as I signed up as a new customer with the same car insurance firm as last year, as they wanted to charge me £300 extra for my loyalty.
On a points side note, those who had grandfather cards and never paid a fee, I would suspect the number was in the 0.001% who volunteered to pay as its not “fair/right” on those who were paying and didnt initially have that card. It seems the moral compass is swayed depending on where it benefits him, her or they.
Why I always take people who push agendas with a pinch of salt because as strong as they are on “dont eat meat” for example they would be telling you that wearing a t shirt with products from Pakistan, dyed in Bangladesh bought on Amazon.I’m not bothered… I wasn’t expecting anything, and it was only when I noticed this thread that I knew it was a thing.
I’ve done plenty of other “questionable” things to get points 🙂
@anuj – I’m not sure how the size of the corporation on the other side should affect anyone’s moral compass, but that is a different issue. Amex, unlike any other UK card provider offers huge retentions that favour a small group of people. It does so for its own ends to report higher cardholder numbers and retentions in its communications to the market, so it sets up a conflict of interest which is against FCA principles, as well as the unfairness to those who don’t benefit although the cards are sold with one set of terms/benefits and these retentions are not included.
Amongst the posts in this thread and similar ones there are more than 30 who openly admit to calling and pretending they want to cancel just to get a few MR. That’s deception (or BAU in Boris’s world). It’s their problem, but very likely also one from which their partner and employer will also suffer, and these deceptions can often escalate. I also wonder what they teach their children is OK and not OK.
Anyway, people posting/boasting here about retentions will ultimately bring an end to it as it has for some of the other dubious activities facilitated by pro-rata refunds.
It’s not deception to say that you are “thinking of cancelling” and to ask what retention offers are available. Obviously some people may word their requests in ways that are more borderline, but something like the aforementioned is perfectly in the clear.
I can tell that you’re aggrieved by some people getting retention offers and others not, but I regard it as equivalent to shopping around for insurance or other consumer products and services. Those who aren’t willing to put in the time and effort to get a better deal will simply pay the normal/full price. Those who are will often pay less or get more.
Whilst I can see that this might be seen as unfair for basic necessities such as water/energy etc. (hence the price of these is regulated), an Amex Platinum card is hardly a necessity. It is just about the height of consumer luxury and so I’m afraid I don’t have a great deal of sympathy with anyone who is happy to pay the full fee for years on end and then complains that they could have had retention bonuses if they’d asked.
Equally, nor do I have a lot of sympathy with Amex and any losses (or reduced profits) they make on savvy cardholders. Ultimately, that’s capitalism for you.
@anuj – I’m not sure how the size of the corporation on the other side should affect anyone’s moral compass, but that is a different issue. Amex, unlike any other UK card provider offers huge retentions that favour a small group of people. It does so for its own ends to report higher cardholder numbers and retentions in its communications to the market, so it sets up a conflict of interest which is against FCA principles, as well as the unfairness to those who don’t benefit although the cards are sold with one set of terms/benefits and these retentions are not included.
Amongst the posts in this thread and similar ones there are more than 30 who openly admit to calling and pretending they want to cancel just to get a few MR. That’s deception (or BAU in Boris’s world). It’s their problem, but very likely also one from which their partner and employer will also suffer, and these deceptions can often escalate. I also wonder what they teach their children is OK and not OK.
Anyway, people posting/boasting here about retentions will ultimately bring an end to it as it has for some of the other dubious activities facilitated by pro-rata refunds.
I really don’t understand the problem with people that I’d describe as hobbyists taking advantage of retention offers from a business. The business also has a choice as to whether to partake or not, yes the result is that it is priced in to the overall cost of business, and you end in the a scenario where customers that don’t engage will end up subsidising those that do engage. However customers have a choice too, as to whether they want to be a customer or not. That’s the spirit of a a capitalist society, everyone has a choice, things might be more equitable under a differenct economic model, but that’s a different conversation and highly theoretical, there are many other more important issues to use finite energy on.
As for your other point, I’m not sure the example you provided is against FCA principles, I assume you are referring to fairness and transparency in communications. If that was the case, then by definition any firm reporting data that is directly impacted by its marketing activities would be against FCA principles.
@baec_newbie you and others have made the point that getting retentions is like shopping around for insurance or other products but it isn’t. The point is that eg car or home insurance isn’t sold at a fixed price, it’s tailored to the individual. the Platinum card is a regulated product sold with a single published annual fee and a published single set of terms/benefits that apply to everyone. Retentions are offered under the counter to a select few and their intent isn’t as you state if you read this and other threads; many aren’t hiding their intent to deceive. I don’t wish to cancel the cards I have and I’m not willing to call Amex and lie by saying that I am. I equally don’t see why those willing to lie are awarded a bonus which probably 90% of cardholders don’t get.
The management of other card providers find the retentions – the rationale and how they get away with it quite perplexing.
Anyway this thread and discussion is all ensuring that it will cease in due course, now they have finally stopped the pro-rata refunds.
Just got off chat.
My renewal is due in September, and I asked for any retention offered.
I was given 75k with no spending required…..won’t be cancelling, but not bad.The point is that eg car or home insurance isn’t sold at a fixed price, it’s tailored to the individual… the Platinum card is a regulated product sold with a single published annual fee and a published single set of terms/benefits that apply to everyone. Retentions are offered under the counter to a select few…
There’s not some secret cabal of card churners in league with AMEX’s coding team to only offer retention bonuses to “a select few”. And it’s hardly “under the counter”… There’s a “RETENTION TEAM” that AMEX reps offer to put you through to who make authorised retention offers based on some algorithm designed by AMEX themselves. Based on your comments about this, it does seem that you are unhappy that AMEX makes this option available to those who claim (sincerely or otherwise) that they want to leave. And, given you’re unhappy with the way AMEX chooses to do business, it sounds like you’re not really happy to be a customer. Maybe you should ring up and (genuinely) tell them you’re not happy with them. You might be surprised how they respond… (You may even get offered points as an apology… Which you’d of course decline as it would be against your morals to accept something from a company that’s not an explicit part of the T&C you signed up to).
Also, sometimes I get “tailored” AMEX offers that others don’t get. Sometimes others get offers I don’t. Sometimes I don’t log in for a few days and others save the offer first and it reaches the offer threshold. Should I be frustrated with AMEX (or those other customers) that “a select few” are getting benefits “under the table” that I’m not receiving as well, just because that’s how the AMEX algorithm works and because I chose not to engage with AMEX for a few days?
just paid the renewal fee. Called to ask about retention bonus and was offered 75k.
Wow that’s the highest I’ve seen. So it may be better to wait until after you’re charged the renewal fee then?
I waited after paying the fee myself recently, only 35,000 offered, and was told in straight terms that it was the best the system offered on my account. I think other factors like your original sign up bonus, bonus from referral, and if you are getting retentions offered on offer cards (I had the £3k spend 10,000 Avios offer on my BAPP few months ago and maxed on referral bonuses for the last two years
Interesting, I got the same BAPP offer last year.
@alig4th we won’t agree on this but, as I say, all contributions to this thread are additional nails in the coffin of redemptions and I will leave the regulators to do the rest. It’s quite difficult to square this thread with AXP 10-Q filings.
The most interesting thing from today however, is that the ante has now gone up to 75k MR, presumably in light of the impending end of pro-rata refunds. It makes it pretty clear that the Platinum product is really struggling when you have to have a whole marketing team employed to pay customers to buy the card in the first place and then employ a retentions team to pay the cardholders to keep it in subsequent years. I’m not surprised as it’s a rather messy, overly complex product that excludes 1/3 of the population through its insurance exclusions and then offers relatively poor, badly worded insurance cover to the remaining 2/3. The remaining benefits can all easily be obtained and usually far exceeded very cheaply or mainly for free. The points earning is weaker than PRG or BAPP. HfP has described it as a ‘middle class coupon book’ which makes sense somewhat takes away any aspirational element of the flagship product. There’s a big problem with the product and it has lost any cachet. Clearly it works for some people, but not nearly enough people.
Does Apple need to give away or sell its iPhones at cost and rely on ancillaries to make money? No, they have created a product that is desirable, good quality and aspirational so it is sold at a huge premium and is rarely discounted.
Datapoint – I received 35k in the last 24 hours but only had the card over 6 months…
Hi All
Just spoke to an agent via online chat and I was offered 35k points with no additional spend requirement. My annual fee was charged to my account in the past week.
Phil
35k via chat for me.
Happy with that since I cancelled my card after about 15 years prior to covid and they offered me nothing, didn’t even get a sign up bonus last time, this time I’ve been more informed! So thanks for sharing 🙂
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
