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Looks like they’re going to bring out these spend x in y months offers now.
I dont get the loathing and letting your blood boil from others experiences.
If you get 50k after just signing up a month prior, good.
If you get shut down after abusing, good.
If you are asking for retention bonus every month and getting it, good.Have a happy day.
Offered a Gold Card and no Avios. Spend on the card is virtually zero in the last 12 months. Said I would think about it and will try again in a couple of weeks, but assume the result will be the same!
Just tried again and was offered 10,000 points for £1k spend, which I took.
Offered 10000 for £1k spend in 3 months. Considering my position at the moment. Think I’ll be giving it a miss after 3 years holding the card. Statement credit offers have have been really quite poor and the dining credit is somewhat disappointing since the changes were applied. Never managed to spend it abroad either.
They’ve gotten so stingy
They are likely trying to get rid of the low end spenders who get the card for the perks, don’t spend on it and then cancel.
Also offered 25,000 MR for £5k spend in 3 months which I politely declined. As reference we have put c.£40k through the card in the last 12 months but this was the best offer they had.
Also offered 25,000 MR for £5k spend in 3 months which I politely declined. As reference we have put c.£40k through the card in the last 12 months but this was the best offer they had.
Was the £40K personal spend i.e. travel costs, holiday, restaurants etc or was it something else. Trying to work out what they value.
I would use the MR points as a statement credit as I think £650 fee is a bit high when I add all the benefits I use – and 25,000 points is only worth about £112.
Also offered 25,000 MR for £5k spend in 3 months which I politely declined. As reference we have put c.£40k through the card in the last 12 months but this was the best offer they had.
Was the £40K personal spend i.e. travel costs, holiday, restaurants etc or was it something else. Trying to work out what they value.
I would use the MR points as a statement credit as I think £650 fee is a bit high when I add all the benefits I use – and 25,000 points is only worth about £112.
Personal costs (with a bit of work travel thrown in and reimbursed, but to Amex it would all look like personal expenditure)
Thanks – strange the offer was so low then… £40K spend equates to about £3K per month.
Believe it or not they don’t have to give you a retention bonus and it’s mainly Amex’s fault that card holders now think they’re entitled to a pile of bonus MR points every year.
Had the card for almost 3 years. Had 2 retention bonuses of 50k each 1 month before each renewal. Tried, although with 3 months to go to renewal, got the 10k for 1k spend, said no.
Will try again just before renewal, but will be cancelling anyway and will come back in 2 years.Believe it or not they don’t have to give you a retention bonus and it’s mainly Amex’s fault that card holders now think they’re entitled to a pile of bonus MR points every year.
Equally, the cardholder doesn’t have to renew and AMEX will lose out on spend fees and membership fee income. Some people don’t / can’t make use of all the benefits of the card to justify the £650 fee. A large chunk can’t use the Travel Insurance, for example, because it doesn’t cover per-existing minor conditions and nobody in their right mind would travel to the US, say, without cover for high cholesterol if there is the remotest chance it could be used as a reason to deny a claim. Offsetting the fee with MR points seems a reasonable strategy to me.
@vzzbuckz – I’m not sure if the unfair and selective provision of retention bonuses is really a ‘strategy’! It’s more of a sticking plaster – cheaper to bung a few people some MR points than pay the cost of improving the product for everyone such that the card could survive on its own merits.
The widely publicised cleverly devised ‘strategy’ also, rather unsurprisingly, leads to many people taking the retention and then cancelling anyway.
Amex has created an unfortunate dependency or sense of entitlement. These more recent retentions suggest the problem might finally be addressed.
Some people don’t / can’t make use of all the benefits of the card to justify the £650 fee.
Choose an alternative card that suits your lifestyle more so you get better value for your subscription fee then.
Amex has created an unfortunate dependency or sense of entitlement. These more recent retentions suggest the problem might finally be addressed.
They may also tweak the retentions policies to fit targets. If the product is meeting its growth and retention targets, no need to offer generous retention deals. If the product starts to slip against its targets then stopping people leaving with bribes makes sense. It’s not a strategy, it’s a tactic, to improve retentions — and you see the same unpublished offers game being played by lots of companies with a monthly subscription based service and a high cost of acquisition (Sky for instance). Like Amex, these firms require you to call up to cancel, enabling them to offer something without making it too widely known.
Some people don’t / can’t make use of all the benefits of the card to justify the £650 fee.
Choose an alternative card that suits your lifestyle more so you get better value for your subscription fee then.
Which is what a lot of people commenting on this thread have said they’ll do. I don’t believe “Entitlement” is the right word here in most cases. Certainly for me (and as suggested by @vzzbuckz) it’s more a recognition that without a certain level of retention bonus the £650 fee will for many no longer represent reasonable value. I agree that Amex have created expectation by giving out theses bonuses and if they’ve now decided that they are better off reducing them that’s fair enough, but to call people entitled for using a potential bonus to calculate value is not fair.
@Nomad312, you and @vzzbuckz may not be in the category of contributors that I’m referring to, but when people on here start stamping their feet and threatening to take their business elsewhere because an Amex agent refuses to award them with 35 to 50,000 bonus MR points, that to me is entitlement smacking you right between the eyes.
@Harrier25 I suppose it depends on the tone you read into some of the comments. If you detect anger, resentment or offence being taken at not being given the bonus, then yeah that’s entitlement. But a more neutral response, saying they’ll close their account having been told there’s no bonus available on the account, is not necessarily unreasonable. So I guess it turns on what sentiment you’ve picked up on.
I fully agree @Nomad312 and yes, I’m not referring to the ‘more neutral responses’.
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