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Rant time….
In what I thought would be an easily resolved issue has turned out to be a world on pain.
06/01/2022 – 10:09: Contact live chat to ask the last time I held a British Airways Card. Had to ask multiple times as the agent didn’t grasp the question. Asked again to explain I wanted to know to see if I can get the welcome bonus. Agent confirmed multiple times I had not had one within 2 years and would be eligible for the welcome bonus. 44 Minutes
07/01/2022 – 14:07: Received and activated the card, but no progress bar for the welcome bonus. Was told as it is a one time offer, it will not show and confirmed I will get it. Agent was same as the one on the 6th January. 19 Minutes
14/01/2022 – 08:09: Bonus had not posted after spending £3000. Confirmed I will get the bonus but it can take 30 days. 18 Minutes
17/01/2022 – 14:02: Called Amex as something did not feel right. Having had cards for maybe 8 years, the bonus tends to post straight away. Spoke to a UK based agent who could see within seconds I did not get the bonus as I had a British Airways card that was closed in June 2020 (18 months ago). Asked what my options were and said it formal complaint. I asked if I could speak to a manager and she said she would fill in a form and I would get a call back within 2 working days. 12 Minutes
19/01/2022 – 17:54: Called Amex as I did not get a call back. Spoke to a Manilla based agent who tried to put me through but could not, said he would call me back. 22 Minutes
19/01/2022 – 19:44: Called me back and said a manager would call me tomorrow, Thursday 20th January. 1 Minute
20/01/2022 – 12:23: No call, spoke to a Manilla agent who said only option was to fill the form in again. Transferred to a UK agent who said only form can be filled in and they would let the person I spoke to on the 17th know that I had not had a call back. 28 Minutes
21/01/2022 – 10:14: No call, spoke to a Manilla agent who spent 30 minutes trying to get me to a supervisor. Spoke to a Manilla supervisor who I felt was reading from a script and stated ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience but are sorry nothing can be done’. Asked to speak to a UK agent who seemed to be the first person to actually get the situation. Gave me 3 options. 1, speak to a longer serving colluage who might be able to do something. 2, raise a formal complaint. 3, put my faith in him as he is close with his manager and is confident he can get them to call me back and resolve the situation. Asked him what he would do and he pushed me down option 3. I explained in depth the timeline in hope this would be sorted and I would get a call at the latest on 25/01/2022. 70 Minutes
22/01/2022 – 14:32: UK agent I spoke to on Friday 21st January called me to give me an update. He said he spoke with his manager who said as a Manila supervisor could not do anything, they cannot do anything. I questioned why the agent and everyone else had misadvised me throughout then. It also transpired that if a callback is not received, then the only option is a formal complaint. Therefore, approx. 5 agents I spoke to prior were all incorrect and had no knowledge of this rule. Raised SAR (that I think is the 2nd time I have done so and the first was ignored so can go to the ICO). Formal complaint raised, manager would not give me the decency and speak to me. Very unfair that his manager made him to this, very poor handling. 34 Minutes
Will update when I get a response regarding my formal complaint. What is sad and a change from the past is that it seems agents are simply not empowered to actually resolve issues. In the case above, I really thought it would be open and shut (Amex gave me information and I acted accordingly). Alas not….
Rant over
Surely you knew you had the BA card less than 2 years ago?
Not hard to check bank statements to see when your last DD or payment was…..Surely you knew you had the BA card less than 2 years ago?
Not hard to check bank statements to see when your last DD or payment was…..I didn’t…. I’ve churned in the past so have had a lot of cards over time. I don’t have DD’s for any of my Amex cards as I manually pay. I would assume it would be easier for the company who provided me the service to tell me from their records. What this shows is that Manila (chat/call centers) do not have the same info as UK based agents.
Surely you knew you had the BA card less than 2 years ago?
Not hard to check bank statements to see when your last DD or payment was…..Yes, that was the bit I didn’t understand. Surely, if you are in the game of chasing SUBs you keep track of your timelines (at least to within six months…) and there are any number of ways of checking it for yourself. The OP may possibly get the complaint upheld on the basis of the initial representation, but it can’t help the relationship with Amex to insist on what is essentially an ‘error fare’.
Complaining about not being allowed to churn. Fantastic.
Not sure the angle here…
I *used* to churn but for the last couple of years I’ve held the Plat Charge Card and that’s it (well minus a BA card 18 months ago). I wanted to get a BA card to keep for the 2 4 1 as I am flying with BA more.
So hands up – I forgot the date I last had one so I checked with the provider the last time I had a BA card. Not sure how the response I got is somehow my fault?
If they told me June 2020, I would have waited until June 2022.
Lesson learnt….
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Not sure the angle here…
I *used* to churn but for the last couple of years I’ve held the Plat Charge Card and that’s it (well minus a BA card 18 months ago). I wanted to get a BA card to keep for the 2 4 1 as I am flying with BA more.
So hands up – I forgot the date I last had one so I checked with the provider the last time I had a BA card. Not sure how the response I got is somehow my fault?
If they told me June 2020, I would have waited until June 2022.
Lesson learnt….
Exactly. We all make mistakes and learn from them and this is your lesson learnt. It’s not worth beating yourself up about it though, just move on.
As you’ve spent so long going down the complaint process, it maybe worth waiting to see what comes back from an official complaint as you may be lucky and be awarded some bonus points for the sheer incompetence of the Amex customer service and poor advice that you’ve clearly received.
Interesting.
I had cancelled my gold card around two years ago but couldn’t remember the exact date, so I called customer support and within 5 minutes I had spoken to someone and got told it was the 9th Feb 2020, so if i apply after that date, I would be eligible for welcome bonuses.I’m looking to apply for the platinum card so hopefully I don’t have this type of experience
Interesting.
I had cancelled my gold card around two years ago but couldn’t remember the exact date, so I called customer support and within 5 minutes I had spoken to someone and got told it was the 9th Feb 2020, so if i apply after that date, I would be eligible for welcome bonuses.I’m looking to apply for the platinum card so hopefully I don’t have this type of experience
My experience last summer was the same. I had actually written down the date, but just to double check I called Amex, I said I wanted to know when I closed card X (worth keeping 2 tupperwares full of old cards to have the numbers), 30 seconds and they gave me the exact date.
Afternoon all,
Just had a call from the Exec Office @ Amex. Safe to say I spoke to the most competent, knowledgeable and down to earth agent I’ve ever spoken to. Needn’t go into detail, but I am satisfied with the outcome.
I really feel Amex CS will get back to what it was.
Lol needn’t go into detail. Very insightful. You typed all that out in the initial post but couldn’t go into some detail of the outcome? Especially as it’s been less than 24 months since you closed your card, you got a bonus? Why?😂
Lol needn’t go into detail. Very insightful. You typed all that out in the initial post but couldn’t go into some detail of the outcome? Especially as it’s been less than 24 months since you closed your card, you got a bonus? Why?😂
Not that I need to explain, I don’t wish to go into too much detail due to the amount of information discussed on the call. However, Amex (due to how strict they are with welcome bonuses) could not directly award me that, a method was found to award me a greater amount as compensation due to the misinformation and how poorly the process was handled.
Remember, everything has a cash value and Avios/MR are not priced equally 🙂
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