10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[zig]

I disagree with your assertion that it was about attracting new members. I was targetted and my card says Member Since 98.

There was a geographical element to the targetting, however, in areas where they signed up merchants this year. Certainly prior to the promo, I got another mailout with a list of where I could now use my Amex card.

Like you I received the mailout listing new merchants in my area a few weeks before the promo.
I have been a member since 87 - so that certainly doesn't support them targetting new members only/

 

[Mal]

I think this promo has taught me a few things about Amex usage (some of them in Amex's favour):

1. Many more retailers than I thought actually accept Amex. Even some that don't show the "accepted" sign still accept them.
2. The retailers that charge extra for Amex are surprisingly less in number than I thought.
3. A lot of retailers accept Amex as a 'cash' equivalent - ie where I'd use cash for a small amount, instead I've used Amex, and it's been relatively warmly welcomed.
4. There are still a decent number of stores that enforce a minimum for Amex - but normally it's the same minimum as any other credit card (Eftpos tends to be less).
5. Amex needs to get Chip'n'Pin (or at least the Australian 1/2 way variant - Pen'Or'Pin) sorted. Sick of signing!
6. Amex needs to expand their acceptance network a little more (and reduce their negative perception in the merchant market!)
7. Quite a few cashiers are clueless when you ask "Do you accept Amex?" and flash the card. They just give blank looks. Perhaps it's better to swipe the card and watch it fail.
8. There are some vendors listed on the Amex site as accepting Amex, but refuse to. Perhaps I'll log them as "non acceptors of Amex" with Amex.

I've been both supportive and critical of Amex in recent times, but I think this promo has achieved it's target with me... (even though I wasn't targeted! )

 

[lovetravellingoz]

We will have to just disagree on which we think the main issue is. I think it was the sheer volume of extra enrolments. Either way, I doubt we will ever know.



.

Well my theory is they got their maths wrong....and they got their decimal point in the wrong place.

At 1000 ( or 500) points per trnsaction the bonus is simply too generous...a few back of the envelope calculations indicates that the cost to Amex is huge in comparison to their commission and remember that they were targetting small spend such as coffees, movie tivkets, fuel purchases.

At 100 (or 50) the promotion would stack up...with the reward being generous, inducing more transactions without being extremely generous (though one still needed better T&C about bill splitting etc).


Even if only postacrded people had been able to regsiter the current 1000 point per transaction would not have been viable. If it was why did Amex not simply allow people with postacrds to keep registering?? answer is because this wasa major flaw and had to be choped off IMO.

 

[file51]

Out of curiousity, is anyone having any issues accessing there account or MR details online?

For the past hour my account is unavailable, and MR account doesnt exist.

Probably just "Technical issues" however normally when this occurs an error screen shows up, not an account that looks like it has been closed or something weird.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

in a nut shell,

. I am not in targetted group and truly beleive loyality works both ways. Hence I have now decided to close all AMEX credit cards and swithc to CitiBank. .

I think what you have failed to comprehend is that Amex erred badly here in offering a way too generous promotion...

To expect them to offer this mistake to every Amex cardmember is just ridiculous.....it would literally send them bankrupt if Amex extended this offer to each and every cardmember. Just do the maths...


I am very VERY happy that I am eligible...but I view it as a huge slice of luck...rather than my right.


I mean Companies make limited or partial offers all the time to parts of their customer base.

If there is say a first 50 customers to buy get a special rate deal.....do I run off to Current Affair if I am the 51st customer???

However if I am the 49th and they run out...then yes I expect them to give me a rain check or equivalent replacement.


PS....I am not new business to Amex.

 

[Flashback]

Happy to report I played at a new golf course today, and they accepted AMEX

 

[snufl]

Re: 10000 points per day, and 100 Transactions per week

If they are granted all they transactions then they could bleed Amex MR points dry :mrgreen:.

LOL. Tell me, exactly how many MR points are there? How many left till they are all used up?

You remind me of a tenacious fox terrier I had when I was a kid, didn't matter how many times he got growled at by other dogs, he just kept running back at them, barking and snapping. Of course, he did end up at the Vets a few times

 

[andyy888]

CEO: what this? r u crazy? to every card member?
????: let me explain .......we can refund all the points.............. This is Australia we can refund anything.... this is from our lawyer.......
CEO: But we will upset .........
????: ........ most of them don't know what interest rate they are on
CEO: Let do it!

Dummy: Seem like this offer is hard to believe must be some internet scam(ring customer care)

..............Finally.... what an offer!!!!!

Still happy right now using his/her card(no call to/from AMEX yet)

CEO: GOOD MARKETING PLAN

 

[Rambo]

in a nut shell,

This is a very poorly planned marketing promo that has effectively devalued rewards point. I have been with AMEX for a decade with utilization over 90% paying each month promtly. I am not in targetted group and truly beleive loyality works both ways. Hence I have now decided to close all AMEX credit cards and swithc to CitiBank. I am also prusuing to see whether this could be broguth to Todaytonight or Current affairs to demonstrate how poorly the big corporation showing loyality to their customers and showing genoricity to new customers for new business. There is no point loosing your existing base when AMEX spend enomous in attracting new customers in cutthroat competitive market.... Unfortunately AMEX as an entitity failed to recognised that. Perhaps it is time that they start going to school again and learn fundamentals.... While this thread which has run over 230 pages does bring some degree of publicity but out of 230 pages only 10 pages were positive if you clearly look carefully. There have been lots of threads talking about Todaytonight, ACA, and ACCC etc ....

Any way as for me AMEX is now over, I would urge everyone to join me to teach lessons to AMEX that Customer being the king in free market....

You are only hurting (if the main aim is earning FF points) yourself if you cancel your card and really this will not really hurt the Amex bottem line. Amex offer the best product for collecting FF points which obviously everyone that is contributing to this threat is after. Myself being a Platinum card holder with a spend of around $150K each year is far better off using Amex ahead of any other card.

 

[oz_mark]

Even if only postacrded people had been able to regsiter the current 1000 point per transaction would not have been viable. If it was why did Amex not simply allow people with postacrds to keep registering?? answer is because this wasa major flaw and had to be choped off IMO.

My theory is that there was a marketing budget set aside for this promotion, which gets out of the need for the points to come from the commissions. I suspect the number of non-postcarded people signing up was huge (and exacerbated by the seemingly appearance in error of a sign up screen on the main page of the Amex website.

Your theory may be right, but I will stick with mine! Whichever way it is, clearly they were looking at a cost orders of magnitude greater than what they were expecting.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: 10000 points per day, and 100 Transactions per week

I think it's time to stop feeding the troll...

I've been obeying the no feeding sign for a while.

 

[snufl]

Out of curiousity, is anyone having any issues accessing there account or MR details online?

For the past hour my account is unavailable, and MR account doesnt exist.

Probably just "Technical issues" however normally when this occurs an error screen shows up, not an account that looks like it has been closed or something weird.

Just checked, mine is OK, but my husbands account is unavailable. Hope he's not about to get POCed :shock:

 

[benbegg]

I confirmed with Amex on September 18th that I was entitled to the offer. I earnt 15,000 points in September and just did my normal spending. I found today that I have now lost the 15,000 points with no explanation but I will be calling them tomorrow to find out what is going on. If indeed they have pulled the promotion then I think the card holders need a good explanation otherwise the whole rewards program is a waste of time. As I use to get 1.5 points per dollar spent and now only get 1 per dollar spent I am thinking I might as well just stick with my Citibank Gold Visa and forget about the Amex as there is really no advantage when they set up promotions and then find that the offer is so good that they just reverse out all the benefit. With the lost points does this mean I can now return all the items I bought and repurchase them with my Visa? Maybe if this was done 'en masse' Amex might realise what a drop in merchant fees they will see. A major blunder on their part in the marketing department from what I can see. I must say that when I called up on the 18th Sep and I confirmed that there was NO limit to how may points you could accrue it immediately cam to my attention that there would be abuse of the offer, and it seems that there has been.

 

[oz_mark]

Out of curiousity, is anyone having any issues accessing there account or MR details online?

For the past hour my account is unavailable, and MR account doesnt exist.

Probably just "Technical issues" however normally when this occurs an error screen shows up, not an account that looks like it has been closed or something weird.

Mines ok, and all my points are there. Continues POC free.

 

[straitman]

in a nut shell,

This is a very poorly planned marketing promo that has effectively devalued rewards point. I have been with AMEX for a decade with utilization over 90% paying each month promtly. I am not in targetted group and truly beleive loyality works both ways. Hence I have now decided to close all AMEX credit cards and swithc to CitiBank. I am also prusuing to see whether this could be broguth to Todaytonight or Current affairs to demonstrate how poorly the big corporation showing loyality to their customers and showing genoricity to new customers for new business. There is no point loosing your existing base when AMEX spend enomous in attracting new customers in cutthroat competitive market.... Unfortunately AMEX as an entitity failed to recognised that. Perhaps it is time that they start going to school again and learn fundamentals.... While this thread which has run over 230 pages does bring some degree of publicity but out of 230 pages only 10 pages were positive if you clearly look carefully. There have been lots of threads talking about Todaytonight, ACA, and ACCC etc ....

Any way as for me AMEX is now over, I would urge everyone to join me to teach lessons to AMEX that Customer being the king in free market....

Laura_sus,

I understand what you are saying here but don't really understand why :!:

1. AMEX have stuffed up and probably didn't totally get the result they were aiming to achieve, but
2. Going to Citibank will potentially get you more grief. Have a look at the threads here referring to when people have ANY issues with Citibank. It's a disaster.
3. Going to ACA or TT just makes it into a joke as very few people take their totally one sided and flawed arguments seriously.
4. People are finding many outlets to use AMEX that they would not otherwise havce worried about.

OK AMEX may have lost you BUT they have achieved far more than many here would like to admit in that, like the promotion or not, people are using their AMEX cards a whole lot more than previously, even if only to get the 1.5 points per dollar spend. Freedom of choice is one of the nice things of a free society.

This will fade away and life will go on whether you have an AMEX card or not.

 

[JohnK]

Re: 10000 points per day, and 100 Transactions per week

I've been obeying the no feeding sign for a while.

Are you sure?

 

[straitman]

I confirmed with Amex on September 18th that I was entitled to the offer. I earnt 15,000 points in September and just did my normal spending. I found today that I have now lost the 15,000 points with no explanation but I will be calling them tomorrow to find out what is going on. If indeed they have pulled the promotion then I think the card holders need a good explanation otherwise the whole rewards program is a waste of time. As I use to get 1.5 points per dollar spent and now only get 1 per dollar spent I am thinking I might as well just stick with my Citibank Gold Visa and forget about the Amex as there is really no advantage when they set up promotions and then find that the offer is so good that they just reverse out all the benefit. With the lost points does this mean I can now return all the items I bought and repurchase them with my Visa? Maybe if this was done 'en masse' Amex might realise what a drop in merchant fees they will see. A major blunder on their part in the marketing department from what I can see. I must say that when I called up on the 18th Sep and I confirmed that there was NO limit to how may points you could accrue it immediately cam to my attention that there would be abuse of the offer, and it seems that there has been.

benbegg,

Have you read any of the previous posts :?:

Why have you dropped from 1.5 points points per dollar spent and now only get 1 per dollar spent :?:

You are sounding like rodgerbranch :!:

 

[oz_mark]

Re: 10000 points per day, and 100 Transactions per week

Are you sure?

Mostly. Except that one called JohnK :mrgreen:

 

[rodgerbranch]

Re: 10000 points per day, and 100 Transactions per week

... A number of people have had points removed with a POC reference and have done nothing to abuse the program. You are making spurious nonsense up again and trying to tar other posters for things that havent done.

...

There is no mention (in my posts) to the poor people who lost points for no reason...

I reply to people making 100/200 transactions per week 400/800 per month... Well, those are going to have a hard time to collect their points, unless they can demonstrate they usually make that many transactions.

To me there will be at least two groups of people who will have trouble in 8 weeks time.

1) Those who normally make around XX transaction per month, and now make 100s per month. If they dont have at least 1 new shop per every 10 extra transactions they make, then Amex may Cap them.

2) Those who normally make 100s of transactions per month on their card, but are using a Corporate Card. The T&C have always excluded Corpotare Card members. Some people in that group post messages threatening to sue or cancel their cards if they don't get their million points. They were never eligible for the Promo to start with .

People who are not using a corporate/business card, and usually spend millions on their cards, and usually make 100s of transactions, they will for sure make lots of points (millions hmmm ... duno)

 

[nlagalle]

If you were not on this forum, you would probably not be aware of the multiple promotions running, and therefore would not have been POC'ed in the first place.

Actually we received all three promos in the mail (We have 4 account holders with the same PO box)