10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[snufl]

I think that message from Luisa was the biggest mistake that she will have made in her corporate life...and in most people's coprprate life.

She should have sat tight....or failing that given a "cautionary" message advising that there were also T&C in MR that needed to be observed..

To have come out and written on a Public Forum:
1/ confirmed the offer was legit
2/ that people who had registered who were not at all eligible would be allowed to remain

....were both most unwise and that these have dug a very large hole for Amex that I am sure her superiors are now trying to climb out of.

That such a basic blunder was done by someone supposedly an expert in Public Affairs is breathtaking.

I don't know about that. Perhaps by then (19th Sept) Amex had legal advice that changing T&Cs for those already registered would cause problems.

She also issued the warning about abuse. The more silly posts (even if many were originally tongue in cheek) seemed to abruptly stop after her warning.

 

[zzzhobbes]

Hi All I am a new member to AFF

was having trouble with AMEX with the promotion and landed up here via a google search

looks like there are alot of unhappy campers out there including my self.

I thought I would add my story to the pile

1. Joined on the 17 September 2008 via the web advertisement on the AMEX login page of which I took a printed off
2. Joined the Myrewards promotion 5,000 for 5 Transaction
3. Spoke to AMEX on Monday about my points the said there was a delay in issuing them.
4. Spoke to them on Tuesday they accused me of joining the Mybonus 5,000 for 10 Transactions i said how coz i only knew about the promotion via your avetisement which was Myrewards
5. 15,000 point credit up until wendesday based on the Mybonus 5,000 points for 10 Transactions
6. Spoke to AMex on Thursday advised that they changed my enrollment due to my medium to high spending patterns
7. AMEX supervisor investigating why they changed it without notifiy me
8. No other news todate from AMEX

What to do I have all my print offs (online ad and T&C's) coz I knew this offer was to good to be true when I joined

A guy mention Slater and Gordon but nothing on the website so i emailed them to enquirer today I guess i wont here back from them until monday unless they are working on the weekend nope just received a no reply wont be hearing from them for a couple of business days.


I am so confused I suppose like the rest of you what can we do as a group to Help get more Media exposure on their great promotion


1. Contact the papers Ie Financial Review Telegraph ?

Headline Financial Review
"AMEX gets burnt from Point Meldown but not exposed to the Credit Crunch" hehehehehehe i am sure someone can come up with something better......

2. Contact Helen Wellings from Today Tonight she has alway been good value protecting the consumer

3. ACCC / Dept of Fair Trading (Is anyone good a petitions just happy to sign along)

4. Slater and Gordon I know you must want my blood for saying that but remember they have done some good mmmmmm let me think well mmmm Oh yeah that Ok Tedi mine issue in PNG

Anyone got any ideas ?

willing to read them and comment

I think thats along for my first blog on here as a new member

Let me know what you think

Thanks

 

[zzzhobbes]

Just read my blog apolgies about the typo's

Go the HAWKs !!!!

 

[rodgerbranch]

Re: Well... Its not over till is over.

Nope. Amex pays Qantas et.al a certain amount per point they redeem. Qantas doesn't care about how many points Amex buys, nor how Amex's customers earn those points that Amex buys.

I dont know If you understand that Frequent Flyer Programs are made as a reward for people who Fly Frequently and not for people to go trough a All you can eat Points bonanza via a partners program and jump infront of those earning points by flying


It is True Qantas Gets some money from the Re-sellers of their program But The aim of the program is to incentive Flying in qantas. And they will not be happy giving away $1000's of dollars in free seats ... specially now that Amex and Qantas are spliting their partnership.... Remember ? In the near future only QF Amex cards will be able to redim points to QFF program

 

[file51]

I am so confused I suppose like the rest of you what can we do as a group to Help get more Media exposure on their great promotion

Something I was going to post later, however you have asked the question.

There ways in which things need to be done to maximise your chance of getting what was originally offered.

As per ACCC recomendations:

Step 1. Call American Express

• Phone or visit the business to explain your concerns and the outcome you want (e.g. a refund or exchange, original T&C).
• Have copies of receipts or documents handy in case you have to refer to any conditions attached to the promotion.
• Be clear, persistent, calm and polite.
• Make a note of all phone calls and visits with the business, including the name of the person you spoke to and the date.
• If this step does not work, move on to step 2

This is something I did yesterday.

Step 2. Write to American Express

• Make a written complaint to the business outlining your concerns.
• Address your letter or email to the manager or the company's head office.
• Explain what you are complaining about and the outcome you want (as in step 1).
• Ask for a response from the business within two weeks—remember to date letters and include your contact details.
• Include copies of supporting information (such as receipts or advertisements)—keep originals and copies of any letters or emails you send.
• If steps 1 and 2 still don't work, move onto step 3.

This I will be doing on Monday, both via e-mail and registered mail

Step 3. Contact the ACCC or another third party

• If you are still having difficulty resolving a complaint with a business or you think a business may be breaking the consumer protection and fair trading laws, you should contact our Infocentre on 1300 302 502 or lodge an electronic complaint or inquiry form.

How to complain

Hopefully it wont come to this, however that is the last option, along with forwarding all correspondance to the major print newspapers, Today Tonight, A Current Affair, Dept of Fair Trading, etc etc


By doing things any other way may jepoardise your claim in obtaining what was originally offered.

HTH

 

[file51]

Re: Well... Its not over till is over.

I dont know If you understand that Frequent Flyer Programs are made as a reward for people who Fly Frequently and not for people to go trough a All you can eat Points bonanza via a partners program and jump infront of those earning points by flying

It is True Qantas Gets some money from the Re-sellers of their program But The aim of the program is to incentive Flying in qantas. And they will not be happy giving away $1000's of dollars in free seats ... specially now that Amex and Qantas are spliting their partnership.... Remember ? In the near future only QF Amex cards will be able to redim points to QFF program

In actual fact, membership of a loyalty program is just that, regardless if it is named after an airline.

The objective is to get customers to purchase, and modify their purchasing habits to within a specific group of businesses, by offering and incentive.

Qantas charges companies to be part of the loyalty program, on top of those companies having to pay for the points they distribute.

There is no such thing as a free seat, you, or the compny offering the points etc hve to pay for these.

Sure, offers such as this one do make earning the points a lot easier and more rewarding for the members, but still, you have to spend money.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Re: Well... Its not over till is over.

I dont know If you understand that Frequent Flyer Programs are made as a reward for people who Fly Frequently and not for people to go trough a All you can eat Points bonanza via a partners program and jump infront of those earning points by flying


It is True Qantas Gets some money from the Re-sellers of their program But The aim of the program is to incentive Flying in qantas. And they will not be happy giving away $1000's of dollars in free seats ... specially now that Amex and Qantas are spliting their partnership.... Remember ? In the near future only QF Amex cards will be able to redim points to QFF program

You seem to be woefully misinformed about what the QFF program has become. the FF program is now a multi-billion dollar business for QANTAS that delivers significant profits to them (they get some fraction of a cent for every point they sell).

QANTAS is under no obligation to deliver *any* "classic award" seats to anyone. So QANTAS can just bank the money, and no give out any seats.

More recently QANTAS has introduced "Any Time" seat redemption, but you pay the equivalent in points that you would have had to in dollars (at about 1 point = $0.01), so QANTAS doesn't lose out at all.

Whilst QANTAS is cutting *some* ties with Amex, this is entirely so that QANTAS can control the flow of points back to QANTAS (remember all cards that credit directly to QANTAS remain - delivering more points to QANTAS). Cards where the cardholder has a *choice* about where their points are going (e.g. to QANTAS or maybe to Singapore Airlines, or MH, or AirNZ) - QANTAS is cutting those off.

Edit: I fly on QANTAS a fair bit (Plat + Partner Gold this year). I'm under no illusions what FF points are there for.

 

[zzzhobbes]

Agreed File51

What about a petition to ACCC

Hawk look to have won the Final a premonition :shock:

Cancel AMEX join HSBC

 

[zzzhobbes]

Hey Rodgerbranch

does the points really matter ? from AMEX to Qantas

Thats why I thought Qantas implimented Status point to deseminate the flyers between the card pointers

WOO HOO THE HAWKS WON !!!!!

 

[snufl]

Hi zzzhobbes and welcome.
From what I understand you are getting the 10 transaction 5K with no cap. All I can say is there would be many people who would love to be registered for that promo (no 10K monthly cap).

I understand you registered for the 5/5K. However if I was in your position, before getting lawyers/media involved, I would carefully weigh up the possibility of losing what I have now and/or dragging out the outcome. Of course I am not you, so just an observation.

 

[zzzhobbes]

Thanks for the advice Snufl

Why do you think mine is unlimited ?

Sorry I may be a little dumd here or just overwelmed by the HAWKS Win

They stopped issuing bonus points as of 23 Sept

 

[zzzhobbes]

Thansk for the welcome too

 

[Flashback]

Welcome to AFF zzzhobbes, please keep any OT discussion in the relevant place.... e.g. The totally off-topic thread - Page 165 - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community

 

[Mal]

Re: Well... Its not over till is over.

I dont know If you understand that Frequent Flyer Programs are made as a reward for people who Fly Frequently and not for people to go trough a All you can eat Points bonanza via a partners program and jump infront of those earning points by flying

Qantas themselves advise that points earning is in accordance with the T&C's of the Amex Membership Rewards program:
Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Cards

Points accrue in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable card issuer reward program. Exclusions and limitations apply. Contact the relevant Card Partner for terms and conditions, membership or enquiries.

See also pages 17-21 of this PDF http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/about/investors/supplementarySlides08.pdf for more information on how their scheme works from a profit generation side of things.

The Qantas "Frequent Flyer" scheme is not really about flying (for points earning at least). It is a loyalty scheme that is a massive profit generation centre for Qantas. They sell points to all and sundry, and then use the money from the points being sold to pay for airfares that are redeemed. These are not free seats, and they are not worried about how many points they sell to partners like Amex.

 

[snufl]

Thanks for the advice Snufl

Why do you think mine is unlimited ?

Sorry I may be a little dumd here or just overwelmed by the HAWKS Win

They stopped issuing bonus points as of 23 Sept

I'm assuming you have the original T&Cs because you said you registered on the 17th. I suggest you carefully read post #1287 and the T&Cs you saved originally. Just because your points stopped on 23 Sept doesn't necessarily mean you won't get anymore.

 

[SnowYeti]

The bonus points are no longer posted as some poor dudes have to now check peoples accounts manually, which may take 6-8 weeks to process. I was told they are not looking forward to this as it will be a big job. They are looking for abusive transactions, and their infrastructure is not intelligent enough to pick up on it so manual labour is required.

 

[zzzhobbes]

sorry flashware

still new at this

thanks for the tip

 

[zzzhobbes]

opps should I have replied in the off topic thread ? hehehehe

 

[zzzhobbes]

thanks snufl

do you mean the part which says

The amended terms and conditions apply to all Cardmembers who enrolled in the offer from Saturday, 20 September

what about receiving the postcard bit or is that for people registering after the 20 sept ?

 

[tgh]

Assuming that I am still in one of the deals, I have had a little look at our accounts.

Surprisingly our transactions don't change all that much when looked at over a year, and a sudden influx of matchbox ( or "nickel and dime" ) purchases would look very strange indeed.

Last time I enquired, I was perceived as human , and the temptation to increase the transactions by 50% for a few months is not insignificant.

I guess many of us who have the opportunity to increase our transaction count without nickel and diming need some guidance.

Sp please mr (or mrs) amex .. (if you really are listening) ..issue some guidance as to an acceptable increase in the average transacation count.