Amex D-Day Approaching (14/4/19)!

[Tiki]

Well the points posted and I sent the whole lot to SQ.
So sad to see a zero balance in Amex MR. Feels like the end of an era.

 

[ncraigm]

Just called and no dice re a points bonus. Hold the Gold CC and Plat Edge. A customer since 2000. Seems loyalty counts for nought.

Transfer all MR out tomorrow morning after the weekend spend hits and then look to ramp down spend to only supermarkets and petrol.

 

[Saltywings]

While my last-minute application for a plat charge didn't get a points doubling, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still got the 80k signup bonus even though I'm an existing cardholder (Amex's T&Cs these days preclude you from getting the PC's signup bonus as long as you hold any Amex-issued card/held last 18 months). Score, I guess!

 

[daft009]

While my last-minute application for a plat charge didn't get a points doubling, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still got the 80k signup bonus even though I'm an existing cardholder (Amex's T&Cs these days preclude you from getting the PC's signup bonus as long as you hold any Amex-issued card/held last 18 months). Score, I guess!

lucky! I didn't get the signup bonus, but did get the doubling... hmm

 

[wchiri]

Hello experts!

I've got 680k amex ascent points and hoping to book a flight before the devaluation. I also have 500k velocity and gold status. And 260k qantas points.

We have an upcoming flight to London from Perth in January (around Jan 4th to Jan 17/18th). We have myself, my wife and 3 year old and a 9 month old.

The best I can find thus far is 2 x singapore airlines business class flights which suit the dates. Not 3 unfortunately. I have a feeling 3 will be hard!

Asiamiles, qantas, british airways, etihad and velocity search engines produced nothing!

Any luck for me?

 

[coriander]

Ascent MRs.
Member since early 80s.
Put through $25-40k per month over past few years.
Always pay in full.

This morning I rang Amex and spoke to an Australian male representative. I prefer speech to chat as I believe I can convey sincerety, empathy and connection better "in person", so to speak.

coriander: "As a longstanding and loyal customer of Amex who has always enjoyed the very best of service from your organisation, I understand you're changing T&Cs going forward - I have no problem with that in these changing times and ongoing loyalty competitiveness with Visa and Mastercard; however I'm disappointed at the possibility of my previous loyalty rewards (after paying surcharges etc to use Amex) being halved this week."

Amex: "coriander, we're just reviewing your account and can see you are a long-standing customer with an excellent payment history. Whatever points balance you have in your account on 15 April 2019 will be added to your account by 15 June 2019. Your reference number is nnn".

Ninety second conversation.

Whew, a win for me in this otherwise "challenging" year. Now big incentive to get better and burn those points in travel.

 

[Saltywings]

Ascent MRs.
Member since early 80s.
Put through $25-40k per month over past few years.
Always pay in full.

C: "As a longstanding and loyal customer of Amex who has always enjoyed the very best of service from your organisation, I understand you're changing T&^C going forward - I have no problem with that in these changing times and ongoing loyalty competitiveness with Visa and Mastercard; I'm disappointed at the possibility of my previous loyalty rewards (and paying surcharges etc to use Amex ) being halved this week."

Amex: "coriander, we're just reviewing your account and can see you are a long-standing customer with an excellent payment history. Whatever points balance you have in your account on 15 April 2019 will be added to your account by 15 June 2019. Your reference number is nnn".

Ninety second conversation.

Whew, a win for me in this otherwise "challenging" year. Now big incentive to get better and burn those points in travel.

Good to see a data point going the other (imo right) way!

 

[Saltywings]

lucky! I didn't get the signup bonus, but did get the doubling... hmm

Happy to swap positions

 

[SOPOOR]

Ascent MRs.
Member since early 80s.
Put through $25-40k per month over past few years.
Always pay in full.

C: "As a longstanding and loyal customer of Amex who has always enjoyed the very best of service from your organisation, I understand you're changing T&^C going forward - I have no problem with that in these changing times and ongoing loyalty competitiveness with Visa and Mastercard; I'm disappointed at the possibility of my previous loyalty rewards (and paying surcharges etc to use Amex ) being halved this week."

Amex: "coriander, we're just reviewing your account and can see you are a long-standing customer with an excellent payment history. Whatever points balance you have in your account on 15 April 2019 will be added to your account by 15 June 2019. Your reference number is nnn".

Ninety second conversation.

Whew, a win for me in this otherwise "challenging" year. Now big incentive to get better and burn those points in travel.

30 year customer
300k per year spend

They should have trippled your points and given you a set of steak knives!

 

[Kevin Chan]

I gave it a go. Called them up and ask if there is any bonus offered on my account. I am a big boy and can handle rejection.

I am a small fish - only have ~200k MR points. I put only around $5-10k a month through the card. So they said no.

 

[Kimster]

Thanks Coriander.

Read what Coriander had to say - opened the chat window and typed a similar request. Amex member since the past 3 years with similar spend (or a tad bit more) to coriander. A couple of verification questions later came the offer of doubling points on 15th Apr. Had a large stash of points and was unwilling to move to Krisflyer due to the 3 yr hard expiry.

Good outcome and thanks again to Coriander and this forum!!!

 

[momad]

Thanks to everyone especially Coriander and Kimster, I loaded up the chat and made some edits to Coriander's post prior to Customer Support being available (wait time was >20 minutes.. must be a stream of people trying to get offers!).

Ran through the verification test and waited a couple of minutes before gotten the confirmation that whatever points on 15 April will be doubled by 15 June. Also asked and got the reference number for our chat.

As my Plat card was up for renewal in a few months time, I also decided to be cheeky and asked if this offer of doubling points is considered a 'renewal offer'. Was told no, it is different. Therefore, may be worthwhile to try for an offer when your card is up for renewal.

 

[bbqwer]

Here is all I got , been trying for 7 days now :

Thank you for waiting online! I have reviewed the account for you
We are sorry we show no offer on account for any double or bonus points
American Express provides a variety of offers to our Card Members at different times. Whilst you may not be eligible for a particular offer, we have a range of other ways for you to use your points ahead of the changes to ensure you receive maximum value
You can also check out some great Merchant offers that you may be eligible for by logging into your account via the American Express App

I gave up!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Having transferred all my Ascent points out and paying the account down to zero, I have been waiting for the points to show up in my KF account.

Now that they are there, I went online to cancel my Platinum Edge and found this:

Please select the reasons that best explain why you are canceling your Card Account. (Optional)

I'm dissatisfied with Card features and benefits.
I'm applying for a loan and need to reduce my credit limit.
I have another American Express Card I prefer to use.
I've had a poor customer service experience.
The fees are too high.
I prefer a competitor's product or different payment method.
I'm not getting enough Membership Rewards.
I prefer not to answer.


Where the option to say it's because you are effectively taking half my points away from me?

 

[SOPOOR]

Having transferred all my Ascent points out and paying the account down to zero, I have been waiting for the points to show up in my KF account.

Now that they are there, I went online to cancel my Platinum Edge and found this:

Please select the reasons that best explain why you are canceling your Card Account. (Optional)

I'm dissatisfied with Card features and benefits.
I'm applying for a loan and need to reduce my credit limit.
I have another American Express Card I prefer to use.
I've had a poor customer service experience.
The fees are too high.
I prefer a competitor's product or different payment method.
I'm not getting enough Membership Rewards.
I prefer not to answer.


Where the option to say it's because you are effectively taking half my points away from me?

Where is the option
" because these changes are good and now i get double membership rewards"

 

[Doctore1003]

I managed to get Amex to transfer my 1.4 million Explorer Gateway points to my Platinum Card Ascent Premium account last night. The latter only had 100k points in it and I never linked the two accounts like many of you (so that takes care of that!).

I said to Amex I was thinking of cancelling my Explorer card since since there's no reason to hold it now alongside Platinum Charge, but I wanted to check first if they would transfer the Gateway points to Ascent Premium, so I wouldn't have to spend them now. They were reluctant initially because of the different MR tiers but when I pressed (saying the whole reason of joining MR was flexibility with using points) they agreed.

So I'm stoked to see my Ascent Premium balance today is 1.5 million!

BUT: in relation to points doubling (which my Plat Card is eligible for) I was specifically told: "You can transfer the points from your Explorer card to your Platinum charge card but you will get extra points based on points earned on your Platinum card only. Transferred points from other cards are not eligible for bonus points."

I'm skeptical of Amex's ability to enforce this but I'm not going to risk it, so today I'm sending the 1.4 million transferred points to Qantas and KrisFlyer.

The end result is that instead of 1.4 m Gateway = 1.05 KrisFlyer (my original plan) I'll have:
500k Qantas + 25% bonus = 625k QF
900k Krisflyer

= 1.525 million airline points

That's a net benefit of 500k extra airline points. A pretty good result from a single phone call!

 

[Kevin Chan]

Here is all I got , been trying for 7 days now :

Thank you for waiting online! I have reviewed the account for you
We are sorry we show no offer on account for any double or bonus points
American Express provides a variety of offers to our Card Members at different times. Whilst you may not be eligible for a particular offer, we have a range of other ways for you to use your points ahead of the changes to ensure you receive maximum value
You can also check out some great Merchant offers that you may be eligible for by logging into your account via the American Express App

I gave up!

I contacted by phone and I got told the same word for word!

Transfer to Krisflyer was very fast. Did it just before mid-night last night and points already in my Singapore KF account by mid-day.

 

[ms1]

Ran through the verification test and waited a couple of minutes before gotten the confirmation that whatever points on 15 April will be doubled by 15 June.

Apologies, I could read through this thread but thought I'd just ask. As the new redemption rates come into effect by 15 April, what happens to points that are transferred to redemption partners after 15 April (at the new rates) but before the points double by 15 June? Presumably the points double based on the balance at 15 April as oppose to the balance at June 15?

 

[albyd]

My understanding is that redemptions will be at the new (devalued) rates from 15 April with existing points transferring out at those new ratios. Once double points are credited by 15 June (should be earlier as Amex are generally good with timely awarding of bonuses), those points will then become available to also transfer out at the new ratios.

 

[Jacques Vert]

For the first time in many years, I have no Amex cards.

Oh well; t'was good while it lasted and the 18 months starts today