Amex worried??

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civinod

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Jan 27, 2011
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Had a very nice call from an Amex account manager this afternoon.

"Hello Mr Civinod I am calling from Amex to get your feedback on the recent changes to the Platinum card program"

Well hello I thought.

"We notice that your spending has decreased" Yes Citibank is getting more of my business!! and will probably get a lot more the way things are going.....

"What are your your thoughts on the recent changes?" Not impressed. I imagine you are getting lots of similar comments. points cap, travel insurance need I go on....

"Well yes and that is the reason we are selecting customers to get more feedback"

Very interesting...... I don't hold out any hope that they will change anything but obviously they can see they are losing business.

Lets see if anything happens
 
they are always quite front-footed on the marketing front, trying to quantify the effect of the changes verses the decrease in spending. if they work out they've gone too far they'll probably make some concessions to keep the high spenders with them.
 
Well, they are going to notice a huge drop (to just about zero) come Oct 1st from me....and by Jan 2013, both the Charge and Reserve card will be cancelled. Will have put about $150K in the last 12 months on the cards...small bickies I know but if many card holders do this, it might bite AMEX a bit....:idea:
 
Hopefully they will bring back the original insurance and 1.5 MR per $ :) I am dreaming aren't I ?:)
 
Rang our Platinum account manager to say that the downgrading of the card will no longer suit us, as most if our spend (about $40K a month business spending) will be from October at 1 point per dollar and we can't see the value in renewing our Platinum Business card and companion Platinum Personal card for $1,200 that will increase to $1,350 from October. He offerred the card yo us at half price.

We have since joined ANZ Platinum Platinum Frequent Flyer AMEX ay 1.5 points per dollar to Qantas. I asked the AMEX direct why is it we can earn more points on the ANZ AMEX than AMEX direct and all he could offer was their Qantas card at 1.25 points per dollar.

Today I moved our direct debits to the ANZ card so we will pay our next/finsl AMEX bill next month and then cancel the AMEX cards and just park our account with a free AMEX eg Discovery card but not use it and wait to see if the AMEX marketing department wakes up, which by my guess won't be until next year.

For non AMEX payments we use our Citibank Visa card but rang to cancel when we worked out the 1.25points per dollar was not to Qantas but their own Rewards and Qantas was 1 for 1 with an additional fee to transfer to Qantas, however the gave us the card for free for a year and upgraded us to the Signature card also at no cost. We joined Woolworths-EDR 1 for 1 to replace Citibank but as our credit limit is not built up with them yet and I've read a few posts saying the have been known to cancel cards they suspect with business spending it looks like I'll cancel.

I'm convinced there are more changes to come and hopefully for the better but I won't hold my breath and just keep moving to where the credit card points are with the best fees.

Please keep my informed if you here of anything good.
 
MrsMorePointsPlease said:
For non AMEX payments we use our Citibank Visa card but rang to cancel when we worked out the 1.25points per dollar was not to Qantas but their own Rewards and Qantas was 1 for 1 with an additional fee to transfer to Qantas, however the gave us the card for free for a year and upgraded us to the Signature card also at no cost.

Which Citi card did you have before the upgrade? Platinum? Bear in mind the Signature card is 1.5 CitiRewards points per $1 but no QFF transfer option.

If your annual Visa spend is less than $200,000 then the card you want is the CitiBusiness Gold - 1.25 CitiRewards points per $1 but you CAN transfer them to QFF at 1:1 - so effective 1.25 QFF points per $1 spent.
 
Rang our Platinum account manager to say that the downgrading of the card will no longer suit us, as most if our spend (about $40K a month business spending) will be from October at 1 point per dollar and we can't see the value in renewing our Platinum Business card and companion Platinum Personal card for $1,200 that will increase to $1,350 from October. He offerred the card yo us at half price.

We have since joined ANZ Platinum Platinum Frequent Flyer AMEX ay 1.5 points per dollar to Qantas. I asked the AMEX direct why is it we can earn more points on the ANZ AMEX than AMEX direct and all he could offer was their Qantas card at 1.25 points per dollar.

Today I moved our direct debits to the ANZ card so we will pay our next/finsl AMEX bill next month and then cancel the AMEX cards and just park our account with a free AMEX eg Discovery card but not use it and wait to see if the AMEX marketing department wakes up, which by my guess won't be until next year.

For non AMEX payments we use our Citibank Visa card but rang to cancel when we worked out the 1.25points per dollar was not to Qantas but their own Rewards and Qantas was 1 for 1 with an additional fee to transfer to Qantas, however the gave us the card for free for a year and upgraded us to the Signature card also at no cost. We joined Woolworths-EDR 1 for 1 to replace Citibank but as our credit limit is not built up with them yet and I've read a few posts saying the have been known to cancel cards they suspect with business spending it looks like I'll cancel.

I'm convinced there are more changes to come and hopefully for the better but I won't hold my breath and just keep moving to where the credit card points are with the best fees.

Please keep my informed if you here of anything good.

I also have the ANZ Platinum QF cards. I received a call from them last week advising me not to use my card for business purchase, it's against their T&Cs and could result in the card being cancelled :(
 
I also have the ANZ Platinum QF cards. I received a call from them last week advising me not to use my card for business purchase, it's against their T&Cs and could result in the card being cancelled :(

I can't for the life of me work that out; they get a transaction fee per transaction so why would they be anything other than delighted that you're putting your business expenses through them? The cost of the points is tiny compared to the transaction fees they derive.
 
I also have the ANZ Platinum QF cards. I received a call from them last week advising me not to use my card for business purchase, it's against their T&Cs and could result in the card being cancelled :(

What kind of transactions gave them the heads up?
 
Which Citi card did you have before the upgrade? Platinum? Bear in mind the Signature card is 1.5 CitiRewards points per $1 but no QFF transfer option.

If your annual Visa spend is less than $200,000 then the card you want is the CitiBusiness Gold - 1.25 CitiRewards points per $1 but you CAN transfer them to QFF at 1:1 - so effective 1.25 QFF points per $1 spent.

Our original Citibank card was the Platinum and earlier this year I went to transfer some points to Qantas for my first trip in 3 years as i didn't want to travel until my daughter turned 2 and I went online and could not find the button to transfer to Qantas, rang Citi and they said they wrote to us a year or more before advising the Citi Platinum card would be changing to only earn CitiRewards. They said I could use Citi Rewards but no longer transfer directly to Qantas. After many calls I got "special" permission to transfer for a fee, which we did then hence our decision to cancel.

After accepting 1 year free Platinum not to cancel the Signature card offer came in the mail saying qantas 1 to 1 uncapped but you have to choose either Citi Rewards or their new Qantas Rewards (no loner avaible to Platinum only Signature & Select now).

How do you transfer from Citi Rewards to Qff?
 
you have to choose either Citi Rewards or their new Qantas Rewards (no loner avaible to Platinum only Signature & Select now).

How do you transfer from Citi Rewards to Qff?

This is not the fault of your credit / charge card provider. The Qantas "loyalty" program has in their wisdom decided that with the exception of the Amex Platinum Charge card, the only way to earn QFF points on card spend is through "direct earn" credit cards i.e. you have to pick a card which transfers to Qantas and only Qantas.
 
Th problem with most large organisations is that the decision makers are so far removed from the customer that the outcomes are inevitably not going to work. Same for QF. that is why Borghetti is keen to spend time at the "coal face", he needs to understand his customers. The outcomes still may not be perfect but there is a better chance of meeting customer expectations.
 
Hopefully they will bring back the original insurance and 1.5 MR per $ :) I am dreaming aren't I ?:)

Feel free to crucify me - but given the difference in annual fee between Plat Charge and Centurion - I would NOT like to see the original insurance come back and be offered to Plat Charge. Happy for the 1.5 MR per $, but there really has to be some additional $$ benefits between paying (now) $5k per year for Centurion and $900 per year for Plat Charge. I really think Plat Charge @ $900 per year has been exceptional good value in the past.
 
I agree, but it is rubbish now. I feel sorry for the Centurion Card holders.

That would be me ! LOL !

I have just been to the U.S - and I admit, it is the first time I have been o/s since getting my Centurion card - and I DID enjoy the actual Centurion recognition that I got whilst I was over there. Yeah - I have been craving some sort of "wow" Centurion recognition - rather than just "gee, this is a heavy card" ! LOL.

I will give it another 12 months with Centurion under the "new" system to see whether it is worth it or not - time will tell.

Brooke
 
I agree, but it is rubbish now. I feel sorry for the Centurion Card holders.

My renewal is in May, so that will give me long enough on the new program to see how it goes... this month AMEX was down 30k and I am yet to tell any of my staff to change anything yet.
 
If I had to choose one bring back the 1.5MR per $

Feel free to crucify me - but given the difference in annual fee between Plat Charge and Centurion - I would NOT like to see the original insurance come back and be offered to Plat Charge. Happy for the 1.5 MR per $, but there really has to be some additional $$ benefits between paying (now) $5k per year for Centurion and $900 per year for Plat Charge. I really think Plat Charge @ $900 per year has been exceptional good value in the past.
 
What kind of transactions gave them the heads up?

Supplier payments for stock purchasing with varying amounts between $1500 - $15k. average spend per month $40k. Haven't used it for BAS but I won't now given the call from them.
 
I notice that the sign on bonus for the Platinum Charge card has been reduced to 45,000 points. So AMEX cannot be too worried about their customer base.

All of the announced changes appear to be designed to get rid of low value, high maintenance customers and just leave the 'cash cows'. How well this is working is yet to be seen. If that is what AMEX want, that is fine with me and I will move my business elsewhere when my annual fee is due early next year.
 
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