Cost justification to renew my Amex Charge Platinum

[k3nnis]

Amex are playing hard ball. I will keep up with them

 

[Pukka]

In this calender year, I have put in excess of 170K on the charge card....a lot of theses expenses / charges will only attract 0.5 pts per $ spent from Oct 1...what do you think I'm going to do AMEX?:evil:

I was putting $50K a month of tax & utilities through Amex but I won't now with the 0.5 pts TBH the 1.45% charge with the ATO was enough to make me change to Citibank, just hope they don't start cutting back on points like Amex did once they get all this new extra business; according to their T&C's ATO payments = 0 points seems they just turn a blind eye to it.

For now anyway

 

[burmans]

Having a good repayment history/record is definitely not a good customer for them, as they can not gain a cent of interest from you.

This is a bit of a furphy, CC providers take fees both off customers and off merchants. If you are pumping a fair bit through the card and they are making good margin on the merchant fees then you are a good customer to them. Sure customers who pay only the minimum each month are "better" customers buit this does not mean they don't want your business as well, they really need a mix of both.

 

[kpc]

Finally found a good use for the Charge Card that I might miss if and when I cancel the Charge Card....wanted to book Quay early next year for my birthday....restaurant stated earliest Sat dinner booking available is not til April 2013:shock:. Rang Amex Plat Concierge Services....whilst waiting on the phone, the concierge rang Quay and secured a reservation for my preferred Sat early next year.

 

[cove]

Kpc we can fly over to join you if you have a Quay booking. That should be a bit better than a Hilton exec lounge!

 

[JOC469]

I just spoke with my Plat/Cent RM and whilst I've still got 2 weeks before my renewal date I get the impression that they just don't want me. $450K spend went to $250K and now will likely be under $5K.

Looks like I'll move to a Qantas American Express Premium Card as a backup earn card with AMEX. I still have a BMW Gold Card with $0 annual fee, and soon should have an AMEX Discovery - (5Kbonus + 2.5K @ $0)

Qantas American Express Premium Card
Special Annual Fee: $195 on going
Earn 1.25 Qantas Frequent Flyer points per dollar spent on Card purchases
1 additional Qantas Frequent Flyer point per dollar spent on selected Qantas products and services in Australia.

My RM actually suggested getting this card for any ATO 'purchases' I had. I think I'll purchase my tax with Citibank and just have to tolerate their abysmal service. Same earn rate, but less cost

CitiBusiness Gold
Annual Fee $149
1.25 Citibank reward points per $1 spent
1 Citibank reward point for 1 Qantas Frequent Flyer point2. Redemption for Qantas Frequent Flyer points are available in fixed blocks of 10,000 points.

 

[GCC]

Just cancelled plat charge card
Annual spend in excess of 150K
No attempt to retain account - agent cancelled without question.

I had just about come to the conclusion that I would hang onto the platinum charge card, but that was assuming I would be offered $450 annual fee as I was last year. The travel insurance, with the family traveling OS next year, and the free flight make it worth it, although the drop in points earn rates is disappointing. We do have a few hundred thousand MR points and there is value in keeping our options open.

But at the full $900 annual fee I just cant justify it. Renewal isn't until March 2013, so will wait and see if there are any new benefits and/or if the tales of hardball on cancellation requests continue.

 

[Pleb Status]

With the reduced MR earning rates starting on Monday, I closed my Platinum Charge account today with a pro rata refund of the annual fee. A very painless operation as I think they have heard it all before.

No attempt whatsoever to keep me as a customer (of any type). With all of the junk mail I get from Amex, I would have expected some type of offer.

My new Woolies MasterCard will be my prime QF earning card now. At least I will actually be able to earn points at most locations now versus the very patchy Amex acceptance I have experienced. The reduced/no CC surcharges will also be nice.

 

[trblvb]

Also closed my AMEX Plat. charge card and credit card last week after 15 years of loyal membership.

The person I spoke to was not at all concerned and made no attempt to keep me as a customer.

For what it’s worth I will be writing to AMEX’s Head Office in El Paso, Texas to voice my view.

Just couldn’t justify paying a $900 fee for a now second-rate card.

I immediately joined Altitude Rewards through my bank (fee free in first year) and signed up for Qantas staff credit union card.

I think AMEX’s cards match their customer service (i.e. mediocre) and the founders (Henry Wells, William G. Fargo and John Butterfield) of this famous company would turnover in their graves if they knew what American Express (Australia) was doing to their business.

I will never ever return to AMEX.

 

[lovestotravel]

I am keeping my card until next June when the renewal is due again!

I have already started using my Comm Bank Plat Amex card for all Amex purchases and it's so nice to have transactions appear in REAL TIME and not 1-4 days later like Amex.

I am still looking for a Visa card for use in Australia, but not sure I really need anything else as I can use Amex for pretty much everything and my Westpac SQ Visa for overseas transactions and earn 1.5 miles per $1

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Well just used my Amex Plat for the last time. Have changed the direct debits too.

Will cancel once I have redeemed my next free flight in about a month on the Reserve Card ( I delayed getting the complimentary Reserve Card, and so the two cards and hence free flight are not in synch)..


Everything goes in cycles. No doubt in a year or so Amex HO will note the decline in spending and membership and offer a new deal to temp us back.

Though maybe, just maybe the FF Point Candy Train is on the slow down after a great several years.

 

[kpc]

I have started using my Westpac AMEX Altitude Plus & Earth Platinum Plus as D day approaches...

 

[cove]

Last night I tried to get into Amex Ultimate home page but they have done a brilliant job of hiding it if it still exists!
Certainly they have stopped selling the Ultimate card so there is no pathway to it. Amex Ultimate remains unchanged.
I have retained Westpac Platinum Kris Flyer and Westpac Platinum Altitude American Express cards in my second wallet and the associated Visa cards missed the cut off in favour of the Woolies EDRCC at a point a dollar. I don't do half a point rewards.

 

[trblvb]

Well just used my Amex Plat for the last time. Have changed the direct debits too.

Will cancel once I have redeemed my next free flight in about a month on the Reserve Card ( I delayed getting the complimentary Reserve Card, and so the two cards and hence free flight are not in synch)..


Everything goes in cycles. No doubt in a year or so Amex HO will note the decline in spending and membership and offer a new deal to temp us back.

Though maybe, just maybe the FF Point Candy Train is on the slow down after a great several years.

I lost my free flight when I cancelled - the AMEX, so called 'customer service' person, was busy hastily instructing me on how to transfer my points, that I need to cancel any direct debits and directing me to cut up my cards.

I forgot about the "free" flight, hence letter of complaint to AMEX USA (won’t bother with AMEX Aust. they are useless).

 

[kpc]

If i cancel my Amex card, and later cancel a QF ticket that I purchased with said Amex card, how would I get my refund from QF as normally they refund to the card used to make the purchase??

 

[wiz]

If i cancel my Amex card, and later cancel a QF ticket that I purchased with said Amex card, how would I get my refund from QF as normally they refund to the card used to make the purchase??

I would say that the refund would still post to your closed account as normal. Then, after a certain number of statement cycles, AMEX would pay any credit into your nominated bank account. You could probably speed up the process by calling them once the credit is applied in order to expedite forwarding of said funds.

 

[wiz]

Personal log, October 01, 2012:

RIP AMEX Platinum Charge

1997 - 2012

 

[11sjw]

Personal log, October 01, 2012:

RIP AMEX Platinum Charge

1997 - 2012

Only had mine for two years but was with AMEX for 10. The TI and Point Earning "Enhancements" were the end for AMEX and I in a direct sense.

 

[Duffa]

Amex plat charge G.O.R.N!!
Both cards replaced in wallet with Citi select.
Now need to find a 1.5/$ Amex with low/no annual fee. Any ideas?

 

[cove]

I still have a Westpac Platinum Kris Flyer Amex/Visa combination but the Visa is not in my wallet. This costs $295 I believe.