Qantas Premium 20,000 Points Offer Frustration

[tscharke]

I am wondering if anybody else is beating their head against the wall trying to get any sense out of amex with respects to their Qantas premium card 20,000 points offer?

The offer was:
1. 12,500 points after your first card spend when you apply by Nov 30 2006 and are approved

2. 5,000 points after your first card spend

3. 2,500 points after you first card spend in australia on qantas services

4. No annual card fee for the first year

5. two qantas club invitations

I have satisfied all requirements and still nothing. Every time I ring up amex I get some idiot who tells me that there was no such offer and that they will investigate this for me. I wait another week and after no response I ring them up again only to go through the whole process again!!! Groundhog Day!!!!!!

I even had to argue to get the annual fee reversed which they charged to the card as soon as it was activated.

HELP!!!

 

[JohnK]

I have satisfied all requirements and still nothing. Every time I ring up amex I get some idiot who tells me that there was no such offer and that they will investigate this for me. I wait another week and after no response I ring them up again only to go through the whole process again!!! Groundhog Day!!!!!!

I have received my card but have not activated it yet as I have been overseas. The letter I received with the card only states 7,500 points and an annual fee in the first year. I will not be activating the card if this is the case.

I have a copy of the website with the 20,000 points offer and no annual fee in the first year and when I called Amex late last year to enquire about the application I was assured that it will be honoured if I have proof. I will let you know how it goes in the next few days.

I even had to argue to get the annual fee reversed which they charged to the card as soon as it was activated.

So Amex is trying the underhanded tricks that Westpac tried recently! Charge the customer the annual fee and if customer complains reverse it. I wonder how many people have actually paid an annual fee in the first year when it is supposed to be fee free?

 

[grant32]

I received my card mid November. I received the 5,000 first card spend + 2,500 first spend on Qantas. So far so good. Last week I noticed the $195 annual fee was charged. Called up, and that was reversed with no problem. The agent confirmed that I was not supposed to have been charged, and that the additional 12,500 bonus points would be forthcoming in 4-8 weeks. I have also received the 2 QF Club invitations. Seems some have more luck than others.

 

[Lonely Flyer]

Yes I am somewhat in the same boat

Joined from Qantas promotion.

Here is saga so far

1. Applied by 30/11

2. Card arrived early Dec

3. Card activated and first spend $20 on fuel on 8/12

4. 5025 points arrive in Qantas account on 19/12

5. Spend $1108.80 on flights on 22/12

6. $195 wrongly charged on 25/12 (who works Christmas Day)

7. Rang AMEX early Jan and $195 reversed without too much argument. Those girls in the Phillipines very obliging.

8. 5108 points arrive on 19/1 which amount is a little puzzling. I will have to wait for the online statement in next few days to see how this is made up.

9. Still no QC passes

10 Still at least 10000-12500 points short but I read somewhere that Qantas will take 5-8 weeks to post their share.

 

[adrian]

Having read the various amex forums, it seems to standard practice for amex to charge the annual fee, and then deduct it if the cardholder notices and complains. I guess they make a fair bit of money out of this method.

This has been my experience (so far!):

$195 fee charged to account. I called prior to the statement due date, and as asked, faxed in a copy of the webpage with details of the offer. They reversed the fee, but not before the due date, so I was hit with a $30 late payment fee. So I called again, and they reversed it.

5000 points on first spend - no problem with this posting to my account

12500 points on first spend - I was told that this would take 8-10 weeks to post to my account, and to be fair, it does say this in the T&C of the offer. I have made a diary note to check this.

2500 point on Qantas spend - I haven't yet purchased anything from Qantas, so can't comment

All up, I'll be very glad to get the points (and will chase them if they don't). I don't intend on using the card - I have another Amex with a 1.5 point conversion - and will cancel this card before the year is up. I should easily get 17,500 points before the year is out, all at no cost, bar some chasing, so I can't complain too much....

 

[ned]

Hi,

For me so far everything the card has offered has had to be chased.
First they charged me the 195 and it took numerous phone calls to them to get them to reverse it. The first time they said they didn't know of any offer. The second time i provided evidence and then they said they need to further investigate and they would call me back by the end of the week. When that didn't happen I called again and this time they reversed the charge. when i asked them about my 12500 point still owing they also assured me that they would go through as well.
I have only just rang up again to say that i havn't received my 12500 points and the lady on the other end siad that this isn't automatically done and that it has to be done manually by someone at AMEX!!!!
All in all amex is trying to F?#k you over and get revenue by the sign up fee and save money by no points being paid out. If this only works on 10% of the people that have applied you are most likely still looking at 100,00's of dollars that they have made. I definatly think this should be taken to the Consumer watchdog as as far as I can tell this a delibrate strategy by AMEX to extort the consumer.

 

[adrian]

Can see a pattern emerging here.

Just out of interest..... has anybody who applied for this offer, NOT been charged the annual fee. If you haven't been charged, please reply.

 

[tanewi]

So Amex is trying the underhanded tricks that Westpac tried recently! Charge the customer the annual fee and if customer complains reverse it. I wonder how many people have actually paid an annual fee in the first year when it is supposed to be fee free?

ee best contact I found wasa

I avoided the annual fee by seeking clarification by ringing AMEX prior to getting my card activated. It was set up wrong, which appears to be common. I have posted it already three times - so if you need to find the exact thread do a search - the best contact was a guy named Edwardo? who is best in Oz.

Interesting to note that.... the definition of "Qantas Spend" does include paying fees and charges associated with the redemption of QF points for QF flights. I wasn't expecting that!

 

[wiz]

I applied, activated and made the 1st spend on my card by 15 November '06 (for some Qantas flights), so I was one of the earlier ones to apply... So far I can pretty much say I have gone through all the procedures as most on here (and as also can be seen in this thread)... I have received everything except the 12,500 extra bonus points, and as it's been over 2 months since I have activated my card, I think it might be time for a call to Punjab. There was an ackowledgment though, when I called to have the $195 fee reversed, that I was entitled to the points and that they would take 8 weeks to post.

Oh Edwardo, where are you hiding?! .....

 

[mistado]

had the exact same as you guys, called amex (3rd jan)and the receptionist actually made it her business to search for the offer...reversed my annual fee the next day. She needed to talk to her team leader( who wasnt there that day) to transfer the remaining 12500 points. Told me Team leader will be back in a week called in a week spoke to amex, faxed over online offer. Points are coming in end of this month)next billing cycle). Havent yet purchased anything with qantas ...will need to do that to get 2500 points.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Has anyone actually recieved the 12500 points yet without rining India ? I've had the card since November, and there is no sign of these points in my Qantas account. Do they need to be chased as well ?

had the exact same as you guys, called amex (3rd jan)and the receptionist actually made it her business to search for the offer...reversed my annual fee the next day. She needed to talk to her team leader( who wasnt there that day) to transfer the remaining 12500 points. Told me Team leader will be back in a week called in a week spoke to amex, faxed over online offer. Points are coming in end of this month)next billing cycle). Havent yet purchased anything with qantas ...will need to do that to get 2500 points.

 

[kelpie]

They state that the points take between 8 and 12 weeks to land.

So hang in there.

That said, their unstated policy on the $195 (i.e. charge it, and only remove it if the cardholder can be bothered to contact the call centre a couple of times) is an absolute disgrace and the ACCC should tear Amex a new a$%#hole.

 

[N860CR]

What a pain in the backside. I've just applied (and had 4 friends/rels) apply for the same offer and it's going to make me mightly unpopular if everyone has to chase this up!

Interestingly, I got a call at home from Amex today asking to confirm I had applied, confirm self employed and confirm $X income. I just said yes yes and yes and they said they'd make a decision within 24 hours (didn't ask for proof of income and they don't have accountants details, nor did they ask for them)... thought it was all a little strange :shock:

 

[JohnK]

I received the card with welcome letter while I was overseas over the new year. It mentioned that the annual fee of $195 will be charged and I would receive 5,000 points once I made a purchase on the card and a further 2,500 points after the first QF purchase. It sounded wrong but I did not bother calling right away as I was busy and had not yet activated the card.

I received a statement mid January with a charge for the $195 annual fee.

I activated the card towards the end of January and called them to inquire about the annual fee and the points offered. Apparently the fee was reversed on 22nd January by Amex. I was told that it was a computer error and I checked my balance online after getting off the phone and there was the reversal. I then asked if they could see how many points I should receive and I was told that my 12,500 points had been processed and once I made the required spending it would total 20,000 points.

So far so good. Now waiting to see how long before the points appear on QFF account.

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Talk about timing. Someone from Amex must have read the post on this forum, as my 12500 points showed up in my account yesterday
No need to chase them.

Has anyone actually recieved the 12500 points yet without rining India ? I've had the card since November, and there is no sign of these points in my Qantas account. Do they need to be chased as well ?

 

[superjas]

Yeah, I also got my points credited today, along with an apology letter from AMEX about the charging of the annual fee and the delay in the points. So it's time to check your account and, if necessary, hassle them!

 

[wiz]

Yeah, I also got my points credited today, along with an apology letter from AMEX about the charging of the annual fee and the delay in the points. So it's time to check your account and, if necessary, hassle them!

I also received the apology letter today. I think Amex have made a step in the right direction by formally ackowledging the errors of their ways in relation to this offer. Obviously there have now been enough customers complaining, which may have drawn some attention to customer service issues.

Hopefully they won't repeat the same mistake in future offers. I must again give some thanks to the contributors in this forum in sharing their experiences - it has proved invaluable time and time again.

 

[adrian]

I got my apology letter today also. Maybe they read the forum??

 

[kelpie]

Mrs kelpie got her letter yesterday too.

But despite the text of the letter, the points haven't been credited to her QFF account.

When I applied for the card last year I got all the points and no annual fee without any trouble or delay. (It may have helped that I bullied the call centre operator when i rang up, having read about all the issues people on this forum have experienced.)

 

[Flashback]

What a pain in the backside. I've just applied ...

Do you have a link for the offer?