Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[Mr_Orange]

You mean those credits like spend $200 get $30 back at Hardly Normal / Bing Lee / Bad Guys?

I do.

 

[Chicken]

I do.

How can you get money back from them? I mean I keep getting those, plus like Giorgio Armani and David Jones. How many fridges and Armani suits am I supposed to buy a year?

 

[Mr_Orange]

How can you get money back from them? I mean I keep getting those, plus like Giorgio Armani and David Jones. How many fridges and Armani suits am I supposed to buy a year?

Shop Small is the easiest promotion to take advantage of.

Woolworths and DM offers are easy to use too.

Others are opportunistic from my point of view. I don't force myself to use an offer.

 

[60spud]

Plus the DJs Black card has from time to time 40000 (20000 kf ) refer a friend for cardholder and 30000 (15000 kf ) for the new cardholder for $99. Existing Amex holders are eligible as well, and the card usually comes with spend $30 at BP and get $10 back same with woolies and $40 at DJs for $15 back. Cheap card for the points

 

[Chicken]

Plus the DJs Black card has from time to time 40000 (20000 kf ) refer a friend

I am impressed!

When I tell people about miles, they are like too hard / I would rather fly Air Asia X

Okaaiieee

 

[theblank]

Shop Small is the easiest promotion to take advantage of.

I know they are easy to use, I have used 1 of them in 3 years for a total of $5. I think one would have to be quite an extravagant shopper to make $100 a year out of these.

 

[opusman]

I think one would have to be quite an extravagant shopper to make $100 a year out of these.

The whole point of Shop Small is they're small businesses, nothing extravagant about it. Your local newsagent, bread shop, cafe, etc. A bunch of stalls at the Queen Vic Market take Amex so I'm usually able to grab a few credits buying fish and steak.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Plus the DJs Black card has from time to time 40000 (20000 kf ) refer a friend for cardholder and 30000 (15000 kf ) for the new cardholder for $99. Existing Amex holders are eligible as well, and the card usually comes with spend $30 at BP and get $10 back same with woolies and $40 at DJs for $15 back. Cheap card for the points

And also referral bonus for QF points if that is your thing. +1 has earned >100k QF points from referring friends over the past year or two.

 

[SOPOOR]

The whole point of Shop Small is they're small businesses, nothing extravagant about it. Your local newsagent, bread shop, cafe, etc. A bunch of stalls at the Queen Vic Market take Amex so I'm usually able to grab a few credits buying fish and steak.

I've always wondered whether the small shops get benefit out of the promotion

I use small shop for my alcohol purchases during the promotion however throughout the year is always Dan Murphy's

Many of the small shops don't even know about it well some clearly know that down to see some customers during this promotional time of the year

 

[Oubline]

Does anyone else think that the Amex Essential card is actually looking relatively attractive post the changes?

It’s going to earn 1.25 MR per dollar, which is actually more than the Edge earns on everyday spend. I am assessing whether to keep my Explorer, switch to an Edge or move to Essential. It’s hard to justify the $395/$195 fee just to earn a few more points on my spend. I know you get a travel credit with the Explorer and Edge but I never end up getting full value out of that.

 

[Mr_Orange]

I know they are easy to use, I have used 1 of them in 3 years for a total of $5. I think one would have to be quite an extravagant shopper to make $100 a year out of these.

I beg to differ. It's extremely easy to make $100 out of Shop Small. I think I netted 28 credits at $10 each and approximately half of those came back to me as cash in hand as opposed to a saving on something purchased.

There are others on here who manage far more than that too.

 

[SOPOOR]

I beg to differ. It's extremely easy to make $100 out of Shop Small. I think I netted 28 credits at $10 each and approximately half of those came back to me a cash in hand as opposed to saving on something purchased.

There are others on here who manage far more than that too.

agree, last year I saved about $500, but admittedly it was a lot of work tracking which shops I had used which card etc. etc. and getting strange looks from shop owners when asked to split,

this year I only did half of that,

I find the statement credits to be much more value for money

 

[BriarFlyer]

I'm restricted somewhat by a regional location with a shorter list of participating businesses yet still manage to get good value from Shop Small. This year a bit less than $200 in credits from shopping small.

 

[theblank]

I beg to differ.

of course everyones mileage may very. Its not a given that shop small is beneficial to everyone.

 

[Valdek]

ive been having a think recent;y and reassesng my options,
here is my take,

I have a 1ppd Visa card however thats linked to QFF

Essentially, using the Edge/Exp Combo, ill get 2ppd/3ppd for general/supermarket spend, which becomes 1/1.5 ppd for my favourite kris program

Qff for me is too high points requirements plus huge taxes for my long haul premium flights,

Kris has lower points requirements/far lower taxes,

so it might be just a case of sucking up the changes and keeping the two amexs and offsettign the annual fees with the travel credit and retention bonus if possible

id like to stick it to amex and prove a point but then it might be shooting myself in the foot

I am in a very similar position. I am facing devaluation of my reward points (more than 1M) with no offer of compensation after almost 40 years of Amex membership. It puts me in a situation where the decision has to be made after the straightforward message from Amex: You belong to a group of our second class members, and we do not care if you stay with us or leave.
The conclusion is quite simple: am I prepared to be treated as a second class Amex member from now on, am I ready to accept the fact I am not a valuable customer?
If you know the answer to the above, you know your next step.

 

[Chicken]

You belong to a group of our second class members, and we do not care if you stay with us or leave.
The conclusion is quite simple: am I prepared to be treated as a second class Amex member from now on, am I ready to accept the fact I am not a valuable customer?

I am very surprised that people have this idea, at all.

My father once said, banks are your friends on sunny days. When it rains, they would not care how wet you get, they would not know who you are.

There is also another saying : It is all just business, there is nothing personal.

Business is business, move on if you don't like the deal.

And no, I don't like this deal from April, but it is still a better deal than other banks, so I just adjust my deal with AmEx.

 

[SOPOOR]

I am very surprised that people have this idea, at all.

My father once said, banks are your friends on sunny days. When it rains, they would not care how wet you get, they would not know who you are.

There is also another saying : It is all just business, there is nothing personal.

Business is business, move on if you don't like the deal.

And no, I don't like this deal from April, but it is still a better deal than other banks, so I just adjust my deal with AmEx.

Agree, i am devastated by the changes as it means i probably will never fly F again unless i win lotto or find other means
But its their decision and they will deal with their actions.

However, i do understand that if someone who spends $2k per month for 2 yrs gets a doubling offer whilst someone who spends $10k per month for 20 yrs doesnt, it does come across personal

For example, i know some that spend 2 to 3k per month on here getting doubling offers whilst i spent more than 10x that and didnt get that offer, i do take personally

 

[Chicken]

However, i do understand that if someone who spends $2k per month for 2 yrs gets a doubling offer whilst someone who spends $10k per month for 20 yrs doesnt, it does come across personal

For example, i know some that spend 2 to 3k per month on here getting doubling offers whilst i spent more than 10x that and didnt get that offer, i do take personally

I called AmEx, and they said not interested to me too.

I think people need to understand that there is no such thing as 'personal' for large orgs. You are just:
- an entry in SAP / Oracle;
- 1 row out of 250 000 rows in an Excel worksheet;
- an entry sitting in the raw data, hidden behind the back of a BI report.

They would have created a set of criteria, if you fall within those business rules, you get thru, and if you don't tick all the rules, then you don't get thru.

Kinda like, I really don't understand why do people complain about high electricity prices. Every retailer offers minimum 15% off headline, and everytime I call I am offered 20% minimum as the lowest bid. These are the business rules / marketing plan / promo funds, it is up to you to get the money. If you don't because you have been 'loyal' to a provider, then it is only because you have been loyal to a set of retired business rules.

So don't take it personally, because you are just a row in an Excel of 10 000 or 100 000 rows. Or worse, you are just hidden in the raw data in the back of a BI report. You number doesn't even see daylight.

So don't take Amex personally. Take your friends and family personally. AmEx does not deserve your anger / body cells dying.

 

[potm]

There wasn’t that much assessment.
Existing Platinum Charge got doubling of points.
Everyone else didn’t except some one offs who managed to get it on an exception basis by calling up.
New Platinum Charge have holders get a longer period before changes kick in.

 

[SOPOOR]

I called AmEx, and they said not interested to me too.

I think people need to understand that there is no such thing as 'personal' for large orgs. You are just:
- an entry in SAP / Oracle;
- 1 row out of 250 000 rows in an Excel worksheet;
- an entry sitting in the raw data, hidden behind the back of a BI report.

They would have created a set of criteria, if you fall within those business rules, you get thru, and if you don't tick all the rules, then you don't get thru.

Kinda like, I really don't understand why do people complain about high electricity prices. Every retailer offers minimum 15% off headline, and everytime I call I am offered 20% minimum as the lowest bid. These are the business rules / marketing plan / promo funds, it is up to you to get the money. If you don't because you have been 'loyal' to a provider, then it is only because you have been loyal to a set of retired business rules.

So don't take it personally, because you are just a row in an Excel of 10 000 or 100 000 rows. Or worse, you are just hidden in the raw data in the back of a BI report. You number doesn't even see daylight.

So don't take Amex personally. Take your friends and family personally. AmEx does not deserve your anger / body cells dying.

yep, its not as if the head of some department of amex are saying, oh lets screw over that particular user or that group of people,

they made a calculated decision fo the most part, yes sometimes the decisions seem ludicrous,

but the best way is to have a big whinge, and take your business elsewhere
if they make a stupid decision and lose millions due to it, thats their fault

i suspect amex will lose a lot of customers and turnover from this,
whether they care or not, who knows