Old May 31, 2013, 3:32 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: mia
For discussion of retention bonuses on Starwood Amex cards, see Annual fee retention bonus for Starwood Amex card.

Retention's department:
(800) 452-3945

Everyday Preferred
10/13/15
2.5K points not to cancel, and 5k points for 1K spend within three months, Total 7.5K points, or in the alternate, a $75 statement credit or gift card.
1/15/16 - 16k spend - first renewal - offered $50, no MR offer - accepted
3/14/16 - 98k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.
11/18/16 -50k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.

Platinum OPEN/Business
6/11/15 - 8.5k spend - 2nd renewal - offered $100 or 10k MR - deferred on offer (see post #314)
8/18/2015 - 90k spend - 2nd renewal - first two times I called, no offer. Final time I asked explicitly to cancel, was offered $350 statement credit.
12/18/2015 - 10k spend, first renewal. Offered 10k MR, cancelled.
1/6/2016 - 10K spend, about 8 weeks after account opening - offered $50 credit or 7.5K MRs, took MRs.
4/29/2016 - 15k spend, 3 months after opening. No offer other than downgrade to BGR.
6/16/2016 - 15k spend to get signup bonus (in Jan 2016). Minimal spend after. Took a lot of nudging - including explicit request to cancel card -- but was offered 10k MR to keep open. No spend requirement.
9/29/2016 - offered $100, didn't catch whether there was a spend requirement, i canceled as I have a personal Platinum card and the go-go passes weren't worth having two.

Business Gold Rewards
10/10/15 - Offered 10K MR. declined and closed
12/26/15 - Offered 10K MR or $100 Credit, counter offered $150 or 15K MR. They offered me 15K MR..accepted.
1/26/16 - Offered 15k MR, counter offered $150 and 15k MR, offered either but not both. Accepted 15k MR. $20k annual spend. Opened account 1/2015.
2/2/16 Offered 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. $40k annual spend. Opened account 3/2015.
2/4/16 Offered 15K MR. Accepted 15K. About a $15K annual spend.
3/5/16 Offered 15K MR or $100 credit. Took the 15K MR. Minimal spend.
5/23/16 Offered $50, then $100, then 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. Also let me change the 3x category in the middle of the year.
6/9/16 7500 MR offer, even pushed for 10k or 15k. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/11/16 7500 MR offer, about 30k spend. AF due in two weeks. Took it.
6/20/16 No offer. ~$10k spend. Wanted to close the card anyway so did it.
9/30/16 Offered $50 statement credit. (<$5K spend) That was all. Didn't take it and cancelled card
10/04/16 Offered $50 statement credit or 7,500 points or pay the annual fee of $175 with 17,000 points instead of 25000 points. (<$9K spend) Didn't take it any of them and cancelled card

Personal Platinum
1/11/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months. $22K spend in 2015.
1/17/16 - 5K points immediately, 10K points for 2K spend within two months. $560 spend in 2015.
1/26/16 - $200 "loyalty credit" without requirements. $18k spend in 2015 (~50k total Amex spend in 2015). Cardholder for 3 years.
1/27/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points.
1/29/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points. Cardholder 3 years; $17k spend last year.
2/3/16 - 5K points now and 10K points after $2K spend in 60 days. Rep had to "dig deep" into my account to find this "unique and very special" offer (Yeah, right). Accepted.
3/31/16 - Only offer was $100 statement credit. $15k spend last year.
04/19/16 - $200 statement credit for being loyal to amex (cardholder for 2 years $65k spend).
4/29/16 Initial offer $200. HUCA 5k MR immediately, 15k MR after 3k spend in 60 days.
8/12/16 - 40K MR immediately. Card holder for 7 year, $55K spend in 2015 (Post #1015)
8/19/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months or 200$ statement credit. Card holder only for 1 year but amex customer for 8 years
8/19/16 - called before AF hit, offered $200 credit, accepted, not a ton of spend after hitting minimum spend for signup bonus, Amex customer since 2013 with 3 other cards but generally don't spend that much on Amex (maybe $10k/year)
8/25/16 - $200 Statement credit or 20k points for 3k spend within 3 months. Amex for 6 years, plat for 1 year. 40k spend across all amex.
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit, $20k spent on this last year
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit. ~$14K spend this year.
9/10/16 - 25k MR (no spend req). $11k in spend last yr. Tough sell from AX.
9/12/16 - 15k points after $2k spend in 3 months. ~$7k in spend
9/21/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~5k spend
9/29/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$20k in spend during past year
10/6/16 - 40k points, no spend req. ~$35k in spend during past year
10/7/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$22k T12 spend
10/8/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$10k spend during past year
10/17/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$5k spend during past year. took the points.
10/29/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$11k spend during past year. took the points.
11/14/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$15k spend during past year. took the points.
11/19/16 40k points or $400, no spend req. ~$45k spend during past year.

Platinum Mercedes Benz
9/30/15 - 5K points immediately, in addition to 15K points for 3K spend within three months. 20K points Total to retain card.

Platinum Ameriprise
7/21/16 Offered $200 or 20k MR. Accepted $200 statement credit to offset the $450 AF for all 4 cards in the account. 35K spent

SPG Personal
12/4/15 - $25 loyalty statement credit
2/3/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit but did allude to a potential bonus when the SPG card goes away; referenced the $200-300 bonus offered to Costco Amex holders being asked to convert to Sams Club Amex products
3/1/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit
6/14/2016 - $25 plus 3,000 SPG points - Had to ask Supv for the addl. 3,000 pts.
7/6/2016 - $25 or 1500 points after $1000 spend. Canceled card. $25k spend last year.
7/15/2016 - $25 loyalty statement credit. HUCA, HUCA, declined, cancelled card. $10K spend last year, less recently.
8/10/2016 - Paltry $25 or 500 points + additional 1000 points after $1000 spend (total of 1500) in 3 months. I have another ~60 days for af to lock in, so will call again in ~30 days. $35k spend last year, but less than $1000 / month this year.
8/16/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $48K spend, took the points.
8/24/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $13K spend YTD, took the points.
8/25/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit, $5K YTD spend. HUACA resulted in the same offer (even with a symethic agent that noted my 15 years of membership).
9/13/16 $95 credit with +- $40K spend. Fast & easy
9/17/16 $25 or 1500 SPG points after $1K spend. Cancelled the card
9/17/16 Called after renewal fee posted. Offered 5,000 SPG points - $40K spent on this card.
9/18/16 $50 or 7k. ~$80k spend.
10/1/16 $25 offer ~$15k spend. Cancelled card.
10/7/16 $50 or 7k. ~$76k T12 spend.
10/27/16 ($7K spend in last 12 months, first renewal) $25 statement credit OR 500 Starpoints + 1,000 Starpoints for $1,000 spend in next 3 months
11/11/16 ($4k spend this year) We respect your decision. Goodbye.
12/16/16 Member since 1995, spent $25k in 12 months, was offered 7k points. Love SPG points so didn't enquire about any of the other credits.

SPG OPEN/Business
8/3/15 - called with intent to cancel, $18k spend last year, offered $100 one-time statement credit - accepted.
8/12/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, offered only $50 one-time statement credit - accepted
12/14/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, AF hit 90 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time statement credit.
1/14/16 - called with intent to cancel or product change to no fee Simply Cash card, $10-12k spend last year, $65 AF hit 30 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time credit to keep card.
8/29/16 - called to cancel & they didn't offer any retention bonus so we canceled it. Only had min. spend last year.
10/1/16 - retention offered 5K SPG pts.
10/19/16 - offered $25 credit. Spend last year ~$15k.

DL Skymiles Platinum OPEN/Business
5/28/15 - called with intent to cancel, card opened 9 months, initial min spend (1.3k) only - offered simply cash open, declined, closed.
03/10/15- the date is date of miles post, do not remember original request date, no offers until reaching the retention department, 15k miles offered with 50k spend
11/4/15 - called to see what retention offer would be $60K spend offered nothing. sm
12/10/15 - Called again to actually cancel, got 25K skymiles. Kept card open. sm
04/26/16 - Called again, 3k bonus as good will to keep open. Will HUCA for 3rd time.
10/23/16 - called to cancel told me they have nothing to offer as I took advantage of the 25K miles last year. Said also they will remove the companion travel cert in my account if I cancel. I have until mid Nov and will call again

Premier Rewards Gold
6/12/15 - 1st renewal. Called 5 days after fee posted stating not happy about losing 15k bonus. Offered 10k MR now and 10k after $3k spend in 60 days. Accepted. $40k spent last year.
11/2/15 - Offered 20K MR. $130K spend in previous year.
1/14/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$8k spend previous year.
1/21/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days or $75 credit + $75 credit if $1k spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/11/16 - Offered 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days or $50 credit + $50 credit if $500 spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/23/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days . ~$33k in spend in my first year
4/12/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$10k spend previous year.
4/22/16 - 1st offer - $50 statement + $50 credit after $500 spend in 60 days. 2nd offer - 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days (took 2nd offer) ~10k spend previous year.
6/9/16 No offers. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/26/16 - Offered $175 or 25k MR. $135k spend.
6/20/2016 Phoned and requested transfer to retention dept. After a brief explanation of benefits, I was offered $50 statement credit and $50 additional statement credit after $500 spend in 60 days. Took the offer.
7/25/2015 1st anniversary, 25k spend. Offered upgrade to platinum with 10k + 50k MR. Lengthy talk with Retention who finally offered only 7.5k MR for $1k spend in 92 days. Very disappointed. Declined. HUCA. 2nd call on the 60th day: offered and took the 50+50 offer.
8/19/2016: Presented with 2 offers: (1) $50 statement credit now and $50 statement credit after spending $500 within 60 days (2) 2,500 MR points now, and 5,000 MR points after spending $1,000 within 90 days.
11/2/2016: $100 credit no spend needed

DL Skymiles Gold
6/2015 - Have had card since 1991 and have never asked for a retention offer. $30k spend annually except for the last year with $1k spend. Flat out denied hard for any retention. Paid AF b/c my oldest card.
1/2016 - Have had card for ten years+, usually around $10,000/year spend. Never asked for retention bonus before. Given two choices: 1) 1000 miles immediately and 2000 more miles for $1000 spend in 60 days or 2) $75 statement credit. Took the $75.
5/2016 - Had card for 3 years, never asked for a retention. Spend is probably only around $2K/year. Was not offered any miles or credit.
6/15/2016 - 15k offer. Have had card since 1995. <1k spend last year. Took 15k

DL Skymiles Gold Business
9/24 - under $1k spend in last 12 months, no offer. They said they don't have a retention department.
4/18/2016 - Had card for 1 year with 2K spend. Asked for the nature of my small business, what expenses and travel requirements I have for my business. Given two choices: 1) 7,500 miles immediately to offset $95 AF or 2) switch to a generic no fee Amex. Took the 7,500 miles.


Hilton HHonors Surpass
1/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points
4/2016 - Offered $75 statement credit or 10k points. Took the credit.
6/2016 - Offered 500 HH points now and another 1K after spending 1K or $25. Took the $25.
9/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points. Took the credit.
11/2016 - Spend $5k on this card, $55k in last year across all Amex accounts. 1st anniversary, offered $25 statement credit or 1,000 points. Cancelled.
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American Express retention offers [2008 - 2016]

Old Oct 3, 2014, 11:33 am
  #1471  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: USA
Programs: AMEX Platinum
Posts: 10
Platinum card open for 6 years with around 30k annual spending. Called and let them know I don't want to keep the card because of the annual fee and benefit reduced. After talking to retention agent for over 15 mins kept asking to waive the annual fee, got offered 25k points to keep the account open for another year.

The agent told me what benefits I used and what I didn't use in the past year, and explained those benefits reduced shouldn't affect me lol.........
thisissunny is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2014, 4:24 pm
  #1472  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 132
SPG

AMEX SPG card AF just posted. Spend limited to just the $5k needed to qualify for the bonus. Called to cancel, was read a perfunctory explanation of card benefits and then offered 1000 starpoints to keep the card open. Declined and went ahead with the cancellation.
AXR64 is offline  
Old Oct 5, 2014, 5:42 pm
  #1473  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: BDL, JFK
Posts: 658
Business Gold annual spend 8k. Offered 10k MR. declined.
Robl is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2014, 4:36 pm
  #1474  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: San Diego, Ca
Programs: AA 2MM LT PLT; AS MVP Gold75k; HHonors Diamond; IHG PLT
Posts: 3,502
Should I start using my card?

I own a small business, opened an Biz AMEX PLT account in Feb 2013 instead of renewing my AA Admiral's Club membership. At that time, I explicitly told the rep that the card was primarily for club access, hit the intro min spend, little since then - other than promotions, such as $200 annual airline reimbursement, reimbursed Global Entry fee.

I current have EXP status on AA (expires Feb 28, 2015), will be PLT next year, Admiral's Club renewal (due end of March 2015) is $50 less with EXP status. My current business spend is split between Chase Ink, Hilton AMEX Surpass (approx $2k per month combined).

AMEX seemed to be aware of my AA/US club usage, offered an extra $200 (total of $400) in Mar 2014 if I used the AMEX card to renew my Admiral's Club membership - which I happily accepted, required me to renew the AMEX PLT for another year.

Looking forward to Feb / Mar 2015, I am happy to let the Biz AMEX PLT card expire, replace it with one of the Citi AA cards that includes club access - unless AMEX will again cover the full cost of renewal.

Is there any way to improve my chances for favorable retention consideration, or should I consider myself fortunate for the good run, plan to move on?
diver858 is online now  
Old Oct 13, 2014, 8:03 am
  #1475  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 24
Do I need to clear out my MR points before trying to collect retention bonus, in case they cancel me?
lifesagetaway is offline  
Old Oct 14, 2014, 8:43 am
  #1476  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: American United
Posts: 1
American Express Business Gold retention offer

American Express Business Gold

10/14 13 months, $10k spend. Offered $75, then offered 12.5k MR.
mmurawcz is offline  
Old Oct 15, 2014, 9:47 pm
  #1477  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,725
Coming to the end of my first year, spent about $25K on a Canadian Plat.

Offered 10,000 MR or $50 GC, declined.
YOWgary is offline  
Old Oct 17, 2014, 12:38 pm
  #1478  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 55
Delta Reserve ~$10K flights ~$30K total spend (when I got the card I was flying/charging at least 2x this)

Due to some of the devaluing from Delta and my lower spend, I'm thinking about dropping the Reserve and picking up something like the Barclay's.

I ran the numbers, I'd probably be best to keep the Reserve just for Delta purchases and use the Barclay's for everything else.

If I call to cancel will my 2014 spend be enough for them to give a damn? Whats the best I can hope for--maybe waive the $450 fee due in April?

Otherwise I'll just cancel and switch to Barclays for everything.
danspartan is offline  
Old Oct 17, 2014, 7:49 pm
  #1479  
Four Seasons Contributor BadgeShangri-La Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 4,216
Originally Posted by danspartan
Delta Reserve ~$10K flights ~$30K total spend (when I got the card I was flying/charging at least 2x this)

Due to some of the devaluing from Delta and my lower spend, I'm thinking about dropping the Reserve and picking up something like the Barclay's.

I ran the numbers, I'd probably be best to keep the Reserve just for Delta purchases and use the Barclay's for everything else.

If I call to cancel will my 2014 spend be enough for them to give a damn? Whats the best I can hope for--maybe waive the $450 fee due in April?

Otherwise I'll just cancel and switch to Barclays for everything.
I think it depends on how long you've had the card, how much you spend, as well as other bonuses you've gotten. I would personally wait until the annual fee is up. Calling now may get you nothing, but YMMV.
United747 is offline  
Old Oct 22, 2014, 6:05 pm
  #1480  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: Delta DM, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 1,492
Delta Amex Business Platinum, card open for about 15 months. $75k total spend since then. Offered 25,000 Delta miles to keep the account open and accepted.
Billy Mumphrey is offline  
Old Oct 23, 2014, 5:17 pm
  #1481  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 376
Just called to cancel my PRG card. I've had it for 10 months with probably ~$3,000 spend. I was offered 25000 MR points to keep the card and still have to pay the $175 annual fee which will post December 1. I told them I wasn't expecting a retention offer (I wasn't) and that I'll think about it and call back. The phone rep mentioned to me - "I see this is the third time you've held this card in three years...we know you'll be back--here is an offer to save your credit score from showing another closed account and hard pull when you reopen".

Does anyone know what will happen if I accept the offer, transfer the points to Aeroplan, and then cancel the card?
zeus2120 is offline  
Old Oct 30, 2014, 2:54 pm
  #1482  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 76
Called in to cancel JetBlue before the annual fee, was offered 1000 True Blue Points to keep it open. I declined and closed the account.
fakemadrid is offline  
Old Oct 31, 2014, 9:36 pm
  #1483  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 22
12500 Delta miles for keeping the Delta Gold card open for another year. Not that much by way of spend over the past year.
RHGA is offline  
Old Nov 1, 2014, 8:59 am
  #1484  
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Dayton, OH
Programs: CarlsonGold,HHDiamond, SPGGold,ChoiceGold, *Silver, WNCompanionPass, ASMVPGold, HyattDiamond,IHGPlat
Posts: 255
Oct 10, AMEX Plat MB, 1 year, Only min spend + $1k throughout the year. Offered 5k bonus points + 2.5k after $1k spend in 60 days.
Journey4Happy is offline  
Old Nov 1, 2014, 10:26 am
  #1485  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: IAD
Posts: 319
Keeping my points when I close

I was recently targeted for a Plat with 100,000 MR bonus after $3k spend. I figure, I get the $200 statement credit twice in the first year, so this is an excellent deal.
I plan to switch to an Amex EveryDay at the end of the year if I don't get a good retention bonus, so I can hold on to my MR points. This works, right?
fpc552 is offline  

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