American Express retention offers [2008 - 2016]
 

I just called to cancel my Gold Card. I got it a few months ago with a 50,000 bonus points and no annual fee for the 1st year. I spent the required $450 and not much more and have redeemed all the points. The annual fee is not due until Feb 09. They offered me 3x points on all purchases ^ for the next 6 months.

I agreed. I'll use this card for the next 5 months, redeem, and then cancel :)

If they're offering 3x points, I would ask to see if there's a limit . . .

Retention bonus - does this still happen?
 

I'll need to pay my renewal fee in my next statement. I have a Gold card. Last year I called to see if I'd be offered a retention bonus or get the fee waived and actually got part of the fee waived.

I wanted to see if others have had any luck getting any type of retention bonus or their fee waived in recent months? I'd rather be prepared with data when I call than call blindly and not know the right questions to ask.

I did a search and found old threads discussing this, but nothing recent.

There are few threads that have recently discussed your topic.

Here are 2 that I easily found just by searching retention as a keyword.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...m-renewal.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...nual-fees.html

Thanks. That helped. 'retention bonus' yielded older threads.

American Express Retention Bonuses
 

My PLAT is up for renewal and as a CO (soon to be UA) FTer the benefits are a lot less compelling than they used to be. The lounge access was a key reason I got the card in the first place, and now with the Chase exclusive even the accumulated points don't help me with CO/UA.

Has anyone been successful in getting some sort of bump out of Amex as a retention bonus given the lost benefit? Some points bonus or the like would go a long way. How would you recommend I approach it?

If your concern is primarily about Continental's departure I suggest you read these two threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ng-mr-huh.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...a-lounges.html

I called to cancel my card, and was offered (and accepted) 50,000 MR points to continue for another year.

I literally just got off the phone with Amex. I currently have the Plat, and was simply inquiring about the Gold. They offered me either $100 or 15,000 MR points to stay with the Plat.

How much do you spend in a year?

I'm curious about that as well, and also wondering what your sign-up bonus was.

They do this in Australia as well

$500 credit or 50,000 MR points

My spend is about $200,000 a year

wow, thats a nice offer. I am going to call in late Jan to downgrade to business gold (after I use up my $200 airline credit). I dont use this card like I used to, but I still put about $75k this year on this card with my business so hopefully they have a decent retention offer. I get much better value with my SPG Amex. They may not offer me much since I am just moving to another of their cards.

I suggest those wanting to actually downgrade or cancel wait until Jan after they use up the $200 credit.

I have had the card since 1992, but from time to time will call and ask about inducements to remain a cardholder. This isn't the first inducement, but I can't remember what I got last time, which was probably 2-3 years ago.

My spend varies, as I have other cards and like to spend in order to maximize bonuses and MQMs. Unusual, that. :) On Amex, I have spent between $20k and $80k per year on personal spending. In the last year, my Amex spend has dropped off, but the overall spend remains constant or higher.

The 50k miles showed up right away.

I got 25,000 points this past week. They said that was the max for my account. I was complaining about the lack of the United Club. I travel every week on American flying out of LGA and there is no American club in the terminal (only United). They wouldn't give me the US Airways club package either.