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The official difference between Platinum and Centurion

The official difference between Platinum and Centurion

Old Feb 15, 2007, 2:30 pm
  #1  
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Thumbs down The official difference between Platinum and Centurion

So my statement tells me that the clubhouse access is removed.. then I read posts that the US gets Virgin Gold and we don't.. so I'm kinda lost to what the point of the Centurion card is, other than paying more compared to our friendly Platinum card.. so I thought I'd call them and ask them.

So I did..

I got through after 5 minutes to a rather abrupt woman who didn't seem that keen to speak to me, but I asked the question, and I was told that following the Platinum "revitalisation" that the two cards were now pretty much the same and the only main differences were;

Centurion cardholders get different offers from Platinum.. WOW
Supplementary cardholders were all classed as Platinum not Gold.
MO deal
Access to the FHR programme (isn't that on Platinum?)

.. and (get this, i love this bit) that the Centurion card or Black card is the top tier, and therefore will always be special even if the benefits are not any different. She then told me that they will always go that bit further to help you and get things sorted. (Which to be fair they may well do).

The best bit of the call though was when I asked if they had any plans to sort out the difference. She said there may well be, but they had no information on it so she couldn't comment, but she would be happy to get someone from Platinum to call me and downgrade me if that is what I wanted to do and that I should go away and consider what I want then come back to them.

So, in summary, Amex have told me directly that the two cards are basically the same, you pay more because its Black and THEY say its special and your Sup cards can be Platinum. There are no changes planned and if you don't like it, then you can get yourself a Platinum card.. or as I read it, tough $4it.

The quality of this call has pretty much made up my mind, clearly I do not spend enough on their cards for them to care about me even if I have been a customer for many years and that I should love the card because they tell me its special and worth paying for even if you don't get any real additional benefit from it. Customer service at its best?

So, now I need to decide where to transfer my MR points.. any recommendations on the best place to use them.. I only have 70k left now, so not a huge bunch.. I was thinking maybe to Virgin for a flight or two. Once they are gone I can bin my Centurion and BA Amex card and nearly 15 years membership.

As to going to Platinum.. well if they don't value my membership at their top tier, they aint gonna have it at any tier.

Is it worth me writing a letter and telling them how I feel, or will that just get filed with the other stuff they are ignoring?

Sigh.. customer loyalty goes totally unrewarded.. Now where is that "new customers only" man when you need him.

I'm quite miffed by that call to be honest..
MattUK is offline  
Old Feb 15, 2007, 3:00 pm
  #2  
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confirmed hotel upgrades... its things like that, either you use it, or you dont.

personally, thats the main thing i care about. i would be fine paying $2500/yr right now, but my spending is not $250K/yr.

uk cent is still GBP650 right? what does plat cost?
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 3:12 pm
  #3  
 
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri

uk cent is still GBP650 right? what does plat cost?
300.


Also, Centurion gets "find and seek" from lifestyle service...Plat doesn't...
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 3:14 pm
  #4  
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considering what new cardholders in the US pay, i dont think its entirely fair to be very upset when the US gets it and UK doesnt.

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Feb 15, 2007 at 5:14 pm
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 4:10 pm
  #5  
 
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In the US, Centurion also gets gold status for CO, USAir, and Delta. We also get Priority Pass.

My supplemental cardholders are all gold.
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 5:08 pm
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by MattUK
So my statement tells me that the clubhouse access is removed.. then I read posts that the US gets Virgin Gold and we don't.. so I'm kinda lost to what the point of the Centurion card is, other than paying more compared to our friendly Platinum card.. so I thought I'd call them and ask them.

So I did..

I got through after 5 minutes to a rather abrupt woman who didn't seem that keen to speak to me, but I asked the question, and I was told that following the Platinum "revitalisation" that the two cards were now pretty much the same and the only main differences were;

Centurion cardholders get different offers from Platinum.. WOW
Supplementary cardholders were all classed as Platinum not Gold.
MO deal
Access to the FHR programme (isn't that on Platinum?)

.. and (get this, i love this bit) that the Centurion card or Black card is the top tier, and therefore will always be special even if the benefits are not any different. She then told me that they will always go that bit further to help you and get things sorted. (Which to be fair they may well do).

The best bit of the call though was when I asked if they had any plans to sort out the difference. She said there may well be, but they had no information on it so she couldn't comment, but she would be happy to get someone from Platinum to call me and downgrade me if that is what I wanted to do and that I should go away and consider what I want then come back to them.

So, in summary, Amex have told me directly that the two cards are basically the same, you pay more because its Black and THEY say its special and your Sup cards can be Platinum. There are no changes planned and if you don't like it, then you can get yourself a Platinum card.. or as I read it, tough $4it.

The quality of this call has pretty much made up my mind, clearly I do not spend enough on their cards for them to care about me even if I have been a customer for many years and that I should love the card because they tell me its special and worth paying for even if you don't get any real additional benefit from it. Customer service at its best?

So, now I need to decide where to transfer my MR points.. any recommendations on the best place to use them.. I only have 70k left now, so not a huge bunch.. I was thinking maybe to Virgin for a flight or two. Once they are gone I can bin my Centurion and BA Amex card and nearly 15 years membership.

As to going to Platinum.. well if they don't value my membership at their top tier, they aint gonna have it at any tier.

Is it worth me writing a letter and telling them how I feel, or will that just get filed with the other stuff they are ignoring?

Sigh.. customer loyalty goes totally unrewarded.. Now where is that "new customers only" man when you need him.

I'm quite miffed by that call to be honest..
Matt,

I think you have summed up the sentiments of quite a few Uk Centurion Card holders. Centurion is nothing like it used to be.

I have had numerous long conversations with various individuals at Centurion UK, and some of them are pure and simply oxygen thieves that don't know when to quit fobbign customers off or making excuses up. Only last week did one man in Customer Relations try and tell me VS CH access was going due to customer feedback and that no one really used it, and that Priority Pass was a better benefit. Yes he carried on lying and digging, and tried to insinuate tht AmEx had a big say in which lounges were included in PP.

In reality there is not really that much to separate the two products; Platinum is a stellar product now and great value for money. I persist with Centurion right now as I do get use out of the MO benefit, which more than covers the annual fee (and in essence the delta between the Plat and Cent fee).

What I do take issue with is certain individuals in Centurion Uk's attitude, they are quick to offer people the downgrade instead of listening as to why they are unhappy. Every person met the entry criteria along the way, so aren't exactly typical customers of a credit/charge card that spend peanuts. Sure there are people out there that probably charge in a month what I spend in a year on my Centurion, but then they are not the core set of customers.

The excuse that US carholders pay more in annual fees doesn't wash with me, I've been around long enough as a Centurion cardholder that I would have been grandfathered in at the original $1000 annual fee (which given today's :$ rate would mean a lower annual fee).

What Centurion Uk needs is a damn good refresh like Platinum got last year, and pronto as the longer it takes, the more premium customers will leave.

For irony, Centurion sent me a goodwill gesture gift to apologise for the poor service received last year, and I had to chase it as was delivered to and signed for by a completely unknown individual.

It does sadden me though, as I remember back when the benefits were great, and the service (which is a key benefit in my book) was great. maybe they took on too many new cardmembers, and too many junior staff that really hadn't proved their worth and basically couldn't give two hoots about going the extra mile to help customers out. A shame as there are still some really great members of staff down at the office in Brighton.

What I think is needed is something of a petition/show of numbers to show that it's not just a couple of people that think things are seriously wrong with Centurion UK now. I know several people personally that have cancelled, a number of others that are contemplating cancelling and others that are jsut unhappy with the state of the service and overall dilution of benefits.

Thanks,
Richard
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 5:13 pm
  #7  
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i dont disagree, in fact my understanding is that they invited too many people to Cent to begin with.

maybe they actually want people to cancel before "relaunching" a new more exclusive product? id have to imagine there are plenty of people who dont care about the fee, ensuring failure for that strategy.
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 8:14 pm
  #8  
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Anybody with a pulse can now get the amex black uk provided they can pay the fee.
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 10:15 pm
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In that case, I want one!
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Old Feb 15, 2007, 11:43 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
considering what new cardholders in the US pay, i dont think its entirely fair to be very upset when the US gets it and UK doesnt.
This thread isn't about comparing like for like on Centurion cards, its about what you get for the fee and what overall status of the UK card and compared against the UK PLatinum and the general feeling that Centurion UK is crap.

If we had a half decent set of benefits with an appropriate fee be it higher or not, if the benefits fitted the cost, then I don't think most would have a problem with that.
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Old Feb 16, 2007, 12:07 am
  #11  
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Best use for your MR points may be BMI Diamond Club - look at 'cash and miles'. 70k will get you a return business class ticket to Asia.
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Old Feb 16, 2007, 3:53 am
  #12  
 
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It's bizarre to see Amex diluting the Black card benefits, then they come out with the new stonking good value Platinum card. What on earth are they thinking? Maybe they figure that the status of having a Black card is enough that people will keep it or perhaps they think they have issued too many and want to claw back some of them.

I dumped Amex a few years ago but when I saw the new Platinum card I did an about face and just about bit their hand off. 300 for family travel insurance, 2x Priority Pass and car rental insurance waiver made it well worth the fee for me. I might use some of the other "benefits" but I drive a pretty hard bargain so we'll have to wait and see what they can come up with.

Not that I'll never actually charge anything to the card if I can help it, far too many times I've had it rejected because they prefer not to take Amex (although they have a sign for it on the door), "it's been declined" (it hadn't, it was just an excuse not to take it).

Amusingly, I tried to use the brand new Plat card just the once to make sure it was working. I shoved it into the machine and the merchant ripped it out and had a fit saying that Amex cards would "blow up the chip and pin machine and crash the cash register forcing them to close the shop!" Awesome, that's the best excuse ever!
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Old Feb 16, 2007, 5:37 am
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by Ex Amex Card
I dumped Amex a few years ago but when I saw the new Platinum card I did an about face and just about bit their hand off. 300 for family travel insurance, 2x Priority Pass and car rental insurance waiver made it well worth the fee for me. I might use some of the other "benefits" but I drive a pretty hard bargain so we'll have to wait and see what they can come up with.
I also used to have the platinum, but dumped it in favour of the Natwest black, and so far have been very satisfied. One of the biggest things was that the travel insurance didnt cover anyone above the age of 80 (both platinum and centurion).

I pay 250 a year, get two PP, excellent travel insurance, ie family card, supp. card holders, and up to 6 people travelling with me! The same car rental insurance, concierge, lots of werid stuff like lost key cover for home and cars, and car break down cover for the uk AND europe.

For me, it still beats the hell out of the value of the Amex plat. -and the best thing is that its MC so I don't need to worry about it not being accepted.
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Old Feb 16, 2007, 6:18 am
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Originally Posted by aceman
For me, it still beats the hell out of the value of the Amex plat. -and the best thing is that its MC so I don't need to worry about it not being accepted.
Do they charge 2.75% on foreign stuff like most mc/visa? (2.73% UK Amex.) I got on well for a while with Amex for insurance/PP etc, but always using Nationwide Visa for payments as overseas they don't charge. (They have a cashback card too....) Also found their call centres really good too.
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Old Feb 16, 2007, 7:26 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by jimbo99
... always using Nationwide Visa for payments as overseas they don't charge. (They have a cashback card too....)
Update: the cashback card is not available to new applicants. And for those who have them (like me), the rate is only 0.25% in the UK and 0% outside the UK. I only use mine outside the UK for personal expenses, and benefit far more from ther 0% currency loading than I would with a cashback card.
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