American Express Membership Rewards - My Starwood AMEX is earning MR points!!??

I have held a green AMEX for many years and always belonged to MR. I was recently introduced to the Starwood AMEX, but am holding onto my regular card until I've given it a full go.

Today I went online to check my MR rewards account and noticed that I have 152 MR points pending which is the total charge on my first month with the Starwood AMEX. As they are still pending I'm not holding my breath.

Just wondering if this had happened to others (points listed as pending and/or posting)?

In my case I notice that after they received my payment the pending points was added to the total points.

I am also thinking about getting the Starwood AMEX. I wanted to know what happen to your existing MR points, do they convert to Starwood points and at what ratio?

Thanks

After canceling my regular American Express card, I went online to add my Starwood Optima card for online access and clicked on the link to enroll for the MR program with this card just out of curiosity.

Interestingly, the Amex website allowed me to enroll my Starwood card in the MR program although I was pretty sure that it would not qualify for MR points, since I was already receiving Starpoints on the card. I too would be interested in knowing others experience with this.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DCW:
I am also thinking about getting the Starwood AMEX. I wanted to know what happen to your existing MR points, do they convert to Starwood points and at what ratio?
</font>

No, they won't be converted. You will either have to transfer out all your MR points or keep a "regular" AMEX card to keep your MR membership open.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DCW:
In my case I notice that after they received my payment the pending points was added to the total points.

I am also thinking about getting the Starwood AMEX. I wanted to know what happen to your existing MR points, do they convert to Starwood points and at what ratio?</font>

I don't think you're quite getting my post.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
No, they won't be converted. You will either have to transfer out all your MR points or keep a "regular" AMEX card to keep your MR membership open.</font>

Are you saying we can, in essence, "double-dip" (i.e., get both MR points and Starwood points)?

(Ooops, sorry Hilton, I forgot that "double-dip" is your trademark http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

After reading this post, I logged into my account @ :

https://www.americanexpress.com/en/cards/balance/BalCards?aexp_nav=sc_checkbill

I requested to add my Starpoints credit card to Membership Rewards.

I clicked on the icon and it said it would see if the card qualified and if so, how much the annual cost would be.

The response was that I would be charged $40.00/year and the card was eligible.

I clicked accept and got the confirmed response.

I even got a confirming email acknowledging the addition.

I just hope I don't get cut off from earning Starpoints to earning MR's points as that's not my goal.

I'll let you know if I successfully "double dip".

Thanks. By discussing this here, I just TODAY had my 'double dipping' stopped and all 'double' dipped MR points earned reversed and told that the decision to do so was "final." In that regard, when one finds such a loophole, one might stay silent. I hope you all get away with this as I did not and never said anything. They told me a 'media' report indicated that this 'problem' was occurring.

Well, if Amex charges you for adding the Starwood card to MR, as happened to chix, they're implying that it's okay to "double-dip."

Zzflyer, had they charged you an annual fee for linking your card to MR? Did they refund it when they "reversed" your miles? Based on what chix wrote, above, something doesn't sound quite right. Sounds like they have some explaining to do, and I'd press them for a good one.

The $40.00 Membership Rewards charge just posted to my Starpoints AMEX:

August 28, 2001
MEM RWDS ANNUAL PROGRAM FEE 40.00

This is getting very interesting!

I had already been paying the fee with my Gold Card. They were adamant when they told me I did not deserve to be earning double, and then reversed them. I doubt this will go on much longer.

Anybody earning double should transfer all those points out immediately. I wouldn't trust letting them sit around!

Mac

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¡Viaja con Dios!

We should all STOp talking about this NOW, so we DON'T RUIN a good thing. We should only post if it works.........I'll let you guys know from my end in one month. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Mine have now officially posted. Now the next month is pending.

Had this problem, without even knowing.. they reveresed the $40 fee upon my request.

Good luck.. it may be a problme in their systems... use them wisely http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

As promised, I'm giving my update report on the scheme.

IT DOES NOT WORK.

I successfully enrolled in Membership Rewards online with my Starwood account. Points posted as a double-dip (Starwood & MR).

I tried to redeem online and failed. I received a web page to call 1-800-AXP-EARN.

I called the #, spoke to Customer Service. They tried to post my "new" MR points to my FF account. Their system also blocked the transaction. They did an independent review while I was on hold, and came back saying that this is STRICtLY PROHIBITED.

They went a step further by cancelling my MR account while I was on hold. I received a $40 credit for the MR fee and they asked me if I want to open a charge card to coincide with the MR account. Of course, any current points would be cancelled, they told me, as it pertained to the Starwood account.

What a bummer! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I surmise, that some may have slipped through the cracks by having a charge card, then cancelling/transferring to a Starwood card.

While these folks may EARN the points, REDEEMING is an entirely different story, and the AMEX computer system will most likely CATCH YOU at that step.

AMEX also said they are FIXING this already defective loophole of being able to sign-up w/ MR online using an Optima account.



[This message has been edited by Wolverine (edited 10-04-2001).]

Not sure if this belongs here, or in the Hilt
on board, but here goes. Hilton has recently added MR as a double dip partner. You can choose either a FF account or your MR account and recieve 100-500 points per stay depending on property. I use my Hilton Optima card for my stay and recieve the 5 points per dollar credited to my Hilton Honors account and then an additional 100-500 points into my MR account. Best of both worlds unless I'm missing something.

dup

[This message has been edited by chix (edited 01-05-2002).]

This DID work. Got about 25,000 MR points and redeemed each month as they became available.

AMEX finally figured it out and closed the Rewards account stating there was a flaw.

They did not ask for the points back nor did they reverse any transactions to date.

[This message has been edited by chix (edited 01-05-2002).]

Got a Starwood card in September. Without my asking, Amex linked the card to my MR account. In the last week or so, the card was unlinked by Amex, but the points have not been removed from my MR account.

Well I started the topic. Recently checked my MR account and the Starwood AMEX is no longer listed. No points were reclaimed though.

I just checked my account, and then called AMEX. The MR account was closed Jan. 5th.. They did allow me to transfer the points in my account that were available but the pending ones won't be able to be transferred. They also did a prorated refund of the $40 fee. OK while it lasted (for me all of 3 months).