American Express Membership Rewards - Starwood AMEX Retention Bonus?

I was just billed a renewal fee of $27.50? What is the story with possible retention bonuses?

There was a thread about this on the Starwood forum a few weeks ago with quite a bit of info. I personally got 3000 points (although my annual fee is $30 )

Take a look at the info on this on my website, Free Frequent Flyer Miles (http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm). Go to the Free Cards page of the Credit Card section, scroll down to the Starwood offer, then look in the Cancelling the card paragraphs.

Well, despite the fact that I was very nice, I got people, including a supervisor, who weren't at all flexible. They denied that they offer any kind of bonus or incentive to not cancel the card. They said that anyone who received such a bonus would have received it due to a problem with a merchant or something like that, but not on a comparable basis/case simply in lieu of canceling the card.

I said that I didn’t believe that was the case and that AMEX routinely provides people with Starpoints in return for renewing their card and not canceling. I said that I didn’t think it was fair to do that for other people and not for me. They said they didn’t have to do anything. I said I would get some names and get back to them: so I am now looking to collect names/examples of people who didn’t have any specific problems with their cards, but were rewarded with what one would call a "retention bonus".

At $30/yr. for the best rewards card around, I don't have the heart to threaten to cancel it. I did, however, ask to cancel my green MR card last week (which I would have no problem doing) - they gave me 15,000 MR points.

Edited to add: As much as I dislike them (because I feel they're overused), I think a master thread for retention bonuses would be appropriate for this forum.

If you don't mind me asking, were you actively using the Green MR card before you threatened to cancel? I am considering canceling mine, but I've only had it for 6 month and didn't use it much, putting everything on the Starwood Amex and the UA Visa instead.

At $30/yr. for the best rewards card around, I don't have the heart to threaten to cancel it. I did, however, ask to cancel my green MR card last week (which I would have no problem doing) - they gave me 15,000 MR points.

Edited to add: As much as I dislike them (because I feel they're overused), I think a master thread for retention bonuses would be appropriate for this forum.

Well, despite the fact that I was very nice, I got people, including a supervisor, who weren't at all flexible. They denied that they offer any kind of bonus or incentive to not cancel the card. They said that anyone who received such a bonus would have received it due to a problem with a merchant or something like that, but not on a comparable basis/case simply in lieu of canceling the card.

I said that I didn’t believe that was the case and that AMEX routinely provides people with Starpoints in return for renewing their card and not canceling. I said that I didn’t think it was fair to do that for other people and not for me. They said they didn’t have to do anything. I said I would get some names and get back to them: so I am now looking to collect names/examples of people who didn’t have any specific problems with their cards, but were rewarded with what one would call a "retention bonus".

You have to tell them that you want to cancel the card because you don't want to pay the annual fee. Only then will they transfer you to a specialist who can make you offers. Don't ask for anything until you get to that person. The regular customer service people cannot give you what you want.

The worst that can happen is that they cancel the card. Then just reapply for another. (That new card probably won't get the no annual fee for a year deal .)

If you don't mind me asking, were you actively using the Green MR card before you threatened to cancel?

I guess "active" is a relative term. I put a smidge over $100K on it last year - out of the three Amex cards I have (Starwood & DL), it's the one I use the least.

From conversations I've had with customer retention, I think they take total Amex spending into account when looking at comps.

At $30/yr. for the best rewards card around, I don't have the heart to threaten to cancel it.

I agree, at $30/year, I don't think that AmEx *should* give a retention bonus. Nobody's said this, but retention bonuses are not a right. Would anybody really cancel the SPG AmEx because of the $30 annual fee?

Just have to bring back this thread because here is my recent experience.

1. Called in 1 day after my anniversary date asking the annual fee to be waived (I assumed I should have done this in advance), the lady told me to call back AFTER I already got charged, and she will transfer me to the right department who can do so (waive the fee)...the only reason i am doing this silly thing (asking for the fee to be waived on this card) was only because I read through this website before that people actually got 3K points for paying the annual fee...so I did what I did. I nevere do this to my Delta card because the reduced annual fee (55 USD) is definitely worth the 10K MQMs.
2. Anyway, I called back a few days later (after I already got charged), now the guy told me THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET MY ANNUAL FEE WAIVED. He even told me that the lady who told me a few days earlier was mistaken and she should even be in trouble...I said "alright, then I want to cancel the card." He even let me do it without trying to convince me or anything (I was a little disappointed, actually). Then I remember about asking for 3K points, so I asked him before he completely processed the account closure, and he said, "Let me see what I can do." Few minutes later, he was back on the phone and said the 3K points has been processed.

I got what I want although not exactly how I expected it to be....Oh and by the way, my annual fee is 27.5 instead of 30. I still do not understand what is behind this.

Average spending on both SPG and Delta cards altogether is only 5K per month. Does that have anything to do with this 2.5 USD discount?