American Express Membership Rewards - Amex Concierge….Priceless

There may be other concierge services, but given that I just called them from Beijing and spent 30 quality minutes on the phone with an amazingly helpful rep that amex paid for on a ‘collect call’ so I could arrange flowers for my anniversary that I am sorry to say I am missing today. That is worth a lot in my book.

Now granted, I could have just as well called some florist in our town, but that alone would have cost me $25+ just in long distance. Internet; possible, but given the lateness of the request nowhere near guranteed.

This rep took detailed notes of a custom arrangement, called the vendor while I held and confirmed all the details back. She then is calling the vendor @ 6:00 EST to confirm delivery and will email confirmation that I will see when I wake up in 4 hours.

Although I have been a Plat for over 5 years and just upped to Cent, I have NEVER used the service before I started reading other reviews on this site. Now I’m hooked.

Thank you for posting prior experiences.

I'm a gold card holder, and I just recently accepted the invitation for the platinum card. I did NOT cancel my gold card yet, as I want to test run the platinum, and may decide against keeping it - if I do, I still have my gold with its credit history intact (if you cancel and later reinstate, you don't get the same number and the credit history starts anew, as I understand it), and I can get back a pro-rated portion of my $395. So not much on the line there, IMHO.

Anyway, I have called concierge services to see if they can get me tickets to a sold out concert. I will post my experience after they have gotten back to me. :)

I love the Concierge service. I've used them to get me prescription medicines I've forgotten (occassionally in other countries), to identify an appropriate restaurant for a business lunch and secure reservations, to ship gift baskets containing California wine to other countries, and a variety of other things.

Anyway, I have called concierge services to see if they can get me tickets to a sold out concert. I will post my experience after they have gotten back to me. :)

Keep us posted...

I have used the Amex Concierge many times, and I, too, like the service. They always try to help me out. That being said, they are neither omniscient nor miracle workers.

Based in Boston, they know something about major US cities like NYC. If you are on Kuta Beach or in Salzburg, however, they read from the script.

Also, if a show is truly sold out or a restaurant is really fully booked, there isn't much they can do. They can call a scalper for you for tickets, but you will pay the scalper price. Amex says they save a table at some restaurants, but that is one table at best.

Honestly, what else could you reasonably expect?

I have used the Amex Concierge many times, and I, too, like the service. They always try to help me out. That being said, they are neither omniscient nor miracle workers.

Based in Boston, they know something about major US cities like NYC. If you are on Kuta Beach or in Salzburg, however, they read from the script.

Also, if a show is truly sold out or a restaurant is really fully booked, there isn't much they can do. They can call a scalper for you for tickets, but you will pay the scalper price. Amex says they save a table at some restaurants, but that is one table at best.

Honestly, what else could you reasonably expect?

Oh, sure, I agree. I have reasonable expectations. That they make an attempt at no extra cost to me (beyond what the annual fee covers) is basically good enough as a platinum card holder, IMHO. It's probably a service best employed by people who work 70-80 hours per week and hardly have time to eat, sleep or breathe, let alone take care of the little things in life, but if you have a more sane life, you can probably do a lot of such things yourself, cheaper, over the internet, etc. It is what it is.

And I would agree with you too. I do not count the concierge as a material benefit to having either a Plat. or Cent. card. Since I am paying for it anyway, I use it when it suites me.

My experience with the conceirge service is priceless in another sense of the word. I recently called them and spoke to a very nice rep and asked him to book me and my partner the best Michelin starred restaurant in Barcelona. Upon leaving the hotel and getting in the cab, the driver promptly informs me that the place that he has booked is in another town over 70 miles away.

Although this is amusing in hindsight (even though we were not laughing very much at the time), I find it amazing that a team of would "experts" managed to mess up such a simple request

My one attempt to use this service was for something international as well -- I asked them to get Sumo tickets for an upcoming tournament in Tokyo. They had never heard of Sumo, although they had heard of Tokyo -- just barely. After explaining to them what Sumo was and how one should go about getting tickets, they went off, worked hard, and completely failed. They then billed me for their time and effort, although Amex reversed that bill when I complained. I haven't used the service since.

My impression, like the above poster, is that the Plat concierge is something you might consider for domestic U.S. services but not for anything international.

P.S. I now know how to get good Sumo tickets on my own.

They then billed me for their time and effort, although Amex reversed that bill when I complained.

Billed? I have never been billed for anything I have asked from concierge. Although I haven't asked anything like sumo tickets. Do they bill for all services through concierge? Even restaurants? Or is this something happening only in the US or something happening when the request is not "standard"?

My impression, like the above poster, is that the Plat concierge is something you might consider for domestic U.S. services but not for anything international.

I should try to ask something difficult but I haven't invented anything yet, which I would like. I am boring :) But when I asked them to make a table reservation for SFO, they did it perfectly.

My card is IEC Platinum and service is from AMEX UK. It seems that there is a huge difference between US cards and other cards from other countries.

Billed? I have never been billed for anything I have asked from concierge. Although I haven't asked anything like sumo tickets. Do they bill for all services through concierge? Even restaurants? Or is this something happening only in the US or something happening when the request is not "standard"?


No, they are not supposed to bill you for their efforts, only for the stuff they get for you. It was an error, which was why it was credited back, but it was not fun to find it on my bill.

My experience with the conceirge service is priceless in another sense of the word. I recently called them and spoke to a very nice rep and asked him to book me and my partner the best Michelin starred restaurant in Barcelona. Upon leaving the hotel and getting in the cab, the driver promptly informs me that the place that he has booked is in another town over 70 miles away.

Although this is amusing in hindsight (even though we were not laughing very much at the time), I find it amazing that a team of would "experts" managed to mess up such a simple request

If it was El Bulli you went to then it was worth it.

Well, I'm impressed. :) When the rep took my request on Saturday, she said that someone would get back to me by Monday or Tuesday. A concierge rep left a message for me today that they had come up with my "options" (I love that word - LOL - maybe they can rename the service "Options" ;) ). They had fourth row tickets, tickets between rows 20 and 30 and then tickets on the side, but all seats were perfectly acceptable. Even the prices, for a legitimate scalper, were reasonable considering that it's completely sold out. ^

. . . .
My impression, like the above poster, is that the Plat concierge is something you might consider for domestic U.S. services but not for anything international.

. . . .Funny, I've found them most useful when I've wanted to make restaurant reservations in advance of travel to the Yucatan and Cozumel when I've not wanted to pay for the international phone calls (plus, I barely speak any Spanish). They've been very good for that purpose, but then, I've usually been somewhat specific when I go online and punch in what I want. Guess it depends on how much info you can give them.

Funny, I've found them most useful when I've wanted to make restaurant reservations in advance of travel to the Yucatan and Cozumel when I've not wanted to pay for the international phone calls (plus, I barely speak any Spanish). They've been very good for that purpose, but then, I've usually been somewhat specific when I go online and punch in what I want. Guess it depends on how much info you can give them.

I agree. International "services" have been the number one value to me. Now just wait until I ask them to call Tuvalu next week and take care of some things I want done. Shrug, it'll save me $2.99 a minute....

My only time using the service was when I in France with my brother several years ago.

We were traveling to Italy from the UK during a rail strike and we were not planning on staying in Paris. I did not have any french currency and by the time we were there, it was too late to get change. However, due to the strike, all the trains were full and we were stranded. I called, the concierge arranged a hotel and we did not have to spend the night in the train station.