American Express Membership Rewards - Gold renewal (UK)

Now as it seems Amex have stopped doing Gold cards in the UK (why is this? there's a big price gap between green and platinum) what will happen when it's time to renew the annual fee? Will the gold card automatically renew or will I be offered to upgrade to platinum or even centurion (I must be approaching the £100k spend mark by now).

Also since my old amex was replaced with a chip & pin card it won't work on the self service machines on the tube. Amex say they're working with TFL on this issue and for the moment just to use the ticket office. Is anyone aware of other places in the UK that are having problems with Amex chip and PIN but worked fine with the magnetic strip cards?

Amex have not issued chip and pin cards to most people - they are only being issued as cards expire. I have to wait another year to get a PIN for my BA Amex.

Amex have not issued chip and pin cards to most people - they are only being issued as cards expire. I have to wait another year to get a PIN for my BA Amex.
If you want one sooner just report your signature strip as illegible. I would have been happy enough to keep my old signature amex but my signature had totally worn off and the word 'VOID' underneath the signature strip had become visible.
I'd have happily kept my signature card if the strip hadn't worn off, some chip and pin pads are placed in positions that it's very hard to conceal what you're typing.

Now as it seems Amex have stopped doing Gold cards in the UK (why is this? there's a big price gap between green and platinum) what will happen when it's time to renew the annual fee? Will the gold card automatically renew or will I be offered to upgrade to platinum or even centurion (I must be approaching the £100k spend mark by now).

Also since my old amex was replaced with a chip & pin card it won't work on the self service machines on the tube. Amex say they're working with TFL on this issue and for the moment just to use the ticket office. Is anyone aware of other places in the UK that are having problems with Amex chip and PIN but worked fine with the magnetic strip cards?

I was told that the Gold card was just taken off for new applications. They will continue to offer the service to existing card members (I was hoping to issue my supplementaries with Platinum instead of Gold cards :p).

I found that all the self service kiosks that I try won't work (except those in Tesco). Paying for parking at BAA airports certainly doesn't work. I'm glad my A.C. card isn't Chip & Pin for the moment. I've also found that my card seems to be declined more often these days, and I have to ask them to punch the number/expiry date in manually -then it works no problem!

Chris

This is very curious to read. I had to ask Amex for a chip and PIN as my card was refused at M&S at Cahring Cross and makes the National rail system crash.
Theyy stil haven't sent me one yet.
Can I ask, what is the point of paying for a gold card? I'm really thinking of giving mine up this year.

This is very curious to read. I had to ask Amex for a chip and PIN as my card was refused at M&S at Cahring Cross and makes the National rail system crash.
Theyy stil haven't sent me one yet.
Can I ask, what is the point of paying for a gold card? I'm really thinking of giving mine up this year.
I never had any problem at M&S or with National Rail (GNER, SWT, Southern) with my old swipe card or my new chip & PIN. I still had my swipe card after the Feb 14th chip & PIN 'deadline' and still had no problem. I'd suspect it's more likely a case of poor staff training where they thing everything must be chip & PIN.

As for Gold card benefits, as a frequent flyer the card pays for itself as I can be fairly sure at least once a year I'll be able to take advantage of the delay benefit or luggage benefit and just one claim can be more than the cost of the card. It's so good when delayed to be able to spend £200 in the airport's restaurant/bar rather than rely on a £10 airline refreshment voucher (or whatever they give these days)

csdavidson: used in a few self service machines and the tube is the only one I've encountered so far. So hopefully there's not too many with a problem. I'm making sure I let Amex know when I encounter a problem. As Amex was so slow introducing chip & PIN it looks like they never done enough testing on this.

I never had any problem at M&S or with National Rail (GNER, SWT, Southern) with my old swipe card or my new chip & PIN. I still had my swipe card after the Feb 14th chip & PIN 'deadline' and still had no problem. I'd suspect it's more likely a case of poor staff training where they thing everything must be chip & PIN.

As for Gold card benefits, as a frequent flyer the card pays for itself as I can be fairly sure at least once a year I'll be able to take advantage of the delay benefit or luggage benefit and just one claim can be more than the cost of the card. It's so good when delayed to be able to spend £200 in the airport's restaurant/bar rather than rely on a £10 airline refreshment voucher (or whatever they give these days)

csdavidson: used in a few self service machines and the tube is the only one I've encountered so far. So hopefully there's not too many with a problem. I'm making sure I let Amex know when I encounter a problem. As Amex was so slow introducing chip & PIN it looks like they never done enough testing on this.

Just to clarify two points.
1 I was told that I could not use my swipe card at M&S Food and wine at Victoria. I either had to produce a driving licence or use chip and pin. This was their store policy.
2 I could not use my swipe card when trying to buy a ticket from a clerk at the booking hall in London Bridge. It made their system crash.
On both occasions I had to revert to using my visa card with a chip and pin.

I was told that the Gold card was just taken off for new applications. They will continue to offer the service to existing card members.
Yeah, I have just received a new Gold Credit Card (that gives MR instead of cashback) following the expiry of the previous one, and apparently they haven't been issuing that one for years.