American Express Membership Rewards - Best uses of Platinum concierge

I've seen plenty of threads about the best use of a certain amount of MR points, but how about one on the best use of the Platinum concierge. I see a lot of complaints, but surely someone must have had some positive experiences. For example, they found a rocking chair for me that I could send to my father overseas. I will sometimes use them to comparison shop for items for me when I don't have time to do it myself. I've also used them to get sports scores when I'm stuck some place without a television or radio.

...but how about one on the best use of the Platinum concierge. I see a lot of complaints, but surely someone must have had some positive experiences...

About two years ago, I told my girlfriend about the Concierge service and how you could call them up and request anything. She/I really didn't believe it until one day my girlfriend called and asked me to find somewhere in Chicago that could place a diamond engagement ring inside a fortune cookie. The plan involved presenting the aforementioned fortune cookie to the unsuspecting fiancee of one her friends.

So, I didn't think I could pull it off. For one, I was at work in DC, so I called AmEx. The concierge took down my request without laughing or telling me I was insane. All she said was "...OK. Let me get it noted and I will have someone call you back in about an hour. In an hour I got a call from another concierge staffer who said "...go to X restaurant (forgot the name now) and tell them that Y (forgot her name too) from AmEx sent you. It will cost you $10 and they will keep doing it until they get it done." I called my girlfriend back and she went to the restaurant, where within 3 attempts they got the ring inside a fortune cookie. For me at least, it ended happily ever after as my girlfriend became my wife. For the other couple, things didn't go so well as they broke up within a few months.

It's funny, I've only ever had good experiences with the concierge service -- I've had them research all sorts of stuff that would take me too much time and they've nearly always come through. They even managed to find me a car service with two antique Rolls Royce cars three days before my wedding day as my searches didn't turn up anything. Even though the car service didn't take AmEx they managed to hold a reservation for me.

However, I've sometimes had problems with simple stuff like dinner reservations etc. Go figure.

HG

However, I've sometimes had problems with simple stuff like dinner reservations etc. Go figure.

I found this to be a mixed bag back when I had an Amex Plat. On at least one occasion, they did get me into a restaurant on short notice that was otherwise fully booked. Apparently just the Amex name does carry some weight at certain places.

One memorable bad experience was when I was standing in Times Square waiting for a friend. Called the Plat Concierge and asked if they could find a restaurant with decent craft, microbrewed, Belgian, and/or German beer. Their suggestion...the Hard Rock Cafe. :rolleyes: Apparently it was the only thing in their primary restaurant reference in Times Square! I told them that wasn't quite what I was looking for, and was told they'd need to research a bit more and call me back. By the time they called me back my friend had found her way over and we were already sitting at a rather nice brewpub that we stumbled upon after 5 minutes of wandering around. (And their recommendations at that point were a couple different bars that most certainly wouldn't have had anything past the standard lineup of undrinkable American macrobrews.)

Happily using the Citi Chairman Personal Assistants these days...

Can you use them for things you want to buy? For instance, if you wanted a PlayStation 3, which are likely going to be difficult to come across.

I have the Centurion card, and just made my first concierge request: I just found out today that my son will be representing USA Climbing on a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I've asked Amex to locate a hotel room overlooking the parade route, or find me a reserved spot to watch the parade.

I'll keep you posted on how they do.

Well this is certainly different than the international Euro platinum.
They dont provide find and seek type services. I even asked them
to book an opera in Vienna but they couldnt provide me a list of
what was playing in Vienna. They said if I knew exactly what
I wanted to see they might be able to sort it.

Find and seek is supposed to be for centurion cards only but they
dont issue them these days.

Regards
Pumuckl

I just used them yesterday to find out whether a rather well known comedian was coming to Miami and to get me tickets. I couldn't find information about it on the internet. The concierge actually located and contacted the comedian's booking agent to find out whether the comedian is visiting Miami (he's not). The booking agent said that they are looking into Miami but no current plans. The concierge left her number with the booking agent, who promised to call her if the plans change.

I thought this was pretty good service and was more than your typical quick Google search.

We were in Europe staying at a rather dreary (never again!) Club Med. In desperation I called the amex plat concierge collect from Spain asking for a booking in Spain to a recommended restaurant to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday. They found an amazing spot a Relias et Chateau location arranged the taxi and all we had to do was pay. It really was amazing and the staff at the Club Med were clueless as to where to go. It turned out to be memorable. It made the card almost worthwhile.

Started using the concierge this week after 9 months of have the corporate plat:

1. Getting a reservation at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah:
the concierge didn't know who she was, but quickly found all details and called the place. Sadly they didn't budge and still insisted on 'no reservations, come to the restaurant and put your name on the list' policy.

2. Tickets for Diana Ross in Chicago:
first they didn't get back to me in time, so I called back yesterday and after about 4-5 calls back and forth they had two tickets for me in the sold out show at about 10$ lower than the usual scalping websites were offering. I even paid the tickets with my SPG Amex, as the Plat is work related.

nice to see another example of a concert that is not a gold card event ^

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=674559
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6976508&postcount=2

Nice. This thread encourages me to push the concierge a little more. I've always hesitated with my requests thinking that they're too obscure.

Three instances where they've been very good to me:

Completely lost and asked for directions (I don't have a nav in my car). No problems there.

I wanted to purchase a very specific digital camera before departing for vacation in two days. Purchasing it online wasn't a choice as I didn't have enough time for delivery. None of the big-name stores, even camera specialist didn't carry them. Amex was able to find a retailer near me with the camera I wanted the next day and at a pretty good price (not the best, but fair).

Finally, I had a bottle of sake at Okada restaurant in Vegas. I forgot the Japanese name, but knew I'd remember it when I heard it. What I did recall was that it was the second-least expensive on the chilled sake menu at the restaurant. That was all the info Amex needed to track it down at a store in San Francisco and have it shipped to me.

About a week ago, I had an incredible specialty martini at Red Square restaurant also in Vegas. I'll be asking Amex to get the recipe for me and see how that goes.

About a week ago, I had an incredible specialty martini at Red Square restaurant also in Vegas. I'll be asking Amex to get the recipe for me and see how that goes.


Can you please post a recipe once you get it? :)

Can you please post a recipe once you get it? :)

haha :D possibly illegal? :D

nice to hear another 3 solid examples mike :)