American Express Membership Rewards - PriorityPass with Platinum charges

How long does it usually take for Priority Pass to charge your Platinum Card for an accompanying person (guest) to a lounge?

Took nearly two months for me this time! Is this normal?

How long does it usually take for Priority Pass to charge your Platinum Card for an accompanying person (guest) to a lounge?

Took nearly two months for me this time! Is this normal?

Depends on the lounge. The charge will happen pretty much as soon as the Priority Pass will receive the information from the lounge.

Some of the lounges are using electronic readers and then Priority Pass will be informed sooner - some of the lounges are using manual forms and then they will send the collected forms once a month to Priority Pass.

I have seen the charges coming anything between couple of days and couple of months. Sometimes they do not charge at all :)

I think so...

Edinburgh uses the old swipe the card onto a bit of paper method and that seems to take forever! I have a pending charge from August that I still haven't seen on my statement!

I've only use the PP in other airports in Europe, they tend to be electronic, so the you get charged around 2 weeks after the visit.

Chris

How long does it usually take for Priority Pass to charge your Platinum Card for an accompanying person (guest) to a lounge?

Took nearly two months for me this time! Is this normal?

Wots worse is if you cancel you Amex card, any of YOUR visits that had not been processed at the time of cancellation (they're still processed, even though they are free) get billed to your now closed Amex account.

I was away and didn't expect to come home to further Amex statements on my door mat. Had about 6 charges through from them. Amex just told me I would have to pay up or deal with PP. PP put the credits through.

Amex's attitude was pathetic and a bit nasty. They said PP was nothing to do with them and I was responsible for any charges put through on the account after closure whether I'd authorised them or not. (Whatever that means...)

Depends on the lounge. The charge will happen pretty much as soon as the Priority Pass will receive the information from the lounge.

Some of the lounges are using electronic readers and then Priority Pass will be informed sooner - some of the lounges are using manual forms and then they will send the collected forms once a month to Priority Pass.

I have seen the charges coming anything between couple of days and couple of months. Sometimes they do not charge at all :)

Ah, that explains it. Yes some did seem to be using the ancient paper methods - I thought the UK got rid of those 'manual' card copiers!

Still, I was kind of hoping it would be free. Oh well, better luck next time!

Wots worse is if you cancel you Amex card, any of YOUR visits that had not been processed at the time of cancellation (they're still processed, even though they are free) get billed to your now closed Amex account.

I was away and didn't expect to come home to further Amex statements on my door mat. Had about 6 charges through from them. Amex just told me I would have to pay up or deal with PP. PP put the credits through.

Amex's attitude was pathetic and a bit nasty. They said PP was nothing to do with them and I was responsible for any charges put through on the account after closure whether I'd authorised them or not. (Whatever that means...)

Interesting - thanks for this post jimbo. The tought had occurred to me recently - what would happen if I cancelled.

I'm not sure there's anything you can do to prevent this from happening. I suppose if you know you've got some outstanding visits that you need, you could call both PP and Amex. But as usual, nothing will probably happen!

When you cancel a credit card, you do not really cancel it. You remain legally liable for any charge put though that card, theoretically indefinitely. You cannot escape any sort of forthcoming charge simply by cancelling the card.

When you cancel a credit card, you do not really cancel it. You remain legally liable for any charge put though that card, theoretically indefinitely. You cannot escape any sort of forthcoming charge simply by cancelling the card.

This is absolutely true, at least with regards to the UK. There is talk of this often on the MoneySavingForums.

I recall three years being mentioned as the limit - they can't charge you on a card three years after you've cancelled it.

It's not very good business practise, but nonetheless, it happens and it's perfectly legal. :td:

When you cancel a credit card, you do not really cancel it. You remain legally liable for any charge put though that card, theoretically indefinitely. You cannot escape any sort of forthcoming charge simply by cancelling the card.

Yes I realise this... perhaps my comment was misleading. The point is that that wasn't relevent. I had never suggested to them that I wasn't liable because I'd cancelled the card - this was a red herring they introduced. It was just the charges were wrong. I hadn't used PP since closing the card, so I shouldn't have been charged. Furthermore, this was not the case of a "normal supplier" who were still charging my account. It was something that came "free" with their card - any agreement I had with PP was collateral with Amex. So it was unreasonable for them to take the position they took (that it was nothing to do with them). Also the charge related to a vist by me (not a guest) - something that was supposed to be free. They just assumed I'd used the PP after I cancelled the card, and then invented an arbitrary charge to cover this which they applied to my account. Anyway rather than get "high and mighty" with them, I just went to PP and they helped.

The issue of "Continuous Charge Authorities" being difficult to stop is a real one. The credit card companies (and Amex I suppose) take the view that once started, you can't ever cancel them via the card company - your claim is against the merchant. I believe this has now been challenged in court and was held to be unreasonable - if you've cancelled your authority to the merchant and then notified the card company, they can no longer charge you. This may apply to credit cards only (ie those regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974) I can't remember - I don't have the authority for this with me.

Often companies try to tie you up in contractual terms - but its not widely known that onerous terms are often ineffective either because of the The Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999 or the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. The Office of Fair Trading recently intervened in respect of late payment fees as a result of these laws. Credit Cards now generally charge GBP12 - even though they had written contracts entitling them to charge GBP20 or more.

It was of some concern to me that Amex (chargecards) don't offer the same level or protection as cards under the Consumer Credit Act. Anyway in the end, for other reasons, I stopped using Amex for anything other than its travel insurance and PP.

Often companies try to tie you up in contractual terms - but its not widely known that onerous terms are often ineffective either because of the The Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999 or the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. The Office of Fair Trading recently intervened in respect of late payment fees as a result of these laws. Credit Cards now generally charge GBP12 - even though they had written contracts entitling them to charge GBP20 or more.

The cat is well and truly out of the bag on this one, apparently you can ask the bank to refund all charges for the past 6 years (even if you don't have the bank statements).

Check out this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm

Wow, it seems you guys in civilized first world actually have strong consumer protection statues^

(although according the the lost post containing an article from a reporter not a FT'er, it does seem that it can be too extreme).

Never the less If there can't be a happy median, I prefer your way that my own second world country's pro monopoly, anti competition, anti consumer climate.


well once upon a time the USA had strong consumer protection statutes and state attorney generals that actually enforce them.

But then something happened to change all that.

It was called the REAGAN ADMINISTRATION.

And Imperialist George W gave it's nameake a two week funeral-- the longest in modern history--hoping for a spike in the polls