beltway

Escalate to Amex Executive offices. I've done it twice now, with very satisfactory results. It would be more satisfactory if Amex fixed their system to process referral bonuses more reliably, but apparently that's a bridge too far.

Jesperss

How have you escalated? Phone call? Email? Snail mail?

beltway

Snail mail the first time, which prompted a call from them. Second time around, I just called them directly.

cjzhang2000

I am still hoping for the 30K business, since I missed last year. Any news?

josephstern

Yet another problem with the referral bonus situation with this card.

I emailed Amex to follow up on a referral bonus. They actually told me I wasn't targeted for the option! I basically cut and pasted their original email to me asking me to make referrals, back into their site.

So now they're working on it. No doubt, I'll have to follow up again in a week, and again in a week after that . . .

Why make the offer if you don't intend to follow through? Just hoping your customers don't notice?

GoGreen

And I really and truly did get the card!

josephstern

LOL - amazed you realized it was yours!

mtbmtb01

they seem to be hinting at it at Frequent Miler but no one really knows.
from http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/...umors/805229/1

Million Mile Secrets
In June, Daraius, from Million Mile Secrets, wrote about “ Visiting the Banks in New York”. In that post, he gave some hints as to what we should expect regarding credit card offers. First, he told us about general trends we will see:

We’re also going to see offers which require higher spending to get the full sign-on bonus (think Chase British Airways & Chase Ink Bold), offers which require you to hold the card for a second year (think 60,000 point Citi Thank You Premier), limited time offers to persuade folks to sign-up immediately (AMEX Business Gold and Platinum), and cards which offer a benefit which makes the card worth keeping after the 1st year (think free bags or free hotel nights with certain cards).

Then, he dropped a couple of bomb-shells:

There may be a new business credit card (as opposed to their current charge card) coming out soon in Q3 (July to September) with a decent sign-on bonus from a bank which offers the boldest business cards in the market.

And:

If a credit card had a history of increasing the sign-up bonuses during a certain period, that pattern may be repeated again – as early as this summer.

Increased SPG Bonus
Last year, in late July and through most of August, Amex increased the usual signup bonus for the SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) card from 25K to 30K. I think Daraius’ comment about a summer promotion being repeated is this one. It may not sound like a huge bump, but SPG points are really valuable so it’s pretty exciting to me. If this happens and you signup for both the business and personal versions of the card, you will earn 60,000 SPG points. When you add in points earned when using the card, it won’t be long before you can take an all expense paid vacation with a redemption like Starwood’s Night’s and Flights. With this option, you can redeem 60,000 Starpoints to get 5 nights in a category 3 hotel and you’ll get 50,000 airline miles to cover your flight! Or, redeem 70,000 Starpoints for 5 nights in a category 4 hotel and 50,000 miles. This is just one example of the many great redemption options available through SPG.

beltway

Gary Leff (gleff) says it returns tomorrow, 8/7. http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...-signup-bonus/

Mindray

Do you have to have an actual business with an EIN number to apply for a business card? Or can you use your own SSN? Has anyone had experience opening up a business credit card without an actual business?

josephstern

No EIN needed - just some business activity.

And, if you don't want the third degree about the business when activating the card, be sure to activate online.

psfcfa

Just referred a friend who got instant approval last week. Is it worth a call - to SPG or AXP? - to see if they can escalate to 30K bonus?

beltway

Sure -- but wait until the new offer is live.

Jesperss

Have they actually activated the card yet? If not, call when time comes to activate.

mtbmtb01

from http://thepointsguy.com/2012/08/star...s-coming-back/
Starwood Amex 30,000 Point Bonus Is Coming Back!
by The Points Guy on August 6, 2012 · 30 comments

in American Express,Credit Cards,Starwood

As I suspected, the 30,000-point bonus for the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex is coming back!

The 30,000-point bonus will officially launch tomorrow, and I’ll have a link to it that I can share with you then. Here are the details so far, though:

-Bonus: 30,000 Starpoints -10,000 bonus Starpoints after first purchase and 20,000 bonus Starpoints after spending $5,000 in 6 months
-Promotion Period: August 7 through September 4
-$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, $65 annual fee in subsequent years

I’ll also be holding a contest to give two lucky readers 30,000 Starwood points each, so stay tuned for details.

and another from my sd post:
http://slickdeals.net/f/5015528-spg-...-signup-bonus?
I work for Starwood. Here's the details so far. It WAS 20,000 points, but it's been increased to 30,000 points for this promotion. The promotion starts at 10am EST and ends Sept 3,2012 11pm EST. You get 10,000 for your first purchase and then 20,000 with $5,000 eligibile spending in 6 months. HTH.