Not really a rant but more of a musing. First off I am not bashing AMEX, I have the Platinum card and am very pleased with the benefits and customer service associated with it. Sorry it is so long.

Knowing I had three weeks of travel coming up I decided to try to maximize my stay (a la FT ). Having status in Hilton led me to getting the AMEX Hhonors card and choosing one of their properties. I get the card and when I try to use it I discover a $2K limit. I figure this must be a mistake, because when I was in college without a job, no cash and $40K in debt I could charge 5 times this on my AMEX card. Now with no debt, above 800 credit, good paying job and enough cash to secure the credit limit on every one of my credit cards added up, I’m limited to $2K?

I call and I ask about it and with a little attitude I get the “can’t raise the credit in 90 days” thing. I asked if there was anything I could do, like prepay. The rep said no and that I would have to deal with it. I pointed out that the hotel card wasn’t useful for me if I couldn’t use is at the hotel and I guess I should cancel it… and he did. Now this isn’t so bad so just a little attitude and low credit limit.

I posted something about this and a very nice FT’er pointed out that I could have paid for a couple of nights and paid the bill and repeated . So I called AMEX back and get a nice rep that says that is what she recommends to everybody who gets a low limit (sounded common, I feel dumb). She passes me to somebody else and they at first say they can just reactivate the card because it had been less than 24 hrs. This then changes to I have to reapply on the phone and they will fast track the card (BTW they said this would be under the same credit pull). This sounds workable because I have another stay for a week at a Hilton coming up. 2 weeks later, no card and I call and they say they will get it right out. A month later I get the card after my stay. Now this is getting a little funny to me.

OK next saga. I have 3 months travel coming up and getting a little tired of this and since the timing with the SPG card with the bonuses is good I apply for it and plan on staying at an SPG property. I get the notification that it is being processed. I wait a week and get an email to check the decision. I do and it is not listed and there is a note to wait 24 (or 48) hours. I wait a couple of days and check… nothing. I call and they say that you can’t submit applications within 90 day of each other. Asking around this seems to be a lie.
Now for the final thing, I receive a letter dated the day I called saying:
“… our records indicate that you have recently submitted more than one application for American Express card(s), therefore this request has been cancelled.”
Then next paragraph:
“… we are happy to inform you that you were approved! Your new card(s) has been sent…”
Seems I’ve had a couple of fumbles, a lie, a rep in a bad mood and conflicting information. So are they just messing with me?
Also what AMEX Business Travel has done lately is as nearly bizarre, but that is another post.