I still have the "old" Marriott card with a $30 annual fee because I missed out on upgrading early to get the 15,000 bonus points. The $30 fee came up on this month's statement and I asked to have it waived. Agent refused, saying that they cannot do that "according to our agreement with Marriott". That is nonsense, of course, but I didn't dispute it. Instead, I asked for the same 3,000 bonus points (1 cent per point) that I got last year when I made this request. Agent said they'd "submit a memo to marketing". Called yesterday for update and spoke with different agent who said my request had been granted. She also indicated that they do this routinely for anyone who calls and disputes the $30 annual fee.