Oh yeah, true. About 28 Euro (not too bad).

In the past getting a value of over 1 ct was not too difficult. I remember 60K for a one-way business award between Europe and the USA for example. That is no more, unfortunately. In fact the promo awards don't seem to include much business at all any more.

Anyway, before we go too far offtopic. I'm wondering if others in NL have received this offer from Amex? Any chance to get the yearly fee discounted or not even worth the bother?

Yes, I can see the offer in my Amex Experiences app "the great upgrade". I have a Silvercard, with around 10k spend. However, I just can't personally justify spending �600/year on a credit card. Got a good travel insurance already, the additional XP makes it easier to renew my FB Silver, but there are cheaper ways to do that. Wondering why they didn't opt for a 'tier upgrade structure'. I might for example be interested in a 'big upgrade' to Gold with say 30k/points? Silver to Plat is a big step.

Also I discovered this weekend I never received my annual 15XP for the Silvercard around February. I called Amex yesterday, they made a 'case' for FlyingBlue to investigate and correct this. Anyone have some experience with this, does it help to separately contact FB?

After not getting any response from Amex or FlyingBlue for a week, I called again. FB said they can't access the system for 'security reasons' and I should call Amex to get the XP corrected. The rather unhelpful Amex rep told me it had to do with that I switched from the Gold card to the Silver card at the end of my first year. Because I called 11 months in from the start of the Gold membership to avoid getting charged the full goldcard fee, the system considers it as a 'downgrade within the Gold year'. Therefore the 30XP I got at the start of the first year, and none since because it is 2x 15 for Silver. So strange... no one told me that when I renewed the card, I did get 5.000 FB miles for renewing to a Silver card... Anyway, the rep was unhelpful 'rule is rule', 'no exception', 'can't do anything'. And that if I wanted to file a complaint, I needed to write a letter to Amex Europe HQ... no other options, no case or escalation... He didn't do anything. So I decided to disconnect.

Called again, this time got an English speaking agent. Very helpful. She investigated the issue. Said that it was indeed strange, however that she couldn't decide about this. She did make a case and escalate it to the 'account review team'. So apparently there is a 'higher up level' . Once they have the answer, I will get a call back.

I think I will miss out of the 15XP for this year... due to some administrative issue... but the experience with the helpfulness of the reps can really vary. So, you might want to try to call again if you get stuck...

I downgraded to the Gold AFKLM card in July after 6 years of having the Platinum. Amex refused to give me even 30 XPs. Zero. Pretty tacky especially since for most of the year (9 months) I paid the full Platinum fee. Wasn�t expecting 60 but zero?
No chance to open a complaint, etc.. �those are the rules�.
I don�t understand them sometimes�

According to one poster on https://fr.trustpilot.com/review/www...canexpress.com, Amex France has subcontracted customer service to a third party (Teleperformances).

This would explain the "don't care" attitude.

Once you are on this website, you can read through the comments. Many of the testimonies are perfectly plausible.

That is a bunch of very scary testimonies.

I've had to use Amex assistance only once a few years ago and was less than impressed at the time.
All late 2021 feedback makes it look like they are basically dropping the ball any chance they get. Of course TrustPilot is a honey pot for unhappy customers, but you also see companies with 4.5+ average ratings.

That had been my first thought, but with hindsight (that is to say my own experience), I find most of the testimonies credible.

Especially the ease with which Amex will suspend then cancel the cards, irrespective of :

- how long the customer has been a card holder
- how impeccable his or her payment record has been
- even worse, how much trouble it can generate for the cardholder if the card is suspended without notice and no way to reactivate it quickly. This last point may be in my view the most troublesome aspect of Amex' behaviour.

So much arrogance and disdain for their customers who had put trust in them is not a good sign for Amex' future.

P.S. There seems to be indeed an increase in complaint numbers for 2021...

Yes... although it's better than "Avis V�rifi�" which basically verifies any negative comment and deletes it LOL. Perhaps they should switch vendors?

I'll take Trust Pilot over them any day.

Amex totally deserves this kind of feedback. They simply don't care.

Fortunately I never got the dreaded "financial review" but a friend of mine did in the US. They demanded tax forms and bank statements.

She provided them... and they canceled her accounts anyway.

Never a late payment, plenty of income... just something must have been flagged in her account. In the US they pull all kinds of information that they cannot in France from many, many sources. Incredibly intrusive. But that's the US, the land of the wild and free.

I'd be curious to know what information they can get in France given the privacy laws. Clearly they can estimate your income by where you live...and they do transactional analysis. But aside from that I'd be curious to know what else they do...

Got a call back from the Amex English speaking rep. They reviewed the account and indeed recognised I am missing XP. She said beginning of January they will post the 15XP for this year and next year, 30 in total. It takes some time to process. If this indeed happens� still a bit skeptical of course. Let�s see�

She did advise to pass on the �great upgrade� to avoid messing with the system. I actually considered to take it, if this would get fixed soon. Maybe a next time.

I can tell you one little story which is mine ...

I had a platinum amex . ..very great sometimes 15k in one month ....

Anyway 1 day I paid a ticket for a friend who had some problem with the french police not even my friend his girlfriend .. This trigged a flag at the police and the police asked amex for my spendings ...
They said we need to see but all is ok .... But Amex just cancelled my card even if I did nothing wrong ..... they just said no more card in 2 months...
when I received the letter I said ... ... w...t...f...is this ....

But after when I spoke with the police they explained.. then I knew why my card was cancelled

But I still was happy with amex canceling since I never use my miles . And I love my bourso
bye bye amex ...even if they say you can renew in 1 year I don't really think it is worth it

They have access to little information for the reason you just spelled out. So they bully their customers to try to obtain private information.

What is beyond understanding, is their lack of interest in looking for a way to keep their best customers.

i found the answer to my 1st question elsewhere in the thread related to DCC , thanks to Im a new user for the explanations , even if amex doesnt do DCC , the answe below still is valid for amex

Right now there is a promotion running on AMEX France in which an AF PLT member can request the same elite status for an additional authorized card member. Does anyone know if this arrangement can be applied for an additional member who lives outside of France?

Not a problem. I have an additional cardholder who lives outside of France.