Interesting Amex application experiences(s)
 

I applied/accepted for Gold in April.
Applied/accepted for Hilton Surpass and Delta Gold in May.
Applied for Hilton Honors and went to "in progress" in August, turned into "Cancelled" 1 week later. Called, said reason was "Already has a Hilton Card".
Applied for SPG last week went to in progress and "Cancelled". Called and was told I was in "fraud hold" due to too many applications, but that the application would be reinstated (I was worried the 30k points would go away).
Application still showed cancelled this am so I called and computer voice told me card was cancelled because "original application was accepted." When I spoke to a human, she told me it was because "I already had a hotel card (Hilton Surpass)." We discussed the various differences between SPG and Hilton for awhile.
She reset the application and escalated it to Executive Team (lol) and assured me the bonus was still in play.
Considering how fabulous the rest of the internet applications are - payment and initial application- I find it laughable the rest of the process is so convoluted.
Is my experience one of a kind or have others gone to application hell?

I'm not surprised that you were having so many issues considering that you applied for 5 cards from American Express over the course of 4 months. :p

Is it a kind of addiction ? ;)

I have 6 AMEX cards now (4 pers, 2 biz), and 5 received in the last 5 months, the last 3 were in only 2 months... ymmv, who knows

Without knowing yours/your company's spending habits, let me just caution you on the dreaded Amex FR. Sometimes, through absolutely not fault of your own (its usually an Amex automated computer algorythm), you can get pegged with one of these when accruing new accounts that fast.