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Old May 31, 2013, 3:32 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: mia
For discussion of retention bonuses on Starwood Amex cards, see Annual fee retention bonus for Starwood Amex card.

Retention's department:
(800) 452-3945

Everyday Preferred
10/13/15
2.5K points not to cancel, and 5k points for 1K spend within three months, Total 7.5K points, or in the alternate, a $75 statement credit or gift card.
1/15/16 - 16k spend - first renewal - offered $50, no MR offer - accepted
3/14/16 - 98k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.
11/18/16 -50k spend - first renewal - offered $100 or 15k MR - took the 15k.

Platinum OPEN/Business
6/11/15 - 8.5k spend - 2nd renewal - offered $100 or 10k MR - deferred on offer (see post #314)
8/18/2015 - 90k spend - 2nd renewal - first two times I called, no offer. Final time I asked explicitly to cancel, was offered $350 statement credit.
12/18/2015 - 10k spend, first renewal. Offered 10k MR, cancelled.
1/6/2016 - 10K spend, about 8 weeks after account opening - offered $50 credit or 7.5K MRs, took MRs.
4/29/2016 - 15k spend, 3 months after opening. No offer other than downgrade to BGR.
6/16/2016 - 15k spend to get signup bonus (in Jan 2016). Minimal spend after. Took a lot of nudging - including explicit request to cancel card -- but was offered 10k MR to keep open. No spend requirement.
9/29/2016 - offered $100, didn't catch whether there was a spend requirement, i canceled as I have a personal Platinum card and the go-go passes weren't worth having two.

Business Gold Rewards
10/10/15 - Offered 10K MR. declined and closed
12/26/15 - Offered 10K MR or $100 Credit, counter offered $150 or 15K MR. They offered me 15K MR..accepted.
1/26/16 - Offered 15k MR, counter offered $150 and 15k MR, offered either but not both. Accepted 15k MR. $20k annual spend. Opened account 1/2015.
2/2/16 Offered 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. $40k annual spend. Opened account 3/2015.
2/4/16 Offered 15K MR. Accepted 15K. About a $15K annual spend.
3/5/16 Offered 15K MR or $100 credit. Took the 15K MR. Minimal spend.
5/23/16 Offered $50, then $100, then 15k MR. Accepted 15k MR. Also let me change the 3x category in the middle of the year.
6/9/16 7500 MR offer, even pushed for 10k or 15k. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/11/16 7500 MR offer, about 30k spend. AF due in two weeks. Took it.
6/20/16 No offer. ~$10k spend. Wanted to close the card anyway so did it.
9/30/16 Offered $50 statement credit. (<$5K spend) That was all. Didn't take it and cancelled card
10/04/16 Offered $50 statement credit or 7,500 points or pay the annual fee of $175 with 17,000 points instead of 25000 points. (<$9K spend) Didn't take it any of them and cancelled card

Personal Platinum
1/11/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months. $22K spend in 2015.
1/17/16 - 5K points immediately, 10K points for 2K spend within two months. $560 spend in 2015.
1/26/16 - $200 "loyalty credit" without requirements. $18k spend in 2015 (~50k total Amex spend in 2015). Cardholder for 3 years.
1/27/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points.
1/29/16 - 5K points immediately + 10K points for 2K spend within 60 days, or $100 credit. Took the points. Cardholder 3 years; $17k spend last year.
2/3/16 - 5K points now and 10K points after $2K spend in 60 days. Rep had to "dig deep" into my account to find this "unique and very special" offer (Yeah, right). Accepted.
3/31/16 - Only offer was $100 statement credit. $15k spend last year.
04/19/16 - $200 statement credit for being loyal to amex (cardholder for 2 years $65k spend).
4/29/16 Initial offer $200. HUCA 5k MR immediately, 15k MR after 3k spend in 60 days.
8/12/16 - 40K MR immediately. Card holder for 7 year, $55K spend in 2015 (Post #1015)
8/19/16 - 5K points immediately, 15K points for 3K spend within three months or 200$ statement credit. Card holder only for 1 year but amex customer for 8 years
8/19/16 - called before AF hit, offered $200 credit, accepted, not a ton of spend after hitting minimum spend for signup bonus, Amex customer since 2013 with 3 other cards but generally don't spend that much on Amex (maybe $10k/year)
8/25/16 - $200 Statement credit or 20k points for 3k spend within 3 months. Amex for 6 years, plat for 1 year. 40k spend across all amex.
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit, $20k spent on this last year
9/9/16 - $200 Statement credit. ~$14K spend this year.
9/10/16 - 25k MR (no spend req). $11k in spend last yr. Tough sell from AX.
9/12/16 - 15k points after $2k spend in 3 months. ~$7k in spend
9/21/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~5k spend
9/29/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$20k in spend during past year
10/6/16 - 40k points, no spend req. ~$35k in spend during past year
10/7/16 - 25k points, no spend req. ~$22k T12 spend
10/8/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$10k spend during past year
10/17/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$5k spend during past year. took the points.
10/29/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$11k spend during past year. took the points.
11/14/16 - 25k points or $200, no spend req. ~$15k spend during past year. took the points.
11/19/16 40k points or $400, no spend req. ~$45k spend during past year.

Platinum Mercedes Benz
9/30/15 - 5K points immediately, in addition to 15K points for 3K spend within three months. 20K points Total to retain card.

Platinum Ameriprise
7/21/16 Offered $200 or 20k MR. Accepted $200 statement credit to offset the $450 AF for all 4 cards in the account. 35K spent

SPG Personal
12/4/15 - $25 loyalty statement credit
2/3/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit but did allude to a potential bonus when the SPG card goes away; referenced the $200-300 bonus offered to Costco Amex holders being asked to convert to Sams Club Amex products
3/1/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit
6/14/2016 - $25 plus 3,000 SPG points - Had to ask Supv for the addl. 3,000 pts.
7/6/2016 - $25 or 1500 points after $1000 spend. Canceled card. $25k spend last year.
7/15/2016 - $25 loyalty statement credit. HUCA, HUCA, declined, cancelled card. $10K spend last year, less recently.
8/10/2016 - Paltry $25 or 500 points + additional 1000 points after $1000 spend (total of 1500) in 3 months. I have another ~60 days for af to lock in, so will call again in ~30 days. $35k spend last year, but less than $1000 / month this year.
8/16/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $48K spend, took the points.
8/24/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $13K spend YTD, took the points.
8/25/16 - $25 loyalty statement credit, $5K YTD spend. HUACA resulted in the same offer (even with a symethic agent that noted my 15 years of membership).
9/13/16 $95 credit with +- $40K spend. Fast & easy
9/17/16 $25 or 1500 SPG points after $1K spend. Cancelled the card
9/17/16 Called after renewal fee posted. Offered 5,000 SPG points - $40K spent on this card.
9/18/16 $50 or 7k. ~$80k spend.
10/1/16 $25 offer ~$15k spend. Cancelled card.
10/7/16 $50 or 7k. ~$76k T12 spend.
10/27/16 ($7K spend in last 12 months, first renewal) $25 statement credit OR 500 Starpoints + 1,000 Starpoints for $1,000 spend in next 3 months
11/11/16 ($4k spend this year) We respect your decision. Goodbye.
12/16/16 Member since 1995, spent $25k in 12 months, was offered 7k points. Love SPG points so didn't enquire about any of the other credits.

SPG OPEN/Business
8/3/15 - called with intent to cancel, $18k spend last year, offered $100 one-time statement credit - accepted.
8/12/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, offered only $50 one-time statement credit - accepted
12/14/15 - called with intent to cancel, $15k spend last year, AF hit 90 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time statement credit.
1/14/16 - called with intent to cancel or product change to no fee Simply Cash card, $10-12k spend last year, $65 AF hit 30 days ago with $0 spend since then. Offered $100 one-time credit to keep card.
8/29/16 - called to cancel & they didn't offer any retention bonus so we canceled it. Only had min. spend last year.
10/1/16 - retention offered 5K SPG pts.
10/19/16 - offered $25 credit. Spend last year ~$15k.

DL Skymiles Platinum OPEN/Business
5/28/15 - called with intent to cancel, card opened 9 months, initial min spend (1.3k) only - offered simply cash open, declined, closed.
03/10/15- the date is date of miles post, do not remember original request date, no offers until reaching the retention department, 15k miles offered with 50k spend
11/4/15 - called to see what retention offer would be $60K spend offered nothing. sm
12/10/15 - Called again to actually cancel, got 25K skymiles. Kept card open. sm
04/26/16 - Called again, 3k bonus as good will to keep open. Will HUCA for 3rd time.
10/23/16 - called to cancel told me they have nothing to offer as I took advantage of the 25K miles last year. Said also they will remove the companion travel cert in my account if I cancel. I have until mid Nov and will call again

Premier Rewards Gold
6/12/15 - 1st renewal. Called 5 days after fee posted stating not happy about losing 15k bonus. Offered 10k MR now and 10k after $3k spend in 60 days. Accepted. $40k spent last year.
11/2/15 - Offered 20K MR. $130K spend in previous year.
1/14/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$8k spend previous year.
1/21/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days or $75 credit + $75 credit if $1k spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/11/16 - Offered 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days or $50 credit + $50 credit if $500 spend in 60 days. ~$25k in spend last year
2/23/16 - Offered 5k MR + 15k MR with $3k spend in 60 days . ~$33k in spend in my first year
4/12/16 - Offered $50 statement credit + $50 credit if meet $500 spend in 60 days. ~$10k spend previous year.
4/22/16 - 1st offer - $50 statement + $50 credit after $500 spend in 60 days. 2nd offer - 2.5k MR + 5k MR with $1k spend in 60 days (took 2nd offer) ~10k spend previous year.
6/9/16 No offers. Minimal spend. AF just posted. Left as-is, going to wait till closer to 60 day mark.
6/26/16 - Offered $175 or 25k MR. $135k spend.
6/20/2016 Phoned and requested transfer to retention dept. After a brief explanation of benefits, I was offered $50 statement credit and $50 additional statement credit after $500 spend in 60 days. Took the offer.
7/25/2015 1st anniversary, 25k spend. Offered upgrade to platinum with 10k + 50k MR. Lengthy talk with Retention who finally offered only 7.5k MR for $1k spend in 92 days. Very disappointed. Declined. HUCA. 2nd call on the 60th day: offered and took the 50+50 offer.
8/19/2016: Presented with 2 offers: (1) $50 statement credit now and $50 statement credit after spending $500 within 60 days (2) 2,500 MR points now, and 5,000 MR points after spending $1,000 within 90 days.
11/2/2016: $100 credit no spend needed

DL Skymiles Gold
6/2015 - Have had card since 1991 and have never asked for a retention offer. $30k spend annually except for the last year with $1k spend. Flat out denied hard for any retention. Paid AF b/c my oldest card.
1/2016 - Have had card for ten years+, usually around $10,000/year spend. Never asked for retention bonus before. Given two choices: 1) 1000 miles immediately and 2000 more miles for $1000 spend in 60 days or 2) $75 statement credit. Took the $75.
5/2016 - Had card for 3 years, never asked for a retention. Spend is probably only around $2K/year. Was not offered any miles or credit.
6/15/2016 - 15k offer. Have had card since 1995. <1k spend last year. Took 15k

DL Skymiles Gold Business
9/24 - under $1k spend in last 12 months, no offer. They said they don't have a retention department.
4/18/2016 - Had card for 1 year with 2K spend. Asked for the nature of my small business, what expenses and travel requirements I have for my business. Given two choices: 1) 7,500 miles immediately to offset $95 AF or 2) switch to a generic no fee Amex. Took the 7,500 miles.


Hilton HHonors Surpass
1/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points
4/2016 - Offered $75 statement credit or 10k points. Took the credit.
6/2016 - Offered 500 HH points now and another 1K after spending 1K or $25. Took the $25.
9/2016 - spend > $40k, 2nd year had card, offered $50 statement credit or 5000 points. Took the credit.
11/2016 - Spend $5k on this card, $55k in last year across all Amex accounts. 1st anniversary, offered $25 statement credit or 1,000 points. Cancelled.
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American Express retention offers [2008 - 2016]

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Old Dec 10, 2015, 11:40 am
  #2071  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: San Diego
Programs: Delta PLAT, Marriot Plat, IHG Plat, SPG Gold, A couple of other airlines - pee on
Posts: 623
Delta Business AMEX Platinum

11/4/15 - called to see what retention offer would be $60K spend offered nothing.
12/10/15 - Called again to actually cancel, got 25K Skymiles. Kept card open.
kaaria is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 11:42 am
  #2072  
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: San Diego
Programs: Delta PLAT, Marriot Plat, IHG Plat, SPG Gold, A couple of other airlines - pee on
Posts: 623
Originally Posted by eethan
Fully intended to cancel my Business Gold, having spent $13.5k on it in the past year. Lady was anxious to describe all benefits. - I listened but cut her off rather curtly. She kept going so I offered to keep the card w/ the annual fee waived. She offered 15k and I accepted.

When Amex assesses your value as a customer, how far back do they look? For example, my YTD spending was only 3k, so am surprised they considered $10k I spent end of last year.
Could be that their annual spending calculation is based on 12 months since fees are charged rather than calendar months.
kaaria is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 11:48 am
  #2073  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: AA & DL / SPG & HGP
Posts: 1,723
I wouldn't be so sure that annual spend (by any calendar) is so much a consideration... there might be other variables at work. I'm just saying this because my annual spend (SPG AMEX, only a couple of years old) is well under $40k, and I had the entire AF waived.

Maybe, like with DirectTV, SiriusXM, Comcast (for some), etc., obtaining a discount is based not on loyalty (i.e. time and spend) but on variables like CSR evaluation, day of the week, date within the month, hidden notations in a customer's account screens, etc. I don't know, but it seems logical, as reports of waivers/discounts/points in this thread show little trend.
canyonleo is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 5:19 pm
  #2074  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: IHG, RC, HH, AA, QF, UA, Aeroplan
Posts: 2,692
Originally Posted by Jimgotkp
Family member called AMEX to see if they would offer anything for the AMEX Plat (he had it for two years w/ around ~$15K spend this year). He didn't ask them to cancel the card, instead he said he was thinking about it and if they would offer anything. CSR just cancelled the card and told him it was cancelled. He spoke to someone else and a supervisor who listened to the recording of phone call, they said they couldn't do anything as "thinking" is the same as "want" in that situation. They declined reinstating the card unless they do a another hard pull and wouldn't offer any MR points as compensation (he has the PRG too).

I would've expected better from AMEX. *thumbs down*
may be worth documenting in writing, ask them to reinstate the account, if that's the objective, as clearly there was a misunderstanding.
Tim O'Brien is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 7:46 pm
  #2075  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Programs: Airline Free Agent, Bonvoy Platinum, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,815
Originally Posted by Tim O'Brien
may be worth documenting in writing, ask them to reinstate the account, if that's the objective, as clearly there was a misunderstanding.
He doesn't want to spend more time on it after speaking to two people for an hour or so. Pretty sad that they wouldn't do anything especially after the supervisor heard the recording as well.
Jimgotkp is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 9:42 pm
  #2076  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: IHG, RC, HH, AA, QF, UA, Aeroplan
Posts: 2,692
Originally Posted by Jimgotkp
He doesn't want to spend more time on it after speaking to two people for an hour or so. Pretty sad that they wouldn't do anything especially after the supervisor heard the recording as well.
Chase the alternative, Citi improving too recently^
Tim O'Brien is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 9:22 am
  #2077  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: LAX
Posts: 36
Business Gold. $175 annual fee posted. Approx 10k spend. Asked to cancel, offered 15k MR. Accepted
mrflyhigher is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 5:09 pm
  #2078  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 509
Regular plt, called to cancel, about $12k annual spending, was offered $200 statement credit. Accepted.
ManFactSpendLA is offline  
Old Dec 15, 2015, 11:06 am
  #2079  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: New York City
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,129
Called today, Amex Open Plat and wanted to cancel. Sent to specialist who tried to downgrade my card to Gold etc. I said no. Then asked if anything she could do to offset the fee and was told nothing because last year I received a $200 "loyalty bonus" towards the annual fee. ugh. I guess my goose is cooked!
mizzou miles is offline  
Old Dec 17, 2015, 8:44 am
  #2080  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,084
@mizzou miles and @ManFactSpendLA

when is your Plat AF scheduled to post?
slivrflyr is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2015, 10:06 am
  #2081  
Hilton Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,796
Called in for my AmEx Business Platinum. Straight up said that I was considering cancelling because the benefits weren't competitive compared to the Citi Prestige Card. Was transferred to a retention specialist who asked about my business and blahblahblah and then tried to sell me on the Gold card. I declined and was offered 10,000 MR. Told them I'd think about it.

Definitely not worth keeping at 10,000 MR points. Will apply for Everyday and then cancel.

Edit: Called back and said I wanted to straight up cancel. Transferred to retention again when the main agent couldn't cancel it on her own. I had to triple-check that I wouldn't lose my membership rewards, I'm glad I asked. They hadn't linked the new card and I woulda lost the points. They made no effort/offer other than trying to sell other cards.

Neil

Last edited by missamo80; Dec 18, 2015 at 11:39 am
missamo80 is offline  
Old Dec 19, 2015, 10:50 am
  #2082  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 130
Canadian Platinum. $14K spend in the last 12 months. Called to cancel and was not offered anything. Keeping for a few days to finalize some in-store returns and will cancel after. Probably will just cancel my Gold and Business Gold as well since there's not much point in keeping them anymore.
flyCsG is offline  
Old Dec 19, 2015, 5:39 pm
  #2083  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 423
Do I have to go through the whole song and dance?

Personal Platinum card since 2001, I had no idea about these retention bonuses! Are people calling and doing the whole song and dance about cancelling? What if I flat out just ask for a retention bonus? I actually do quite like my Platinum and am a bad liar, but I'm getting quite worked up seeing all these posts about retention bonuses by people who have had their card for a year or two so I can definitely get fired up about that!
suziemay is offline  
Old Dec 21, 2015, 7:57 am
  #2084  
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Snohomish, WA
Programs: AS MVP Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,796
You call up and say you are considering cancelling the card. I didn't even have to lie: the Citi Prestige Card is better than the Platinum Amex for me in pretty much every way. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to get an offer that made the Amex worth keeping at $450/yr.

Neil
missamo80 is offline  
Old Dec 22, 2015, 3:47 pm
  #2085  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 423
Update: Called today and was offered 40,000 miles or $400 credit, was told that was the largest offer they have access to. From previous posts, seems like 50,000 miles/$450 credit has been the highest offer so I guess I did OK. Didn't feel like staying on the phone for much longer. I guess I should be calling back every few years?

Thanks to this board, I would never have known ^
suziemay is offline  


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