Amex not honoring promised referral bonuses, suggestions?
 

Hi all,

last fall I received an email offer from Amex to refer my Delta gold card and receive 10k miles for each referral, plus a 10k bonus if I referred at least 3 people (so long as they were approved). I met all of the requirements for the offer and my 3 referrals were approved. The bonus points were to arrive within 6-8 weeks.

During that period I canceled my Delta gold card. I called Amex in advance to confirm that this would not affect my bonus points for the referrals, and was assured that I would still receive them. Stupidly I did not write down the name of the representative who told me this.

Now the 8 weeks is long past and after a few phone calls Amex is telling me they won't issue the points to an account that is closed. Obviously this is unacceptable to me; I fulfilled my end of the bargain, and now they're failing to do the same. Honestly I can't understand their approach, as they are going to anger not one but four customers by doing this. My friends are ready to cancel their cards immediately if I ask them to.

I spoke to a supervisor, and then asked to speak to the next level up and was told I would be called back in the next 48 hours. Does anyone have experience with this? I would appreciate any suggestions on how to approach this problem.

Thanks!

Did you jot down the name of the representative who guaranteed the offer? It is more helpful if you know who told you this.

I am having an extremely difficult time getting my referrals to post as well, though with my Platinum Amex. I got nowhere over the phone or via secure message, so I am writing in and sending all the documentation of the names/dates of referrals and the email confirmations that Amex sends back when you make a referral. I'm not sure if that will work or not, but it is the next logical thing to try. I'm not sure how having the closed account will come into play for you. I imagine it will make things more difficult, but I very much understand your frustration with the referral issue.

No, I did not get the name of the representative. On one hand, it would have been prudent of me to do that. On the other hand, it's not my job to make sure the representative knows what he is talking about. I called and was told there would be no problem; what more should I reasonably be expected to do? The referral agreement doesn't mention anything about my account having to be open in order to receive the bonus. After my conversation with the first supervisor I have a sense that even if I had the name of the rep, that would just mean he gets yelled at, not that I get my points.

I am ready to accept creative solutions to this problem as well, like having them issue bonus points to a different open account (Hilton) or to reopen the card and issue the bonus points to a new account, etc. I'd like to hear from anyone who has dealt with this issue and has advice on what did or did not work.

Thanks for your replies!

You had to know I would chime in about the AMEX terms and conditions clause that gives the company carte blanche to do anything it wants. That said it is reasonable to not award rewards to a closed account - as some computer systems simply cannot handle the complexity of that transaction. Typically there is a clause buried in the terms and conditions that an account must be open and in good standing to receive awards.

The question is whether there still is a way to receive the awards. The answer is yes if the company allows a manual control overide. Your ability to effect an override is a case-by-case situation or YMMV.

MP has other considerations as mamaMP got invited to an FR to which it was suggested she bring cookies and sweet tea for the PR effect. It is even possible she got a free FR for referring customers for potential reward. Stranger things have happened and the cardinals of The Spanish Inquisition (ie the auditors, fraud examiners, risk and loss prevention professionals) do have a very quirky sense of humour.:p

i don't think anywhere in the TC that accompanies the refferal page it mentions that the account must be open, at least it doesn't say that in my plat amex or prg tab.

that being said, without a secure message proof or a name might be hard to plead your case. did you try twitter? they are sometimes more helpful.

Doesn't Amex keep a log of calls received? Seems like they could figure out who I spoke to if they really wanted, though again I doubt they would really care if I could provide the name; I think they'd just reprimand that person.

Twitter is a good idea, but I have never really used it and don't understand how it works (though I do have an account). What would I say? "@AmericanExpress isn't making good on rewards points"?

Thanks for your suggestions!

One more note,

all of the requirements for the promotion were fulfilled before my account was closed. I closed it during the 6-8 weeks afterwards when I was waiting for the miles to post.

I suggest you review these threads to understand how American Express's Twitter team can help with these types of problems:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...y-notated.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...us-points.html

Do you still have an American Express card account?

Yes, I have another card account with them that is still open and in good standing.

Does that card participate in MR? If not, it could be that you have also closed you MR account which would lose all your points.

Original post mentioned a Delta card. I assume the referral bonus would be denominated in Skymiles.

Twitter folks told me tough luck when i had a problem with bonus. Never got it.
On two other occasions i has sm confirmation and got them to honor those.

I've never had an MR card. I had the Delta Gold for two years, and got the Hilton Amex last year. The specified reward was in skymiles.

You may have other avenues, but otherwise may come down to formally requesting the recorded transcript of the call. I find they have recorded ALL calls since this summer (perhaps earlier).

Try Try Again
 

Even tho AmEx does somewhat note calls the notes aren't very good and not all csr's read them. My experiences have included a couple times I got big AmEx bonuses after quite a few denial calls.

Also fibbing and saying "a manager said blah,blah,blah" often works.