Mats

I just got another opportunity to reply through the BBB. I pointed out that AMEX just had a $75 million settlement regarding deceptive marketing, and I consider this to be part of a pattern of behavior. I also explained that 25,000 Membership Rewards points would be of relatively insignificant cost to AMEX. As I did here, I pointed out their stubborn pattern of responses despite clear advertising. As I put it, "I followed their fine print; American Express has not."

flyer4512

I hear you but did you know about the applicant language and still applied ?

Some here ( not saying you) seem to think using an incognito browser to avoid bring up the language that says certain bonuses will not be paid automatically insures that you will get the bonus.

I saw the language for the SPG card then used an incognito browser to sign up, first 10K posted and I was told I would not get the 15k points for spending $5k as I was an existing Amex cardholder.

I am still going to make the spend (Costco purchases, need an Amex and SPG is the best) so we'll see if they happen to post

Agents make mistakes so IMO it's best to go by the terms Amex sets on every application

farnorthtrader

I applied on the basis that it was a different business that was the applicant, making the fine print a moot point, as this is the only card that this business has. No special browser shenanigans required, just a straight application in response to a targeted offer to my second business. They treat me personally as different from my businesses, so I thought that logically they would also treat one business as being different from the other business and then, of course, they confirmed it for me. Evidently, logic has no place in their world, as they have given me sign up bonuses for both the personal PRG and the business gold rewards, but when I talk to them now, they say that they won't give it for a different business because I am the primary cardholder on both businesses? Again, if they had told me this to start with, I would say that is fine (not logical, but fine), I have a different interpretation of their rules than they do and they are their rules so their interpretation should probably rule. My issue is that they cannot be trusted. Even when you receive written confirmation, you cannot rely on it and act on it, because they will not live up to it and you will be left with the consequences.

flyer4512

Live and learn I guess. the 10k points ( assuming it's $1 a point) should offset over 1/2 of the $189 you spent if you just buy a gift card

farnorthtrader

When last I wrote, the "supervisor" was supposed to get back to me by Jan 13. I waited until the 23rd, then called them as they had never gotten back to me. They advised that the supervisor had left a voice mail for me on the 10th. Except, the line they said they left the voice mail on does not have voice mail! Person on the other end said that someone would call me within 2 days. Never received the call, so I called again today (7 days later). First time I called today, the person at AMEX said that she saw the request to have someone call me and that no call had taken place, said she was putting me on hold to investigate it and promptly hung up on me. Never called me back, so I called again. Now AMEX rep says that she sees the notes about Jan 23 conversation, but there is no way that anybody would tell me that they would call me back in two days because they never call people, they only respond in writing and I would get a written response within two weeks of the 23rd.
I was in banking for 20 years and I can honestly say that I have never dealt with an institution or an internal department that was as inept as the people that I have dealt with at AMEX. I can understand one or two people not knowing what they are doing or making up stories to cover their butts, but I have dealt with 3 chat reps and at least 6 phones reps in at least 4 departments including at least two supervisors or managers and I haven't found a competent one in the bunch, or if I have, then whoever they have handed it off to to deal with it has completely lost it. Out of 7 deadlines that they have set for themselves to contact me, they have met 1. And at least a few have outright lied to me because they told me one thing and a different rep told me the opposite, or they claimed to have done things that were not technically possible, like leaving a voice mail on a line with no voice mail.

holocker

I signed up in January online for an American Express old Business Card with a 75,000 point bonus with a certain spend and no fee the first year. I have emailed and called American Express and they say they have no record of a bonus offered with my application. Has anyone else had this problem and did you get it resolved?
Thanks

william142

I had the same problem. Signed up in August when they were offering the 10K plus 20K extra. Hit the minimum spend on both my card and wife's card in late December. Bonuses didn't post. Got an email address of a supervisor, sent over an email on my account and they told me because I was a loyal customer they would honor the bonus. On my wife's card, went back in forth for 6 weeks and even got starwood involved. Just like most businesses in life, if you keep bothering them, they will eventually just want you to go away. So at some point they credited my wife's account. I would just keep being a pest. Call and chat, email, get starwood involved, threaten legal action. At some point they will just want you to go away...

Mats

The Better Business Bureau gave up.
I think I tried every possible way to get them to honor their offer.

amieuro

I don't agree that the points are not worth that much. Apparantly the points are worth a great deal of money to Amex. Look no further than the changes to Delta's FFP in 2015. Delta sells Amex millions of dollars worth SkyMiles. Look at all the Amex customers that are being screwed or shorted their MR points through these signup bonuses. Those MR points add up. Sure 25k doesn't seem like much but add that to the many dis-satisfied customers missing bonuses and Amex is saving a bundle of money. I've been a loyal ( Amex recently told me that) customer since 1993 and when I upgraded to Gold several years ago I was promised in writing a 10k MR bonus. Amex credited me with 5k and refused to budge.

flyer4512

Did you have the SPG Amex within the past year or ANY open PERSONAL Amex cards ?

You should post that email as it may help others

farnorthtrader

Final resolution to my ongoing saga, after 5 months of fighting, they finally put in writing that they would not give me the Platinum bonus of 100,000 miles. I called to cancel business platinum card (and PRG card, although I never got that far). They told me how valuable a customer I was (blah, blah, blah) and offered 25000 if I would keep the platinum open. I agreed and points were in my account within minutes. I will still, almost certainly, close both accounts when annual fee hits, but will still have SPG business and personal and business gold. Probably will also cancel SPG cards when their fees hit too. Absolutely the worst customer service experience I have had with any FI (and that is saying something because I also deal with BOA )

sonomawine

Back at the end of August I applied for the SPG AMEX card that had the 10K bonus after first spend then 20K after $5K in spend in 6 months. I confirmed the offer details with a chat session on August 31st and saved the transcript in case of any issues.

I completed the $5K spend in November, and didn't receive the 20K bonus. I did get the 10K bonus. I contacted AMEX in early February and they opened a "ticket", 5 weeks later I called to follow-up and was told the "ticket" was still open. I then escalated the issue to a supervisor who opened a claim so I could upload a transcript of the chat session I uploaded the chat transcript, and then received a reply that I was not eligible for the offer. It is as if they didn't read the chat transcript that clearly says I was eligible for the 20K bonus. Of course with the new communication schema you can't reply to their email to ask them to read the transcript.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with AMEX promising one thing in writing to only deny? Any thoughts of how I can get this resolved as I do have a very clear chat transcript reiterating the offer?

farnorthtrader

Yes, my trials and tribulations with AMEX regarding my Platinum sign up bonus are littered through the last few pages of of this thread. In short, AMEX doesn't care what they tell you in chat or what you do as a result of what they tell you, they will not honor the bonus. I fought with them for 5 months, after paying a fee to meet the $10,000 spend requirement, based on their confirmation that I was eligible and they would neither honor the bonus nor reimburse me for the fee. I checked their BBB file and it is replete with complaints that they do not honor their sign up bonuses, including a few where they outright lied to customers, like they have done with you and me. You won't win, you might as well not even waste your time. The only advantage you might have is if your card is a consumer one, then they have a regulator that they have to answer to. Mine was a business card, so my only recourse would have been court.

geneconley

I called the AMEX Global Transfer desk in November 2013 prior to my move from the UK to the USA. I saw on the Global Transfer website they were offering SPG Amex with "Earn 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase on the Card and an additional 15,000 Starpoints after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 6 months." I spoke with the team on the phone at the Global Transfer Desk toll free number, who said I would be eligible for the new SPG card as well as the bonus points offer.

A week or so later I was on the phone with my regular British Amex Customer Service regarding some issue on that card / bill, and at the end of the call I asked to be transferred to the Global Transfer Desk so I could apply for the SPG AMEX card in the USA with the bonus. The agent on the phone asked me if I was already in process of applying for this card with any promotional offers, and I said no (which was the case), and proceeded with the application for the card.

I used the card, and reached the spend thresholds in the appropriate time frame, however after 1-2 months, I noticed none of my points (neither the bonus points, nor the regular monthly ongoing points) were crediting my SPG account. I called the CS number on the back of the card, they apologized, said there was a mistake with my SPG number, said they needed to send me a new card, and everything would be fine. They also said a supervisor was going to call me, but I was never contacted.

About a month later, I called back, and was told they had performed an "investigation" and told me there was never a promotion and I was not eligible for any bonus points. I was shocked, because I would have never signed up for the card if there was no promotion.

I called multiple times, and learned it was potentially an issue with the Global Transfer Desk, and that since I applied with them over the phone, and not online, and not on the "new card accounts phone team" (or something like that), I was not eligible for the offer. They said they would have explained this to me when I applied for the card.

I told them they did not explain that to me, so they said they would go back and check the tapes of my phone conversation (great they have this, but I felt like I was being accused of lying to them)

Later in the day, an agent / supervisor called me back, said she had listened to the tapes. She said that when the agent taking the application asked if I was currently applying for the card online or with any promotions I said "no". However she said I never asked specifically for the promotion, and since the card was processed / applied through this particular call center (the global transfer desk) instead of online or via the "new cards center", I was not eligible for the bonus points, and there was nothing I could do.

She said there was absolutely nothing they would do, she said I could write a letter to the Executive Service Center, however all they would do is send the letter to her and she would deny it again.

Has anyone come across this particular situation, and if so, do you have any suggestions? I have been a member since 1999, across multiple countries, and generally have had good customer service. I am just shocked they are willing to treat customers like this and deny bonuses they that have promised previously in good faith.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!!

jperini12

Does anyone have suggestion who I contact for the following problem obtaining Amex bonus pts?

Kenneth Chenault
200 Versey St
New York, NY 10285
(212) 640-2000

Dear Mr. Kenneth Chenault

I am requesting that American Express honor its commitment to provide me with the sign-up 25,000 bonus points of that were to be credited to my account after spending $2,000 in three months. I applied for an Amex card after seeing a promotion on-line in November 2013 for a free card and bonus points. I have not received the points offered and when I call American Express Customer Service I am told that there was no such promotion. However, the representative I spoke to acknowledged that they have been receiving many calls about the same problem. Clearly, many people beside me thought they were signing up for a card that came with bonus points.

When I completed the application online and then submitted it to American Express, I immediately received approval and then received the card shortly by express delivery. What I did not receive was an email of my approval for my record which is unusually.

I used search engine “Google” to locate past Amex Premier Rewards Gold credit card offers and I found the program I signed up for at the end of November. See below:

OCTOBER 22, 2013

Gold: Although this card currently only comes with a sign-up bonus of 25,000 points when you spend $2,000 in 3 months; it has a few other valuable benefits that make it one of the cards I use the most. First, it has some lucrative category spending bonuses including 3X points per $1 on airfare (4X if you book through Amex travel), and 2X on gas and groceries – those are three major spending categories in any household (and airfare is especially a big one for me for obvious reasons) so racking up bonus points happens fast. Not only that, but when you spend $30,000 on the card in a calendar year, Amex gives you a 15,000-point bonus, essentially giving you a50% bonus on your spending. One other benefit I enjoy? Cardholders receive a $75 hotel credit and room upgrade at check-in when you book a minimum 2-night consecutive stay with the Gold Hotel Collection.