chckmate

Please help me navigate the unfortunate position that I've found myself in. Last week I received in the mail an offer for the american express platinum card bonus of 100,000 points upon sign up. I've never owned an amex card of any type so I did not hesitate to believe that the bonus would apply to me.

Later that week at work I was reading more about the bonus and realized that it was a good offer and decided to sign up for the card. I did not have the mail offer on me at the time but after seeing the other amex thread about seeing targeted offers through https://www.creditcards.com/cardmatch, i searched my name there and saw the same 100,000 point offer.

I didn't think twice and signed up for the amex platinum card through the link on that website. I even made sure to check on the side when I was redirected to the amex website that I was receiving the 100,000 point offer and indeed I was. I even have a screenshot showing the offer on the application page. So I signed up for the card, was approved, got shipped the card, and activated it yesterday

This is when things go awry. When I logged on to my account I did not see any pending points at all. I called the customer service on the card and I was informed that there was NO bonus at all linked to my account. I'm not sure how this possibly could have happened but I was very distraught. The rep told me they were opening a case and that I would hear back from them. The problem is I need to know if I should use the card to try to meet the $3,000 spending necessary to get the bonus. If they really are going to stuff me with no bonus at all I would cancel the card and in that case I don't want to have charged anything.

Does anyone have any advice for how to proceed? I thought that amex was a company that would do right by its customers but so far I've just been given the run around. Has anyone found themselves in similar situations and if so how did it turn out?

Thanks for any help you can provide it's much appreciated.

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I have moved your post into the established thread on this type of probelm.

This is normal. You have not earned any points, because you have not made any purchases. You will not see any Pending Points until after your first statement is generated, and you will not receive those points until you pay your bill -and- the next statement is generated, reflecting that payment.

The bonus points may never appear in the Pending category, they may simply be applied to your account after you spend $3,000 -or- they may go into Pending for the number of weeks specified in the terms of the offer -or- they may never appear.

If you applied through Cardmatch, and if you have the documentation that you mentioned, you should not have a problem receiving the points. Nonetheless, customer service should be able to confirm that the offer is attached to your account. I would call again, during normal business hours (9-5 EST/EDT), and be prepared to spend some time on the phone as you work your way past the frontline CSR's who are not empowered to do anything other than read what is on their screens.

If you have a Twitter account you may wish to try contacting American Express' Social Media team. They seem to have more authority to investigate and resolve these types of incidents.

chckmate

Thanks so much for the prompt reply mia. I was not too concerned about the lack of pending points until I talked to a rep who informed me that he did not see any bonus at all linked to the account.

I very much like the idea of trying the Twitter route, thank you for the suggestion. I'll report back the successful method (or lackthereof) when it becomes clear in case someone finds themselves in my shoes in the future.

StartinSanDiego

I recently had a similar experience: I upgraded on the Amex web site from a gold to a plat for 50K bonus points. My points never posted. Eventually, I realized it's from my own stupidity... it was not an instant upgrade, it required $5K in spend. I have a couple of weeks to finish up.

So if you call CS, ask them "How much more time do I have to finish up my spending for the bonus points to post?" That will start them looking in the correct place.

haibane

I think I would avoid the twitter guys. I just talked to them, and they said I wasn't eligable for a bonus on my PRG because I had already gotten one on my Delta card.

chckmate

Thankfully I was able to resolve the problem in my favor today. Twitter people were completely unhelpful. Mia your suggestion of calling during normal business hours and fighting to get someone who had the authority to create change did the trick. Once I got the right person on the other end (which took a while), they saw that I had legitimately been targeted for the 100k promotion and they were able to add it to my account. Thanks again for the help.

Tibs

I had an existing account, my points showed up immediately upon meeting the goal on a new EDP within 24 hours and were available.

My wife did not have any relationship with AMEX other than AU before her new EDP and it took until the end of the billing cycle for the points to show up as pending even though threshold had been met.

Be patient, seems many things can cause a delay, and who knows it could have just been a pending vs cleared transaction situation between us.

aSiAnRiCk

I signed up for the PRG card 50K bonus points after $1000 spend. The points have been showing as pending for almost two months, well after my last billing cycle.

Is it possible to not get the bonus points, even after it showing in pending status?

Thank you.

xinfamousxi

From what I understand you cant get a bonus if you already have a card. I have Amex everyday card and got the bonus there. My wife is an auth user and is thinking about getting the platinum card or gold premier card. Since she is an auth user with me would this disqualify her?


Thanks

dlandz

Is this a case where you previously had a platinum card? If so, when?

mia

Apparently not.

shaw1974

Wanted to see if this had happened to anyone else. Wife got targeted under cardmatch.com for the 100k points for 3k spend on the amex personal platinum offer. She has never had any cards with amex, so this sounded like a good deal for the once per lifetime bonus. Applied under the link and was instantly approved on March 5, 2015. Called to verify the offer was attached, after reading about other issues here on the forum, and was told that currently there is no promotional offer associated with the card. Ended up speaking to three different reps, none of them able to assist, and was told to wait until the card was received and call the number on the back. Received the card this past Monday, called the number, and was advised a case had been opened, after my previous call, but no date set for a resolution, and they would contact us if anything evolved. What's even more aggravating, is that even though the card has not been activated, was informed that activation wasn't necessary, that simply being approved would prevent any future promotional bonus if the card was cancelled.

Did keep screenshots of the offer and application page, but that hasn't interested anyone to this point. Our delimma is to either go ahead and cancel the card now, before activation and the annual fee post, or take the chance we will be able to come to some type of resolution or compromise with amex.

Anyone else experienced something like this?

Thanks

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Scroll back to post 256 and read the next half-dozen posts.

jlt19

I was curious about this too, and found this (look at #214 and down)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post22809759

HTH!

NDN

In early December, I signed up for the Amex Platinum Mercedes-Benz card with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points for spending $3,000 in three months. Through February, I spoke to customer service reps through chat numerous times to inquire about my status towards the bonus. At the end, TWICE I was told that I had crossed the threshold and would receive the bonus in a few weeks.

I just went back to chat to find out when that bonus would be in my account and was told that I didn't hit the threshold because things credited to the account (e.g., Global Entry Fee, Annual Fee, etc.) do not count towards the target spend for the bonus. This made me livid. After all, I was told of my progress many times and twice that I had crossed it and would get to the threshold.

I called customer service, and they opened up a case with an expected resolution time of 7-10 business days, but a promised time of 6-8 weeks (...!?!?). I would appreciate any advice or past experience sharing on how Amex will work with me. If they are unable to get me the 50,000 points or extend the spending deadline, I will cancel the card immediately and file against them with the Better Business Bureau, since customer service incorrectly informed me several times that I had passed the threshold and would receive the bonus.