tomj888

Just heading back from a great weekend at Chicago seminars. Kudos to the people who busted their asses to make it work seamlessly!
That said, I realized today that for 16 years I have not been accumulating Amex points. Imagine the number( now is the time yo laugh)
I called Amex and after three call transfers at the supervisor level I was offered 10,000 points. I accepted under protest and got the address of consumer relations and promptly jotted off a heart felt yet firm request for reinstatement of my points.
Fyi
Have never missed a payment or been late. Over the years at times I've carried a small balance. Can people,after laughing, please offer me some constructive suggestions as to how I can go about getting my miles credited to my account.
Thanks

mia

Not all American Express cards are eligible to participate in Membership Rewards. What is the exact name of the card that you hold, and how much is the current annual fee?

tomj888

Amex blue card. And it is eligible. As I just signed up once I realized the mistake. I've had it since 1988. Wouldn't waste time posting if it wasn't eligible

mia

Blue from American Express participates in Membership Rewards Express, formerly called Membership Rewards Options. Express points are not quite the same as full Membership Rewards points because they cannot be transferred to airline or hotel programs, unless you also hold a card enrolled in the full program. Otherwise Express points have very little value.

Until 2014 the only way to participate in the full program was to have a fee-paid Green, Gold or Platinum card, but this year American Express introduced the Everyday card which carries no annual fee and participates in the full program. You cannot convert the Blue card (or any other card) to Everyday. You will need to apply, and your existing points will become transferable. Discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...day-cards.html

mia

I have done a bit of research to refresh my memory, and one thing doesn't make sense. Blue from American Express was introduced in 1999, and I think the rewards program was a built-in feature of the card. It still may have been that you needed to activate it, but I think it's worth pursuing this angle with customer service, on a weekday, during normal Eastern Time Zone business hours. I would not call on Monday, they are deluged.

Here is a link to American Express's 1999 Annual Report. Search for the keyword: blue

http://quote.morningstar.com/stock-f...1bd555ec41cb26

It's not much, but it confirms my recollection that rewards were offered from the outset.

tomj888

That could be so. I came up with the 1988 number as it says so on my profile and all Amex reps confirmed that during my phone calls. Other than a polite yet succinct letter to their consumer relations dept can anyone suggest other strategies I can employ to strengthen my request?

MSPeconomist

IIRC in the past, some AmEx cards required not only that one sign up for the MR program, but also that one paid a fee for the privilege. The higher end cards with annual fees allowed their card members to get MR points for free. Many corporate cards seemed to require the fee.

mia

The Member Since date is the year when your original American Express card account was opened. You could not have had a Blue card before 1999, but you may have had another type which may, or may not, have been eligible for rewards.

Correct. Enrollment in Membership Rewards was originally an extra cost option for Green and Gold cards, but always standard with the personal and small business Platinum cards. Later, there were versions of Green and Gold which participated in Membership Rewards Options (same as Blue), with a lower annual fee. Corporate cards participate at the discretion of the employer. Cards which participate in other rewards programs are not eligible for any level Membership Rewards.

Unless tomj888 has excellent records showing which cards were held and amounts spent, it seems very unlikely that American Express will look back more than a few years.

tomj888

I have seven years of statements. I guess I can try to negotiate for 7 years worth of points.

username

I think you mean retroactive credit since they never took the points away from you and you never paid the fee - there is nothing to reinstate.

I am pretty sure they won't open a precedence for this.

Although I am happy with where I am....If only time can go back, I would be a lot better off on every front

mia

To be sure there is no misunderstanding, Blue from American Express does not require payment of a fee to participate in Membership Rewards Express). Rewards is a built-in feature of the card. tomj888 should have been earning Express (or Options) points for at least as long as he held a Blue card. If he previously held another type of card it may, or may not, have earned rewards.

Steve M

How many points are we talking about here? I'm guessing it's substantially more than 10,000 if you're not satisfied with that amount being credited to you.

The biggest problem I think you're going to have is an institutional one. It probably won't be difficult to find someone that realizes you deserve the points, but finding someone willing and able to credit them to you is another matter. The 10,000 offer was perhaps the most that that supervisor is able to offer as a "good will gesture," as there's probably not an accounting code to issue points that were earned but not posted correctly going that far back.

At this point, somebody's cost center at Amex is going to have to take the hit in order to credit you the amount you didn't get credit originally. It may be difficult to find someone with the authority to credit that much, and even then, it will come out of someone's bottom line. That is, it will make someone's job to "meet their numbers" all that more difficult. Perhaps this shouldn't be your problem or concern, but I suspect that it will be. Good luck!

TommyC80

I sense that even if the OP was offered 10,000,000 points that it would be a rounding error on someone's cost center at AMEX...