Dogmatick

I was told that for this reason they're using the same details on the new card but a new style card is needed in order to work with the bracelet. Perhaps others here can confirm this

mia

Relevant discussion in the USA thread, around post 733: Centurion card (USA) refresh. Some benefits removed/added. $5k annual fee.

Dogmatick

Thank you MIA, seems to be quite negative about the new cards and Centurion as a whole - I hope that they've improved the printing before ours are made ! The general gripes made on the service are spot on though sadly. The change to the call group system has been largely negative in my experience with ridiculous fares issued whilst I am staring at prices 75% lower on my screen and hearing the words "oh yeah" far too often.....

Does confirm though that the new card is directly linked to the bracelet and they need to be replaced together every time

Dogmatick

Mine just arrived, doesn't fit, that was worth the wait.....
Yellow writing on top of green leaves and both highly reflective near impossible to read on the new card

Number stayed the same but CV2 (batch number in their parlance I believe) very hard to read but changed and a new expiry, 5 years essentially

prague1

I really didn't think Centurion UK could get any worse but hats off to them they really are doing a great job of absolutely destroying the product, service, brand and the planet.

Absolutely nothing works anymore! And the benefits are pretty useless; the new ones add little value and as for the old ones more can be achieved elsewhere for less.

The new card & bracelet rollout is a spectacular disaster. Mine has been resent 3 times now; each time in an overly packaged box arrives via DHL with no bracelet and just a standard replacement card inside.

There is no dedicated contact anymore just a shared team. They cant seem to get anything right and most of the time they say they have no partners for the request.

Howard Long

Here are my anecdotes of fails over the past two or three weeks with Amex Centurion here in the UK: I am but a minnow, perhaps using them half a dozen times a year in the Good Times pre pandemic, but I am losing hope :-(

The TL;DR is my last point.

*****

Let's start small.

A couple of weeks ago, I was called up by Amex Centurion in the UK, pushing their LVMH/Clos19 offer (£150 credit/quarter) so I ordered a case of six Cloudy Bay SB, I mean why not? Then Clos 19 cancel it... in an email at 16:30 on 30 June... to say my quarter's order is cancelled. Apparently, after calling them up a couple of days later & being placed on repeated hold by a posh sounding bloke, it was supposedly their last case, the case was dodgy, but they'd sent me a £20 voucher. BFD. If they weren't lying they'd have waited for the next delivery and sent an apology for the delay.

Not sure I should bother trying again this quarter.

Maybe it was an aberration. Or maybe not.

*****

I was looking for the Centurion concierge service (or whatever they call it now) to recommend a removals firm to get my BA Amex spend over 10K to trigger the voucher <grin>, but their response was so lacklustre and delayed, that I'd already had quotes in and surveys myself. The key question "Do you take Amex" was answered in my own survey: most don't, and most add on a hefty surcharge when they do.

*****

For the first time in over two years of pandemic, I managed to figure out a trip abroad! It'll get me away for a couple of days (UK to BKK FWIW). As was the norm for me pre-pandemic, I price it up online first with ITA Matrix & other online tools (just over £5k in F in this case), acquiring _precise_ routings and fare rules, with the intention of then using Amex to make the booking and provide the value adds of things like transfers etc.

Well, turns out Amex use Sabre not ITA, so couldn't get the the itinerary priced up... not by a long way: about £8k was their minimum pricing on similar dates but different routings.

So I end up doing the flights myself with the aid of browser addon ITA Matrix Powertools, and OLTA eBookers of all outfits. Not only that, a minute after booking on eBookers, I had my airline locator ref & eTicket number come through, something which I've noticed some OLTAs fail on, usually because their quoted price really "was too good to be true". eBookers came though.

******

While I was waiting for Amex Centurion to fail to price up my itinerary with them, I tried to demonstrate it to them, through their UK travel portal, which was dead. It still is today, 24 hours later.

****

But the one thing that has really irritated me is that when I asked for travel advice, all the Amex Centurion agent would say was to refer me to the government web sites. Now I know they're trying to protect themselves, but this kind of advice is precisely the added value I expect from Centurion. Otherwise, really, what is the point of a traditional TA anymore? I am not looking for a legal position, I am looking for reasonable practicalities: whether or not I can transit an airport, where do I get required tests & what tests, if any, are required, etc. Yes, double check yourself, is it reasonable etc, but I'd already done that donkey work before picking up the phone.

If all a TA is going to say is "educate yourself", then they're offering precisely zero added value, I'll do the entire itinerary myself online.

* By the way, a Charter Member (in Centurion terms) enjoyed the self-affirming ego trip of having "Charter Member" embossed on their black plastic cards as the first tranche of Centurion Cards were released in the late 1990s. ISTR the embellishment disappeared when the metal cards were released. It doesn't mean I'm better than anyone else, it just means I happened to be around at the right time for one thing in my life, but, unfortunately for me, I'm the only one who knows it.

marcopizzaiuolo

Sorry to hear this, but I know of at least a couple of guys that regularly send their Platinum concierge the ITA matrix string and get the itinerary booked via Amex Travel, so you may just have found an inexperienced Assistant on the phone.

ubiquitous1984

Does anyone know where I can find the full list of restaurants that are part of the Centurion dining scheme? There are only eight listed on the app and I'm sure that won't be the full extent of them in the UK?

marcopizzaiuolo

not aware of a Centurion only scheme but the Global Dining Collection list can be found here: https://www.americanexpress.com/cont...s-platinum.pdf

apparently they are re-launching the dining credit promotion for UK Platinum cardholders later this week but the list of participating restaurant was already up yesterday (they have now taken it down, but was pretty extensive for the UK), and I guess many are also part of the above GDC list

ubiquitous1984

Thanks for the link and great news about the free dining credit being re-introduced. I had a lovely evening with my £400 last December!

garethmorgan

Dining deal announced for plat but nothing , yet, for Centurion

Huddo

American Express gave dining credit in September 2021. At the time, Platinum card holders received £200, while Centurion card holders received £400.

Something along these lines would be nice. The same offer as Platinum would be a little disappointing. No offer would be a kick in the teeth...

​
​

ubiquitous1984

I'm very surprised that we haven't seen a Centurion offer released alongside the Platinum one. What's going on?

NotSoMuch

Probably because a good portion of Cent holder already spend 400-500 every once a while at one of those restaurant -- making the rebate's cross selling potential useless. Same why 500 credit is for Harvey Nichols and not Harrods/Selfridges.

pmcg

Keep getting emails telling me to activate new cards as old ones will be "deactivated soon".