Cutting through the cancellation B.S.
 

I was a AAdvantage Platinum card holder but called today to cancel. I am no longer an AA flyer and see no need for the card.

Immediately I was put on with an "account specialist" who tried to convince me to try the Bronze card and even offered to give me a free companion ticket (buy 1, get 1 free) and waive the Platinum fee. I asked to have the card canceled. She then proceeded to offer me the Diamond Club or something like that.

I don't carry balances on my cards and have very little to zero debt.

Is there any way to expedite these cancellation calls without being rude?

Email. We cancelled an AAdvantage Mastercard using the customer service email link on the account website. First reply asked the cardholder to call "for assistance". I replied that we did not require any "assistance". They closed it without further discussion.

I kinda enjoy talking to the reps and hearing the various silly offers to keep the card. Sometimes, they even have a good offer. :)

But, the email tip is a good one, especially if you have something more constructive to do than fish for bonus offers.

In the old days, I used to send a letter via US mail. :eek:

Wow... now I feel old-fashioned. After an experience with a snippy retention specialist a few years ago, I now always send letters.

If you just want to cancel and not waste any time on the phone a simple letter (US postal mail) is the way to go. I've done this many times, never received any other responses than "your account has been canceled" etc. in about a week or so.

I, too, enjoy hearing the offers and have a couple times taken advantage of them. I only wish that they would offer something that would actually make their card competitive rather than some one-time "bonus" or one-time "fee waver."

Has anyone had any experience cancelling a Chase Business card via the secure message center?

I have the AA Platinum Mastercard as well, and I will soon call and attempt to cancel to see what they offer. If they waive the fee, I'll keep it; otherwise I'll just eventually tell them to downgrade me to bronze. I'll post the results of what they offer.

I have entirely too many cards with an annual fee and do not use this one enough to justify the $85 fee. I figure with the bronze I can still add a few AA miles to my account each month that I don't fly...even with the lousy 2:1 earning ratio. Plus, I have the SPG Amex if I want to txfr miles, and I pay for the Amex Platinum, so it's time to cut back on the other annual fee cards I don't use.

I called last night to cancel my Chase Platinum Class MP visa. I spent about 20k on it last year, I used to be 1K so they had waived the fee in the past, with PP its not worth 140 a year.

They didn't even TRY to keep me. OK, credit agencies will be notified , bla bla bla. Done. I was sort of disappointed they didn't try to keep me, but its fine with me.

Weird, they didn't even offer you a different Chase card? They don't like you anymore. ;)