mooper

Of course, verbal promises are just as binding - just more difficult to prove. The key point is if you relied to your financial detriment on the promise (e.g., booking a nonrefundable hotel stay assuming you'll use the promised points for flights), then they either must honor it or they put themselves at serious risk. If you didn't rely on it to your detriment, however, then they can simply call it an error and all is good.

Noted at first, then asked for them to be expedited and are now seeing them showing as "pending" in the online interface.

jjmiller69

You have 30 days to cancel. When you cancel tell them you want the credit agency hard pull cancelled. They have to send a request to the credit agency, but it can be cancelled if you request it. I did it and it takes 30-45 days to go away.

PETERPNYC

Personally I believe anyone who had his card noted with the promo code immediately after activation on the same phone call , should have an legal contract case.

Noting an account, and then proceeding to meet your requirement(s) of the contract should be followed by AMEX fulfilling their end of the contract IMO.

WHO knows what opportunity cost was incurred , that the same effort , credit pull etc , could have been applied to a competing promotion from a different credit card .

Morally if not legally AMEX should meet their obligation. A verbal contract is a legal contract FWIW.

I believe AMEX will do the right thing.

jsamperz

I originally called the number in the back of my card. no dice.

I looked up Membership Rewards contact number in the website and after being transferred to a "second level" customer representative, it worked. She said that she applied the code to my account and should see the bonus.

We'll see. Thanks for your help!

dbh1

@ftlauderdale,@Bud Florida, others:

Please read the long history here in flyertalk. It is very clear that YMMV. It is not fully clear why, but most likely there is just randomness on behalf of which agent/supervisor you talk to. To increase your likelihood, make sure to call MR and not customer service and be very nice. More profitable and/or long-term customers (including high spenders) may do better, but I don't have any conclusive evidence of that. Note that they can see prior bonuses for other cards, but that doesn't necessarily stop them.

My most recent PRG 75k bump was Friday or Saturday (sept 9th or 10th) for my Dad. He had a prior notation and his 8 weeks were up. I am now 4 for 4 on getting the 75k bumps, two of which also got Platinum 100k bumps (one before the PRG, one after).

Again, be nice to them. I am a very loyal American Express customer. I try to do most of my spending with them, since they treat me well (too well). If you aren't lucky enough to get over the top love from them, try again and maybe again after that. If it still doesn't work, don't be too pissed that you got 15k points for free. In the long run, if you are dedicated to sniffing out the best offers, you will do well.

@PETERPNYC
I wouldn't bother preparing a legal case. If you win, Amex's would probably decide that the cost/benefit of having targeted offers (and certainly of agreeing to bumps) isn't worth it and will ruin the fun for everyone (including you, the next time it comes around, along with my blog readers). I do think that if they make a promise that is in the record and you talk to enough supervisors, you will eventually get it. Try hanging up politely and calling back a few days later. I have had a lot of experience with Amex customer service and all of it has been positive. Note: i realize you are not planning to file, but I do want to dissuade others that may be pounding their fists as they read your email.

johndeere19

Applied for the card and was approved...fingers crossed that I get the promo as well!

pcharles

Yes, had a co-worker successfully have bump on Friday, Sept 9th. First time gold card app. which I think is part of the success getting the bump. Recruitment has stepped up, Amex advertising has increased more noticeably the last week as well, both TV and radio here. ( Chase sapphire as well, but Amex 2 to 1 )

metoo

delete

swy

I am kind of in the same boat. I recently got the personal platinum and then applied for the PRG and got it. The PRG is on its way right now. It looks like most people who weren't targeted have had a tough time getting AMEX to award the bonuses (75k for sign up, 10k for 15 transactions per month, etc.). So I am thinking of canceling PRG altogether, and hopefully I will get a targeted offer for PRG at some point.

Would this be a sound strategy? Would canceling the card put me in AMEX's .... list? And for those of you who were targeted, (very roughly) how much have you been spending?

Thanks all!

Ilove2fly

dbh1

Did you call in for your father to get the bump? I would like my husband to apply for the gold card but I will have to call for him to get the bump. I am afraid they won't talk to me as I am not the card holder.

dbh1

@Ilove2fly: Interesting question.

I think you may have some trouble calling in for your husband unless he has a fairly androgynous name or you have a particularly deep voice and you know everything about him.

What I often do is call in when the person is around or available by conference call, I put them on for a second and they can say that this person has permission to talk on my behalf. In certain cases, they rep will ask to re-confirm with the account holder certain things (especially when you are agreeing to a deal with card retentions), so get them a newspaper and keep them handy.

akp

Applied for husband 7/24, for myself 7/29.

Sent SM for both to request bump to 75K bonus with code 5985 and got confirmation in writing for each account that we'd receive the 75K.

Called today (roughly 6 weeks since account opened but maybe only 3 since $1000 spend hit) to see if we can expedite the bonus.

Very polite and nice CSR investigated and told me that he sees the 5985 on my husband's and that it is automated and the points should be posted around Oct 25 (based on 3 months from husband's approval date). If not, he said to call in and they can be done manually.

He then checked my account and did not see 5985. I explained that I requested it as a courtesy after my husband got that offer and that I had an email from SM saying they'd honor it. He said "if you have it in writing, just call back Oct 30 (3 mo from my approval) and you should be fine."

It wasn't 100%, but I didn't get a "forget it" either.

I was hoping to get them sooner for a flight we're planning soon, but at this point I'll just be thrilled if we get them.

Anita

Ilove2fly

thanks dbh1

y2chen

I'll just add that I was successfully able to request my PRG bonus points to be expedited after meeting the spend over the last week or two. I applied back in mid-August, and had a SM confirming the notation of 6661 on my account for the 75k bonus. I simply replied to that one, and stated I was hoping to use the points before the end of the month. Next day, the remaining points showed up as confirmed in my account along with a reply confirming as much.

sam_goh

Another data point - denied on 6661 and 6608 on 2 seperate cards. Talked with 2nd level supervisor to no avail. Given corporate number to try who just connected me back to Membership Rewards.

For those who are interested in pursuing further, all calls are logged, and requests for conversations can be made via the regular CSR number.