In the US you can pay anything with your credit card, IRS, lease, rent, even coins let alone all those who purchase merchandise etc for their business...

Not so easy in Switzerland, Germany or ROW probably.

But all my spend is "normal" and not gimmicky like that. Maybe I should move

the letter reached the bottom tier here today in deepest, darkest Swiss country side as well. keen to learn what the enhancements really encompass.

Just received mine also. Very impressive box / marketing material etc. Basically what it says is that they are raising the bar in terms of service and insurance and so the price of ownership goes up accordingly. There is no first/second tier of Centurion membership.

Phoned them and cancelled my Centurion account and asked for them to send me the forms for the Platinum card. They asked no further questions on the cancellation and noted (almost as a favour) that they would automatically downgraded me (rather than putting me through the tedious process of filling in the forms) and that was that...

I'm not expecting further communication from them although I will instigate something in writing. Since they go to great lengths to hide any email addresses / feedback forms on the (Swiss) Centurion site, does anyone actually have a contact email address for the Centurion customer services? I can of course use the postal service but it just seems so "last century" for communicating with a hi-tech company that has titanium cards for its customers PM is fine if preferred.

Best,

Gary.

thanks for the chuckle

Good luck talking to suits and thanks for sharing your experiences. Haven't made up my mind. It's a tool and still cheaper than yet another staff addition.

Hi gxprice, I am in contact with them and threatening to cancel, because 4200 Francs for basically the same priiviledges is not fair (besides, I live in Lugano, where most of the new stuff is not available, and I am HON, so Swiss dooes treat me )

Be interested to hear your feedback when you get it ... If the price was more reasonable, I'd get back into the club However, since I can't expense the fees through a company (I believe quite common with cardholders) nor can I book my business travel through them (company has a different agency), I'm not in the customer target profile with my few thousand a month in personal fun

Best,

Gary.

so the final country gets upgraded..

2 people here reported refund of platinum annual fee in the US for 7 figure annual spend...

[Moderator action...]

The discussion of making automobile lease payments (in USA) with a credit card has been moved to another thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-card-usa.html

I've written a long letter to the head of customers services directly ... I hope he takes the time to read it and reply. More likely, a minion will read it and send a standard letter - I'm still hopeful though They need to maintain customers at the moment especially with the ruling that's just gone against them in the US...

Good luck and again, tx for your time sharing. My main issues with AMEX fm a Swiss perspective are:
- decreasing acceptance (fm merchants) within the EU incl. Switzerland
- failure to put the product at -one- level globally
- the necessity to deal with Swiss -and- German CTS CCS dept depending on the time of the day
The concept is great, the execution poor. When they came up with the fee increase, they should have considered the currency situation. With the usd chf at or below parity, I'd expect to have CCS services at least at par to those available in the US. Which, by the many accounts here, appear to be far superior. Will likely try it for a year and see what happens.

Indeed, the currency is one aspect but more important is the range of benefits vs. the US (as you correctly point out). For the Swiss card, I'd expect the Centurion card to have at least Senator status with Miles&More (encompassing Swiss) or, more appropriate given the number of cards in Switzerland and the new limo/1st class service, the Hon card. Now this would really begin to make sense since the Hon card will get you the upgrades/perks, not the Centurion (at least in my relatively extensive travel experience with Swiss). These airline cards seems to be a big part of the US Centurion "kit" if I understand the other threads here correctly...

Just curious - does anyone know if Miles&More is part of the benefits package in Germany?

I completely agree with you.

I have asked already 5 times why they don't have agreement with Miles and More in order to get us the Senator or HON card.

I was told that since Swiss and Miles and More have there own CC this is not possible....

Still a shame..... paying 4200 chf and not getting a FF card.....

I think that n Germany they get nothing also....

(slightly offtopic)

Nor in Canada. There is very little tangible benefit above Plat in Canada.

I've been formally invited (via mail) a couple of times and get phone calls every couple of months or so.

My response is still the same. There's no way you get the $5000 initiation fee + $2500 annual fee, unless:

1. You accelerate MR earnings
2. You give airline status

Without that, fuggitaboutit. That said, I'm a 10 year very happy Plat cardholder.

-- jake (looking forward to his first flight in LX F this december!)