SPG Amex - Annual Fee for 3,000 points
 

The new $65 annual fee hit my account today marking year two with my SPG Amex. I figure it couldn't hurt to call and see if I could get anything from customer service as a result of same (saw this tip elsewhere on flyertalk).

When I asked to have the annual fee waived for a second year, I was rejected and told by the customer service rep that he has the same card and cannot get his fee waived either. :td:

When I asked if the rep could make the annual fee hurt a little less, he said he may be able to do something and went through my account and usage history. He said I qualified for the max points gift and credited me with 3,000 points. ^

Took less than 5 minutes, and at $.01-$.04 per point the call was worth $30-$120. Guess my annual fee was taken care of. :)

Good tip. I think I will have to try that when my next annual fee pops up. If you don't mind me asking, what is your usage annually?

Good to know. That reminds me that I signed up for both the Business and Personal card and have never used the business card (except to get the spend bonus). I should call to cancel it.

I did the same thing, and got 3k points as well. I just mentioned that based on my spending habits, Amex is making money off me, and if there's anything they can do about the annual fee.

They were like, sure, based on your spend, how about 3k points. Knowing that was worth about 60 bucks, I was cool with it.

I did the same thing, but was only offered 2,000 points. I told them if you won't give me 3,000 I'm canceling.

Just kidding! Nice to see they appreciate our business.

pretty cool....good move by amex....

Just called and asked to get the fee waived or some bonus points. First rep said no. I asked to talk to a supervisor, who immediately offered 5,000 points.

Is it availaible with Amex in canada?

I called recently and got a $40 credit towards the $65 fee. Just told them that I had never paid to use a credit card before and that I liked the card (it sounded like he pulled out my spending for the past year to verify)

Just got 3k too
 

The rep asked how many points I wanted and I said 3000. He granted this immediately: I suppose I should have asked for 5k.

I wonder what the maximum number of points they'd give would be....

Big fat goose egg for me. I have been a member for about 15 years & spoke to a CSA about the $65 fee. She said she couldn't do anything & put me through to a supervisor who promptly shut me down. She gave me some BS about the "banking laws" not allowing them to compensate one person & not another. I told her that I understood that she couldn't refund my $$ but was hoping that she could at least throw a few bonus points my way. NOPE--not going to happen. Her response was basically maybe I should look at a cheaper AMEX card if I didn't like the fee.
If you get a supervisor named Barbie--hang-up. I called the customer service #--should I have called a different one? too late as they probably made notes in my record?

You can probably call again
 

I think it's worth calling them back, noting that your friend have getting 3k points, and asking these as a token gesture. If no dice, ask to speak to member retention.

Just called and told the CSA a colleague received 5000 star points due to the increased annual fee. She put me on hold for 3 min and granted the request. I am happy!

And I'm 2,000 points worth of jealous.

After being completely shut down the first time, I called back & was only able to squeeze 2000 pts. out of them. She offered me a $10 credit or the points. Better than nothing.