jibi

This may or may not work, but I had one of those "winning" thoughts after I left the local Sports Authority stores today. What you need is the following:

Facebook Account #1
Facebook Account #2
Foursquare Account #1
Foursquare Account #2
Email Account #1
Email Account #2
American Express Card #1
American Express Card #2

Sign up for Facebook and Foursquare #1 accounts with email account #1. Do the same for #2 accounts. Link/Sync the related AMEX card with those accounts. Sign up for the Sports Authority deal on Facebook for both accounts.

Go to Sports Authority and perform your check-ins to the #1 accounts from Foursquare and Facebook mobile apps. Load the special for Sports Authority to your card via Foursquare. Log out of each and do the same for the #2 accounts.

Find $125 worth of merchandise in Sports Authority. Provide them with the $25 off $100 coupon from here. Ask to split the remaining $100 (plus taxes) on your two different AMEX cards (so $50 and some taxes on each).

In theory, this SHOULD work. This would mean that you would receive -$20 Foursquare and -$20 Facebook for the $50 (plus taxes) on one card and the same on the other. This would total $125 for $20, or an 84% rebate.

As it stands now, you should be able to get approximately $60 worth of merchandise at Sports Authority for $10 ... although it is still somewhat unclear if anyone has actually seen a credit from both the Facebook and Foursquare promos. This takes it a bit further and extends this ~80% savings for double the merchandise.

If anyone tries it out, let us know if it works.

sargenet

I don't mess with Foursquare much..but I did do this for Facebook. I got a $40 credit for Sheraton. Then I wanted to stay at the Swan & Dolphin at Disney...a Sheraton hotel. Had to prepay first night (the stay is in November). Since I have 2 different Am Ex I used one for the previous Sheraton stay... then I booked a night using my Facebook 2 account. Then I booked a second night on my hubby's #2 facebook account and used his Am Ex.

Even though the stay is not till November, I received $40 credit on my statement and my husband got $40 on his statement. The system does not know if this is a prepaid or deposit. It just sees an amount over $100.

We also got a military discount of $149 a night. So our final cost is $109 a night. Not too bad for this property!!

Makes me wonder what will come out for September!!!

gfowler-ord-1k

I booked a prepaid stay for this past Friday night at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel for $100.81 AI. I had never stayed at this property before and I was not quite sure how they handled billing of prepaid stays. There are reports in this thread that at some properties bill the stay at reservation time and taxes at check-out.

I knew I was taking chances so I booked the reservation right before leaving home and arrived at the hotel for check-in 35 minutes later. At check-out my folio showed that Amex was billed once. The stay was excellent and I highly recommend this property.

The Westin Phoenix Downtown is just a few block away and I stayed in it the previous week. It cost just a little more but it is my preference.

These 2 properties are among the best non-resort, USA Starwood properties I have ever stayed. The locations make them good locations for hotel hopping/mattress runs especially during the Amex promo.

Come to PHX, in this bad economy the city needs all the money it can get . If you don't like the daytime heat stay inside or hangout at the pool. There is nightlife and other entertainment in the vicinity for these hotels.

jibi

We were there in January for the national championship game, although we stayed at the Aloft in Tempe (about as far away from Glendale as possible, but our options were limited)... it was definitely a good break from the "Ice Storm 2011" chaos that plagued Atlanta while we were gone... ^

dongrilla

I bought 100$ sports authority gc's split the transaction on two amex's, got 2*20 for 4sq and 2*20 for fb amex. (100$ gc for 20$). Now i can buy something for 100 (use 25 off 100) and still have 25 balance on my gc ..

Btw.. amex fb best buy promo worked on amazon kindle gc purchase at BB. (which can be used to buy anything on amazon) I think it doesn't matter if its merchandise or gift card as long as the transaction meets the min spend.

aceofhz

I have a stay coming up on Sep 1st and the offer says "book and stay" by 8/31. If I find a way to prepay do you guys think it'll work?

jibi

Awesome to hear this worked! NICE!

DCBob

If you can prepay and get the charge posted by 8/31, it will definitely work.

jibi

The charge has to hit your account. The "book" portion is not necessarily applicable nor the "stay" ... just the "charge" for the room. A lot of Starpicks rates are pre-pay and pre-charged, so you may want to go that route.

CanesLawMarty

OK, so as an update, I've called now 3 times and have just confirmed that they apparently did undertake some sort of "review" and AmEx unilaterally deemed me not to be eligible for both credits, which is BS. The woman I spoke with just now could not have been nicer and, without me even opening my big mouth, credited me with 3000 Starpoints for my hassle and apologized for me not receiving a response to my initial queries. Oh, and after I took DCBob's suggestion a couple weeks ago, the woman gave me 2000 Starpoints. So in the end, I didn't get my second $40 credit, but I did score 5000 Starpoints...worked out in the end I suppose but still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and not much faith with these newfangles internet thingee promos

gfowler-ord-1k

I would demand to speak to a manager. Even though you got some point compensation you did not get the $40 which you are entitled.

I received both Westin and Sheraton credits. I would not have booked either of those stays without them. It gave me the additional incentive to book. It was my first stay at both of those properties and it was so good that I will be going back again. That is what promos are all about. Give out some free or cheap crack, and get them coming back for more

Edited to add:
I have a suspicion that the first person you contacted put a note in your account file that you were only allowed 1 promo credit. The others, without researching, read that note and echoed back the same wrong info. If you push for your credit with a manager, hopefully those reps will get retrained so they don't make the same mistake with others.

Never give up when you are right.

uxb

What no. did you call, and what dept. did you speak with? I have been trying to get my credits, but I don't seem to be making any progress.

choptliva

Same here. I contacted them via secure email, and the person is trying to get the social media folks to look into the matter. Been almost a week, but repeated messages came back with "still contacting them" routine. So I too would be interested in any specific number to call or route to take. Thanks.

jibi

This is for the Sports Authority offer:

08/22/2011 Mon AMERICAN EXPRESS COMNEW YORK NY 0 -20.00
Amex 4sq credit

08/22/2011 Mon SPORTS AUTHORITY 423FAYETTEVILLE GA 0 -20.00
Amex Facebook

^

gfowler-ord-1k

I wonder why some people are having so many problems with this promo. All my credits posted seamlessly within 2 days of the transaction posting. It actually surprised me that it worked so well.

The reports above show that those Amex reps are clueless about this promo. That is so different from the few times I have had to contact Amex.

Demand to speak with a manger and if still no joy keep going up the food chain until you get someone who know what they are doing.

My favorite phase in situations like this is "Your company is going to give me what they promised. It is only a matter of how much time, money and wasted energy it is going to cost them". I was told by an employee that one such incident that I challenged ended up costing them almost $1million.

Never give up when you are right.