IMPORTANT: American Express suspends the scrapping of pro-rata card fee refunds

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• lesscleverandrew says:

  27 Sep27 September 20:09

  Cancelled my plat. No retention offer offered. Agent unaware of any changes to pro rata refund. On reflection I don’t anticipate benefitting in the next 6 months but would probably not have cancelled if they had not announced this change (supposedly reversed).

  To this end, amex may regret that it has been overall counterproductive.

• Lady London says:

  27 Sep27 September 20:13

  Who [at Amex] blinked, then?

  I haven’t seen the comments today, but @JDB had it right in the comments yesterday, on what a reversal would mean.

  Have they lost their way? What is their strategy?

• Lady London says:

  27 Sep27 September 20:43

  I’ve reached the same conclusion as everyone else here I think.

  Whatever Amex’s strategy for the Plat, the first thing they need to do is to dump the overseas call centre and run it properly inhouse out of the UK, preferably Brighton, again. Yes it will increase costs and incur oneoff contract termination costs for the outsourcing contracts currently in place, but in bringing in low quality outsourcing they threw away an important differentiator.

  The insurance seems to have been on a downward slope since they switched to the current underwriter, seen that before with this one when they came into underwriting other travel policies. Current restrictions don’t fit their market.

  Sounds like Amex are reshaping the whole offering, with a bit of luck. If not then we can suspect an interview without coffee taking place around this week.

  • mrs_fussy says:

    27 Sep27 September 21:34

    I agree. The overseas call centre is a huge dea breaker. Having worked in one 20 years ago, I can say it’s not always the language but employees just not being given enough levy to do other than follow the script or defer to onshore CS

    • davefl says:

      27 Sep27 September 22:01

      I went through 10 mins of torture with the OS CC yesterday as the poor girl had to read page after page of features to downgrade the BAPP to the basic.

      At one point she paused and asked me if I wanted the free optional insurance to which I said a firm no…. She blinked and confirmed, really no.

      5 mins later when all the transfer emails came through apparently I’d accepted the insurance!

  • BJ says:

    27 Sep27 September 21:37

    I think it is very simple, Joe Bloggs probably still thinks American Express are travellers cheques or a courier company. I’d be surprised if their UK credit card market share is any more than 1 or 2%. They’ve even had aggressive TV advertising campaigns; which other company has to bother with that? Whatever the official story, I suspect they could not withstand the heat over the last few days. HfP probably represents a significant share of their market and unlike Joe Bloggs are obviously well-informed of the changes and the choices available to them.

    • Peter K says:

      27 Sep27 September 22:28

      Copied from a HfP article on the interchange fee cap in 2016 suggesting their market share was over 3% at the time. I guess it’s similar now:

      “As this guidance issued yesterday confirms, American Express must set an interchange fee on its co-branded and licensed cards of no more than 0.3% until March 2017. Should its market share drop below 3%, the position will be reassessed from March 2017 – although the exemption will end, regardless, in December 2018.”

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    27 Sep27 September 22:50

    The overseas call centre and this is why I was going to cancel. If Amex sell a premium product, I expect at least a half decent service that doesn’t say “wait 60 days and call us back”

• LLLL says:

  27 Sep27 September 21:02

  So do we take this information as correct, and ignore the previous written communication from Amex? This seems incredibly risky if Amex does not intend to make customers aware. Surely they could just switch their plan next week and remove and accountability tied to a website post?

  • Rob says:

    27 Sep27 September 21:07

    That’s why the article says that you should call them and get your own confirmation, rather than relying on me (although I am correct).

  • CarpalTravel says:

    27 Sep27 September 21:13

    Of course you don’t, the same applies with any unofficial channel, for anything, ever!

    What it does do though is provide you with the information to ask the right people, the right questions.

• Chick Pea says:

  27 Sep27 September 21:08

  Is this for just existing card holders? What about anyone taking out a new card? I would upgrade to BAPP from the basic BA card tomorrow if I knew I could get a pro-rata refund. I don’t want to sign up for BAPP if it doesn’t say I can get a pro-rata refund in the T&Cs. Will have to wait until there is further information or clarification.

  • Rob says:

    27 Sep27 September 21:14

    Since May, all cards have had the new wording that no pro-rata refunds are allowed. Amex publicly said that this would not be imposed until 2nd October.

    It is virtually certain that if you take out a card now you will still be allowed to cancel until the new date in 2024 but obviously you’ve agreed to a contract which says otherwise.

    • sloth says:

      27 Sep27 September 21:29

      so its not virtually certain at all as the t&c say otherwise…

      • Rob says:

        27 Sep27 September 21:38

        You don’t know what I know, and I can’t tell you, so you need to make a call (methaphorically or actually).

        • sloth says:

          27 Sep27 September 21:43

          exactly Rob, we dont know what you have been told, and as I said earlier whilst I trust you, without any proof and the actual t&c from amex saying otherwise, then no one would have a leg to stand on if they try to cancel post 02/10 and get told no problem but unfortunately no pro rata refund… therefore people who genuinely want to cancel and get the refund should do that before 02/10 as per the t&c

        • JDB says:

          27 Sep27 September 22:27

          @Rob – I simply don’t understand why you would accept, particularly as a regulated business, to be the mouthpiece for this completely shambolic fiasco. You say they will not communicate this massively significant change you say is definitely correct – that is totally outrageous. Amex needs to own the mess it has created and communicate directly, in an official manner, not get someone like HfP to whisper something on their behalf in some half baked attempt to cover their embarrassment.

          Amex has screwed you over with these BA offers yet now they want you to do their dirty work. I have always admired the HfP impartiality and presentation of facts that allows the reader to draw their own conclusions but maybe the time has come to tell Amex a few home truths. I can’t believe what a mess Amex has become since Hannah took over; just too many missteps for her to survive.

        • David says:

          28 Sep28 September 01:41

          I understand you can’t say but from what chat has blabbed to others my best guess is 02/10/2024?

        • meta says:

          28 Sep28 September 07:28

          @Rob As I asked on earlier pages, should we be worried?

          I suspect this is not being communicated to customers yet because there are other major changes they want to introduce, but won’t be able to implement by Monday.

• His Holyness says:

  27 Sep27 September 21:21

  With the Hilton offers popped up on our free ARCC and Supp I realise we did the right thing cancelling all the paid cards. Naturally lots of paid card holders are propping up people like us but that’s just life.

  • davefl says:

    27 Sep27 September 22:24

    Since I took out my BAPP in Jan I hadn’t had a single usable offer.

    My MR card has had around a dozen that I’ve used in the same period

    • His Holyness says:

      27 Sep27 September 22:49

      Yes, the free card is where it’s at.

• sean says:

  27 Sep27 September 22:02

  I have Gold Charge and was offered 20k no strings attached retention after I mentioned I’m moving to Virgin CC…
  Was not expecting anything, preparing to cancel and restart the clock.

• Alex says:

  27 Sep27 September 22:06

  I was quite curious what value I’ve got from my Plat this year so did a very quick and probably inaccurate audit.

  UK restaurants – £150 which I’d have spent anyway.
  European restaurants – valuing at £100, I’ve used it but probably wouldn’t have chosen the restaurant otherwise.
  Harvey Nichols – valuing at £80, used it but wines a bit more expensive than elsewhere.
  Priority Pass – valuing at £240 based on 16 visits at £15 each.
  Amex travel credit – £100 off £300, used on a BA flight I’d have bought anyway.
  Random credits – £30ish

  So that’s about £700 savings in terms of things I’d have bought anyway. Add to that a fair saving from the 20% Melia vouchers that come with gold (used them all this year and saved about £200, big undervalued plat benefit), and some value from Hilton gold (maybe £100 all in). Amex FHR probably saves me £300 a year or so.

  And a 35,000 retention bonus at the start of the year, which I’d value at £300.

  Without too much fuss I’m extracting about £1.6k of value from the card, so it works for me. That’s before I think about my supp card which is easily a good £200-£300 more of value. Most of my spend goes through BAPP.

  • Andrew says:

    28 Sep28 September 07:33

    I’m kinda with you – mine would be
    – £150 UK dining credit that would have been spent anyway
    – £150 international dining – Raffles Singapore – *probably* would have done anyway just to play the tourist
    – £100 Harvey Nicks – they stock the shaving serum I use and it’s one of very few that doesn’t make my face raw so I would have spent this anyway
    – £100 Trailfinders on a holiday we’d already planned but not paid for.
    – £10 at Birkenstock Covent Garden

    Plus a few more cash back offers I’ve no doubt forgotten about, Zoe airport lounge entries and hotel upgrades which were nice to have. I feel I’ve had good value from my £575

  • David says:

    28 Sep28 September 13:00

    Agree but what’s with the priority pass £15. I would double that myself or at a min £18.50 as per Barclays. For my family who LCC and have no status, the benefit sits upon the parapet.

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