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Not seen much reported about this so thought I would update – I spoke to Amex this evening after noticing Eurostar is no longer listed as a rewards partner. The agent I spoke to confirmed Eurostar was removed as a Rewards partner in November and is not coming back. Frustrating as this was a transfer I used frequently. Even more as Amex are still advertising that it exists! (Including in a promo email sent yesterday…2 months after they removed it as an option).
This is total rot, and you really shouldn’t believe anything you are told by the Amex call centre.
Here is an email I got from Eurostar HQ recently:
“Together with our IT team and the partners, we are still working to make the points transfers with partners work after the big migration and merge of early October.
Hertz: all issues are solved and transfers are up and running
Accor: We are in the last stage of fixing of testing. We cannot commit on any date so far, but should be a matter of days before it can get fixed and tested with Accor
Amex: We are also working on it together with our partner Amex, and are waiting on a confirmation from their side before we can fully release the fix. I would estimate similar timescale for a fix as for Accor, maybe a few more days”It’s really depressing how AmEx agents now just routinely lie, make things up and confuse people…
It’s really depressing how AmEx agents now just routinely lie, make things up and confuse people…
The difference pre and post Covid is very noticeable.
Worth saying I was told it both on the online chat and then I called and spoke to someone to confirm it. So if both agents are not telling the truth then that suggests there are big comms problems at Amex. From what you are saying it sounds like Eurostar are saying one thing (it’s coming back) and Amex are saying something different. Either way, the fact it’s been unavailable for weeks with no communication or clarity from Amex is pretty poor.
It’s really depressing how AmEx agents now just routinely lie, make things up and confuse people…
I think it’s rather unfair to accuse Amex staff of “routinely” lying as that implies bad faith when the reality is that the staff are simply not properly trained nor given the necessary tools to do their jobs. It is symptomatic of the serious dysfunction at the senior levels of Amex UK with opposing camps pulling in different directions.
One very minor example of this is Amex staff advising customers wanting to cancel their BA Amex that they will lose their 241 based on current written instructions/ a script from management. HfP (presumably based on advice from a different area of the firm) will tell you that you definitely will not. One of them must be wrong, yet they are both FCA regulated firms with certain obligations.
While people may (rightly) complain about Curve or BA Mastercard service, these are both tinpot organisations but for Amex, with all its resources, consistently to provide bad service and incorrect information is inexcusable. It’s not really very surprising how badly they are doing in the UK.
OP, Eurostar also doubled the number of points required for redemptions at the end of October, so it might not be as useful as it once was for you.
I’m hoping that all this is part of a changed in the transfer rate from 15:1 to something closer to 10:1, so that the devaluation is not as bad as it was.
I think it’s rather unfair to accuse Amex staff of “routinely” lying as that implies bad faith when the reality is that the staff are simply not properly trained nor given the necessary tools to do their jobs.
If I don’t know or am not sure, I say so – I don’t make stuff up just to get the caller/chatter to go away and improve my personal metrics. We get a tiny snapshot of the rubbish AmEx CS reps spout here on HfP – I don’t want to imagine the scale of the problem…
There is no plan to change the 15:1 rate AFAIK which, as you say, makes it poor value except as a top up.
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