Amex not allowing downgrading from BA Premium to Basic

[krautboy]

I spoke couple of times with Amex and they say to me that the option to downgrade my BA premium to the basic card is currently unavailable and they will contact me when its available again. My wife had the same when requesting this for her premium card. Anybody had the same response?

[BuildBackBetter]

Hope they stop the downgrades and upgrades permanently. How long do they want to lose money on churners?

[krautboy]

Not everyone that wants to downgrade is churning!

I dont want to churn, but want to permanently downgrade. This without having to close the actual account and apply for a new one and get a new search on my credit file.
We dont find value in the 241 voucher for us at this moment, and the fee of £250 a year doesnt make sense in our situation.

[Rob]

BuildBackBetter wrote:

Hope they stop the downgrades and upgrades permanently. How long do they want to lose money on churners?

They will always allow you to swap cards – the issue is carrying over your voucher spend to date.

[memesweeper]

krautboy wrote:

Not everyone that wants to downgrade is churning!

I dont want to churn, but want to permanently downgrade. This without having to close the actual account and apply for a new one and get a new search on my credit file.
We dont find value in the 241 voucher for us at this moment, and the fee of £250 a year doesnt make sense in our situation.

Why not take out Gold for a year, and cancel at the 12 month mark (just after if you’ve hit the spending bonus, just before if you haven’t), and then apply for BA blue? Similar cost to you and a little bit of extra benefit from Gold.

Amex only infrequently credit search existing customers taking on new products.

[Andy D]

I successfully downgraded last Friday (11th Feb), fee refund happened the same day, new cards arrived yesterday

For me it’s certainly not worth the £250 fee ATM, though might consider it again when the teenager leaves home and there’s just two of us

Also might ditch it all together just use my MR earning card instead, seem to be spending most of my Avios on eBay ATM anyway!

[FFoxSake]

Andy D wrote:

I successfully downgraded last Friday (11th Feb), fee refund happened the same day, new cards arrived yesterday

Was that via phone (Brighton or other?) or chat?

[Karl]

I wonder if they’ve had a recent increase in requests for this. Putting the annual fee up by 30% in the past year quickly followed by a 10% increase in redemption fees may have resulted in a fair few customers getting rid.

[Rob]

Bottom line seems to be no change in general policy BUT some people’s cards are now marked and they will not be allowed to switch without losing their spend to date.

[Andy D]

FFoxSake wrote:

Andy D wrote:

I successfully downgraded last Friday (11th Feb), fee refund happened the same day, new cards arrived yesterday

Was that via phone (Brighton or other?) or chat?

I did it over the phone – called the UK (non-freephone) number of the back of the card, and the awful voice recognition system sent me to lost cards (tried stopping it a couple of times but gave up)

When I explained to whoever took that call I’d been sent to the wrong place they did the downgrade when I explained what I wanted