Post your American Express Platinum retention offers here!

[Joe G]

I have had my Platinum for 10 months, I feel that when the sign up bonus was included it was well worth the full years annual fee but I’m not sure (for me personally) with my current use I can justify paying for year 2 without a few more MR points thrown in.

I checked on the chat yesterday, I was quite honest with them and told them I liked the product and the benefits but that I could only justify paying the fee for year 2 as a value proposition(for me) if a few reward points were added to the mix. I was offered 35k there and then but told that was under the understanding I kept the card for another 12 months.

I didn’t accept this (yet) as for me I think closer to 50k would be the number of points I could justify paying another full years membership (given I’ve already used this years dining credits etc)

Does anyone know if it’s correct that I do need to keep the card for the full 12 months from the retention offer as I wasn’t aware of that requirement before. I’m still on the fence about my decision to keep the card at the moment.

Thanks

[RonnieB]

It amazes me that AMEX still give out these retention bonuses, especially along with the £400 HN and dining credit. They were introduced I think as a Covid compensation for lack of travel benefits and now everyone feels entitled to get them after holding the card for a short time, AMEX are virtually paying you to have a Plat card !!

Surely it can’t continue?

[andeh3]

As someone that has cancelled recently, I still think the benefits are missing something. Obviously depends heavily on your personal situation.

When I signed up there was £10 Addison Lee a month, I regularly used. This has gone without replacement.

Airport lounge access was also a heavy driver, and not having pre booking included really devalues that benefit.

Travel insurance also not that great a benefit as you need to book flights and hotels with the Amex to get full coverage. Well the 3% charge soon eats into that benefit.

The NH and dinning benefits are good.but to me not worth anywhere near £400 in reality.

As I say just missing something for me hence the cancel but I know it works for other people.

[Joe G]

To be honest I think AMEX are within their rights to say these are the benefits you get, you can take it or leave it but they don’t so it must be in their interests to offer retention bonuses. I mainly signed up for the welcome bonus as I needed a chunk of avios for a planned trip, however I actually did enjoy many of the benefits of the card to the extent I would be tempted to retain it if the terms suited. I was quite happy to pay the full sub for year one rather than cancelling early and found it good value for money (with the signup bonus).

I fully intend to pay the full year again for year 2 if I get a retention bonus (which was why I didn’t accept the one I was offered), is it morally wrong to ask about one when you know they are being offered and it would sway your decisions either way to cancel or keep your card? I know for many the benefits far outweigh the cost, but for someone like me who only travels 3 or 4 times a year and lives in a Scottish town where there are no events/ few restaurants for credits it’s a less attractive proposition in general so the addition of reward points makes a real difference to my decision.

[meta]

@RonnieB they weren’t introduced as covid measure. They were always there.

[Cranzle]

andeh3 wrote:

As someone that has cancelled recently, I still think the benefits are missing something. Obviously depends heavily on your personal situation.

When I signed up there was £10 Addison Lee a month, I regularly used. This has gone without replacement.

Airport lounge access was also a heavy driver, and not having pre booking included really devalues that benefit.

Travel insurance also not that great a benefit as you need to book flights and hotels with the Amex to get full coverage. Well the 3% charge soon eats into that benefit.

The NH and dinning benefits are good.but to me not worth anywhere near £400 in reality.

As I say just missing something for me hence the cancel but I know it works for other people.

Addison Lee was worth £120 per annum. Replaced with HN at £100 a year and dining credit worth £150 for UK and potentially another £150 abroad. At a minimum, this is worth £250 a year. In my opinion, this is worth more than the 12 x £10 a month on rip off Addison Lee prices. It’s also easier to use now as potentially only 3 transactions as opposed to 12.

Who is charging you 3% to book on Amex? In any case, you don’t have to book with Amex to get coverage.

It seems you were valuing lounge access & £10 a month Addison Lee credit at £400. That makes no sense.

[SteveJ]

@Cranzle rip off prices work both ways. HN is overpriced, so that £50 can often only bring £35 of value (taking beauty and cosmetics as an example). And the dining credit is only worth the value you’d pay otherwise. I.e. if you’d normally dine for £80 but instead dine for £150 just to use up the credit then it’s only worth £80. Imho the ‘minimum’ is actually more like £120.

[andeh3]

>
Addison Lee was worth £120 per annum. Replaced with HN at £100 a year and dining credit worth £150 for UK and potentially another £150 abroad. At a minimum, this is worth £250 a year. In my opinion, this is worth more than the 12 x £10 a month on rip off Addison Lee prices. It’s also easier to use now as potentially only 3 transactions as opposed to 12.

Who is charging you 3% to book on Amex? In any case, you don’t have to book with Amex to get coverage.

It seems you were valuing lounge access & £10 a month Addison Lee credit at £400. That makes no sense. >

It’s all personal circumstances how you can justify the fee. Personally I was getting ~£100 of value out of Addison Lee, and yes a lot of the rest I was justifying on airport lounges as I suspect is a big driver for a lot of other people. I couldn’t justify anymore hence I cancelled.

If they brought in pre-booking lounges that would make a big difference in my opinion.

The 3% I was referring to was the FX Amex charge if the transaction is not in £, which is often the case with foreign travel (but not always).

[Andrew J]

andeh3 wrote:

>

The 3% I was referring to was the FX Amex charge if the transaction is not in £, which is often the case with foreign travel (but not always).

But rarely for flight bookings.

[RonnieB]

meta wrote:

@RonnieB they weren’t introduced as covid measure. They were always there.

I don’t recall anyone talking about retention bonuses pre-covid

[thom]

I got offered 50k points to keep my Platinum via chat today – no strings attached. I upgraded from the Gold in the summer/autumn promo.

[Cranzle]

thom wrote:

I got offered 50k points to keep my Platinum via chat today – no strings attached. I upgraded from the Gold in the summer/autumn promo.

Has anyone been made an offer via chat and not accepted and then called the same day to get an increased offer?

[Ash]

thom wrote:

I got offered 50k points to keep my Platinum via chat today – no strings attached. I upgraded from the Gold in the summer/autumn promo.

How much are you putting through amex a year? Great rentention offer.

[meta]

RonnieB wrote:

meta wrote:

@RonnieB they weren’t introduced as covid measure. They were always there.

I don’t recall anyone talking about retention bonuses pre-covid

That’s because it wasn’t widespread as now. Now everybody under the sun asks for one. I’ve been getting retention bonuses for well over 10 years.

[an0thr_daniel]

Asked for retention offer this morning via chat.

Agent asked if I was considering cancelling. I responded that I was reconsidering my account due to the fee and my renewal is due in March.

Transferred to a ‘Customer Care Professional’, they immediately offered 50k MR with no strings.

[Rich_A]

Upgraded my PRG to Plat in November, at the lower rate of 20k.

Just asked to cancel via chat. No retention offered, proactively or when I asked, so I cancelled. Suits me as I did actually want to cancel(!), though probably would have stayed for 35k.

[avidavios]

A few days ago after 6 months or so of having the card I phoned Amex to cancel my Platinum card. I’d got the bonus signup points, had used the 2023 & 24 benefits in terms of UK and international dining and Harvey Nicks credits etc. and am working on other card bonuses now so thought I’d get my refund on the Platinum annual fee (I have other cards that cover most of the remaining benefits). They offered me a 35k retention and the points would be in my account in 3-5 days. I asked what conditions were associated with taking the offer (specifically if I had to keep the card for a minimum period) and they said none. So I’m waiting for the points to hit, then I’ll move them and probably still go ahead an cancel the card anyway.

[Andrew J]

avidavios wrote:

A few days ago after 6 months or so of having the card I phoned Amex to cancel my Platinum card. I’d got the bonus signup points, had used the 2023 & 24 benefits in terms of UK and international dining and Harvey Nicks credits etc. and am working on other card bonuses now so thought I’d get my refund on the Platinum annual fee (I have other cards that cover most of the remaining benefits). They offered me a 35k retention and the points would be in my account in 3-5 days. I asked what conditions were associated with taking the offer (specifically if I had to keep the card for a minimum period) and they said none. So I’m waiting for the points to hit, then I’ll move them and probably still go ahead a cancel the card anyway.

How did you manage to use the 2024 benefits a year early?

[peld]

Having just paid my renewal fee, I eventually got a 50k retention bonus today after getting through to the right team.

[Vit]

Player 2, been having the card for almost 6 months. Minimal spend. Used up both 22/23 benefits. 35k retention bonus. Was told it will show up within 24-48hrs.

[RonnieB]

Do people think you get a bigger bonus if you pay annually – 50k? or less if you pay monthly – 35k?
Or does it depend on spend?

[TGLoyalty]

35k this year. Not bad.

[Doug9x]

50k – said “card now lacks value for me”. Took 2 min. Signed up for the big bonus in August and spent around 10k on it.

[Erico1875]

avidavios wrote:

A few days ago after 6 months or so of having the card I phoned Amex to cancel my Platinum card. I’d got the bonus signup points, had used the 2023 & 24 benefits in terms of UK and international dining and Harvey Nicks credits etc. and am working on other card bonuses now so thought I’d get my refund on the Platinum annual fee (I have other cards that cover most of the remaining benefits). They offered me a 35k retention and the points would be in my account in 3-5 days. I asked what conditions were associated with taking the offer (specifically if I had to keep the card for a minimum period) and they said none. So I’m waiting for the points to hit, then I’ll move them and probably still go ahead an cancel the card anyway.

bad Karma imo.

[Harrier25]

🤣 Posts like that have a massive adverse effect on JDB’s blood pressure readings!