Post your American Express Platinum retention offers here!

[Gary]

SteveCroydon wrote:

Renewal of Platinum card just been billed for £575, but not paid yet.
I’ve just tried chat – sorry we can’t do a downgrade or cancellation, please phone us.
Phoned them and got an “offshore agent”. No questions as to why I wanted to cancel and downgrade to the free basic MR card. Account reviewed and “we can do that now on the phone”. No attempt to ascertain why or any offer.
The line was bad, so I said I’d call in again.
I’ve been a member since 2001 and previously in 1980’s. I had BAPP for 15+ years, but now have the basic BA AX card, which is not used.
No debts or late payments. Plenty of premium international travel washing through the PLAX card.
All very strange. Where’s my 35/50k MR points offer?

It’s an automated process, not a romance. No need for any sort of dance, whether overseas or Brighton agent. Just ask if there is a retention offer showing on the account. Answer is either yes or no.

[SteveCroydon]

Carlos wrote:

SteveCroydon wrote:

Renewal of Platinum card just been billed for £575, but not paid yet.
I’ve just tried chat – sorry we can’t do a downgrade or cancellation, please phone us.
Phoned them and got an “offshore agent”. No questions as to why I wanted to cancel and downgrade to the free basic MR card. Account reviewed and “we can do that now on the phone”. No attempt to ascertain why or any offer.
The line was bad, so I said I’d call in again.
I’ve been a member since 2001 and previously in 1980’s. I had BAPP for 15+ years, but now have the basic BA AX card, which is not used.
No debts or late payments. Plenty of premium international travel washing through the PLAX card.
All very strange. Where’s my 35/50k MR points offer?

HUATA

What on Earth does HUATA mean? Apart from the Spanish for pot-belly!

Perhaps – Have U Actually Tried Asking?!?! If so, it’s not out there on the Internet as a definition.

[rams]

Hang up and try again?

[MCO]

I don’t think HUATA helps. Either the offer is available on your account or not. They can’t manually apply it if it’s not available as far as I am aware.

[Aston100]

MCO wrote:

I don’t think HUATA helps. Either the offer is available on your account or not. They can’t manually apply it if it’s not available as far as I am aware.

That has always been my experience too.

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Data point for Business Platinum – got offered only a £55 statement credit. As others have recently commented, the retention team agent I was transferred to emphasised it was an automated process and this was the only option (other than cancellation and pro-rata refund of annual fee) they could offer.

By way of background, we’ve held the card for over 3 years but spend through it is not particularly high at c.£20k per annum (still, that’s c. £200 of points from business spending we would otherwise not have).

We do tend to utilise the Dell credit (£75 x 2 per year) and also the Times subscription (which otherwise would cost £120). We have also used last year’s £200 travel credit. The lounge access occasionally comes in handy too but probably only utilised a few times in a year (so maybe £100-120 worth for 2 of us). The car hire insurance is also a perk that has saved me money last year, although harder to put an annual value on it. We also use the occasional partner offer that saves a few extra quid on top. The other benefits are not essential for us but just nice to have (we often have access to hotel status / travel insurance via other routes).

That’s £800+ of benefit plus overall so I still feel inclined to keep the card, even though the retention offer was distinctly underwhelming… I appreciate that this calculation must be personal to each subscriber’s circumstances. Finally, being from Guernsey (where Amex won’t issue new cards), it is also the case that we probably will never cancel it unless we see no value in having Amex membership rewards as it’s the only way to keep our points going!

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

I also forgot to mention one of the most important elements in the value calculation for business owners – the fact that the annual membership cost is tax deductible in your business and that many of the benefits you receive (e.g. points, Times sub, travel credit, lounge access and insurance cover etc) are value you have extracted tax free 🙂

[pelicanicecoffeeolaf]

Got questioned a bit before I was given a 35k retention offer. I was asked what attracted me to the card when I originally signed up and which offers and benefits I like the most.

When I asked if it is possible to switch to monthly payments, I was informed that I could either take the 35k bonus or monthly payments, not both, so that’s interesting.

[BuildBackBetter]

pelicanicecoffeeolaf wrote:

When I asked if it is possible to switch to monthly payments, I was informed that I could either take the 35k bonus or monthly payments, not both, so that’s interesting.

Simple reason, monthly fee payers are more likely to cancel the card. If you see a fee on the bill every month, you’ll keep thinking about the value you receive. No point spending money trying to retain them.

[jeff]

Data point for Amex Platinum cardholder:

-What attracted you to the card when you signed up?
-Why are you cancelling?
-What benefits do you find useful?

Aw shucks, would be awful to lose you. Here, have 50,000 MR

[Aquarius12]

Do you think the retention offer is in any way dependant on the answers you give ?

[jeff]

No – I imagine that they are gathering data to limit future cancellations. I answered truthfully – I think the Priority Pass is generally worthless now. I’m happy to give them some data and 5mins of my time for a fistful of points.

[pelicanicecoffeeolaf]

jeff wrote:

No – I imagine that they are gathering data to limit future cancellations. I answered truthfully – I think the Priority Pass is generally worthless now. I’m happy to give them some data and 5mins of my time for a fistful of points.

I did mention I was disappointed that for the price of the card I only receive 1 point per £. Would be nice if they took that feedback onboard! Foreign transaction fee should also go!

[rtid]

I just went onto the Amex chat and said I am considering cancelling, however i’d like to know if there are any retention offers to change my mind. Got offered 35k MR which I accepted straight away.

[meandthekids]

This is probably a very thick question but does the retention offer mean you must keep the card for another 12 months? What are the terms?

[rtid]

the person on the chat asked me if i can confirm I will keep the card. i said yes. no timeframe was provided. I am pretty sure if i wanted to now cancel, they would let me. oh, my 35k MR have already posted too, so within 1 hour.

[RobL]

35K offered and accepted.

Same as they gave me in April 2022.

[BARRONDP]

Disappointing experience with Amex webchat this week. I contacted a few days ago to see if there were retention offers available and was advised not but to try back in a couple of days (but agreed to do so suspecting I was being fobbed off!)

This morning tried again and was told there were no offers showing. I then asked if I could downgrade back to Gold and was told this didn’t show as an available option and queried whether there were any options to keep my current points alive. Was told not! Basically said I would convert points today and then get back in touch to cancel card. It was then suggested I call on 0800 917 8054 to see if call centre could offer me anything from 9am when they open. So will try that! At the end of the day I’m quite prepared to cancel card and unless they can offer me something or allow me to downgrade back to Gold then I am more than prepared to convert points and walk away (if Gold isnt an option then I’d rather walk and reset 2 year trigger for a future bonus)

[JDB]

Amex has created something of a hole for itself here, creating a sense of entitlement to a retention offer every year and people then getting arsey when one is not offered.

From a commercial perspective, they obviously can’t keep offering the equivalent of £350/£500 on top of £400 dining/HN credit forever on a card that many don’t even use that much owing to poor points earning. There is additionally the fairness issue of inducements or effective fee reductions being offered to some cardholders and not others.

[AnotherRandomPerson]

JDB wrote:

Amex has created something of a hole for itself here, creating a sense of entitlement to a retention offer every year and people then getting arsey when one is not offered.

From a commercial perspective, they obviously can’t keep offering the equivalent of £350/£500 on top of £400 dining/HN credit forever on a card that many don’t even use that much owing to poor points earning. There is additionally the fairness issue of inducements or effective fee reductions being offered to some cardholders and not others.

It’s also odd that they don’t impose any terms that you have to keep the card for a while if you take retention.

From messages above, I would be more annoyed with them denying downgrade to gold than no retention offer as it feels like that always should be an option.

[iandv]

If you take a retention points offer to keep the card does this mean that you are tied in for another 12 months or would you be able to cancel in for example 2 months time and get a pro-rata refund of the fee if you did finally want to cancel ?

[sloth]

Rentention points don’t (currently) tie you in to another year

[Luca M]

35,000 points a month after paying the annual fee, the agent said he did not have any other offer when I mentioned that few colleagues got offered 50,000.. first time I receive the retention offer on this card, 21 year of card membership with Amex

[BJ]

@Luca, do you refer friends and family? I got impression they like lime referral to genuine new customers. If you’ve been with them 20+ years and they see card is working for you they probably see it as a safe bet you will stay anyway without further incentive.

[Harrier25]

We’ve seen Amex getting tougher on acceptances recently and I wouldn’t be surprised if retention bonuses will be the next area that they will tighten up on.