“Your Account is temporarily unable to access the Referral Programme”

[The_Hanif]

Maybe it’s not a review… Could it be the case that they removed the referral offer for those that have received a retention offer,
the 35000/50000/xxx MR point people got for when saying they want to leave but stayed in return for points?

[alig4th]

The_Hanif wrote:

Maybe it’s not a review… Could it be the case that they removed the referral offer for those that have received a retention offer,
the 35000/50000/xxx MR point people got for when saying they want to leave but stayed in return for points?

Nope. Three of the four people I personally know (one of them being me) who cannot refer have never had a retention offer.

[supergraeme]

No retention offer here.

[The_Hanif]

ah okay, took a guess

[supergraeme]

Got someone in Brighton to agree to look into it for me. He’s sent a few e-mails and asked a team to look into and explain it. I suggested that he had a flashing light on his screen that he couldn’t tell me about, but he found that funny and didn’t seem to. The person I spoke to in the Philippines beforehand said it was either that I’ve referred too many people (not a chance) or it just wasn’t available as an offer for me at the moment, which isn’t how it works. Hopefully I’ll find out next week.

[alig4th]

supergraeme wrote:

Got someone in Brighton to agree to look into it for me.

Good luck, and very interested in the response you get.

[supergraeme]

If I’m back here next week using words other than “fobbed off”, I’ll buy my dog a nice hat.

[alig4th]

supergraeme wrote:

If I’m back here next week using words other than “fobbed off”, I’ll buy my dog a nice hat.

Fair point! I have also raised a ticket with AMEX about it. Was told I’d get a call within three workings days (“may not always be possible”), but definitely a written acknowledgement of my issue and , a resolution aim within 15 business days, or a maximum of 35 business days to issue a final response. That was on 1 December. You’ll be unsurprised to hear I did not get a phone call and have received no letter.

Obviously it’s not been 15 or 35 business days, but I may need your suggestions on where to shop for pooch headgear (preferable somewhere on the BA eStore and that takes AMEX)

[supergraeme]

The nice chap in Brighton said it might be up to five working days for someone to add new notes, but I tried today anyway. Spoke to the Philippines who….. fobbed me off – not always available, terms and conditions etc. HUACA and spoke to Brighton, who put me on hold for some time to discuss it but couldn’t work it out, and neither can his team. He’s put a request through to the Platinum team to have it lifted. I have zero hope that that will happen, and another referral will bite the dust.

He did use the word “historical” when reading something, but I haven’t self-referred since some time before we all stopped.

[supergraeme]

Just to rule it out (given that Rob suggested it could be a reason and it’s been mentioned by the Philippines-based staff on the phone), I checked my credit rating – I know there are many different ones, but I’m now certain it’s definitely not that. Going to call back again today as I’m about to miss out on my third referral (and because this is really irritating me).

[DorsetFlyer]

Just to add to this, also unable to refer at the moment. Have never self-referred.
Last referral 2 months ago was my father-in-law (different address, different surname and never referred him before).
Prior to that the last referral was my husband (same address but different surname) and that was at least 6 months ago.
So no idea why I have been prevented from referring again.
(Excellent credit rating and fully paid off every month).

[supergraeme]

I called again – eventually spoke to a helpful chap in the Philippines who read something that he apparently wasn’t meant to read to me. He didn’t get too far, but he did use the words “historical” and “risk”. He couldn’t/wouldn’t say any more. I’ve put in a formal complaint.

I’ve now missed out on 48k MRs because it was fine to approve me for the Plat four months ago but too risky to let me refer people.

[JDB]

supergraeme wrote:

I called again – eventually spoke to a helpful chap in the Philippines who read something that he apparently wasn’t meant to read to me. He didn’t get too far, but he did use the words “historical” and “risk”. He couldn’t/wouldn’t say any more. I’ve put in a formal complaint.

I’ve now missed out on 48k MRs because it was fine to approve me for the Plat four months ago but too risky to let me refer people.

I’m not sure what valid basis for a complaint exists here? Amex has no obligation to offer referral bonuses to anyone and it would appear they are tightening up on them. Although you say you haven’t done anything to upset Amex, clearly others who post here have and you are an unfortunate victim of that causing a general clamp down by Amex on various things.

[supergraeme]

I want to know why I’m deemed unsuitable and I don’t like being fobbed off.

[JDB]

supergraeme wrote:

I want to know why I’m deemed unsuitable and I don’t like being fobbed off.

I understand why you are annoyed but that in itself doesn’t form the basis of a complaint with any prospect of success, nor will a complaint yield the answers you seek.

[supergraeme]

Perhaps not, but not asking definitely won’t get me any answers.

[Charles Martel]

supergraeme wrote:

Perhaps not, but not asking definitely won’t get me any answers.

Did you get an explanation in the end?

[aseftel]

JDB wrote:

supergraeme wrote:

I called again – eventually spoke to a helpful chap in the Philippines who read something that he apparently wasn’t meant to read to me. He didn’t get too far, but he did use the words “historical” and “risk”. He couldn’t/wouldn’t say any more. I’ve put in a formal complaint.

I’ve now missed out on 48k MRs because it was fine to approve me for the Plat four months ago but too risky to let me refer people.

I’m not sure what valid basis for a complaint exists here? Amex has no obligation to offer referral bonuses to anyone and it would appear they are tightening up on them. Although you say you haven’t done anything to upset Amex, clearly others who post here have and you are an unfortunate victim of that causing a general clamp down by Amex on various things.

I pretty much agree, but I think it is interesting that Amex now advertise referral bonuses as a ‘benefit’ of the card*. Contrast with the same referral programme merely being an ongoing marketing promotion, where I would confidently endorse Amex’s right to choose whom they targeted.

It’s not exactly an ironclad argument, but you could make the case that Amex should not be acting unfairly or arbitrarily when delivering the advertised benefits of the card. There is some carve out in the terms for customers to be eligible based on ‘credit rating and other factors’ – but I’m not sure that a customer who had a good repayment record and conduct would reasonably expect to be excluded on that basis (note that it’s the same paragraph as ‘losing your points if you don’t make repayments’).

* https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/platinum-card/ – in the ‘Reward Yourself’ section of ‘All Benefits’

[Cranzle]

@supergraeme
A couple of points:
1) Invite a Friend is clearly labelled as an “Exclusive Offer” – this implies that it’s not available to everyone
2) If it were me, and I was particularly wanting to try to get the bottom of this, I would have initially submitted a Subject Access Request (completely independently of your current line of questioning/complaint). Something might slip through the net and they may inadvertently reveal the reason. However, they are well within their rights to withhold their reasoning from you. I’m sure JDB will be along soon to give you chapter and verse on this.

Here is the section from Amex’s “Binding Corporate Rules” detailing your rights to information held on you. You should also be able to get hold of the telephone call recordings too, but I would wait and see if they send those to you before specifically asking for them. Enjoy!

4.2. Data Subjects’ rights
Rights of access, restriction, objection, rectification, erasure, right to withdraw Consent and to data portability
The American Express BCRs Entities comply with your requests to exercise the rights entitled to You by the UK GDPR, where applicable. More specifically, We ensure that You can exercise your right to:
– access your Personal Data (right of access);
– restrict and/or object to the Processing of your Personal Data (right to restriction of Processing and right to object to Processing);
– rectify your Personal Data (right of rectification);
– erase your Personal Data (right to erasure);
– withdraw a previously provided Consent for Processing, and
– receive your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit such data to another Data Controller (right to data portability).

The American Express BCRs Entities are subject to policies on how to handle such requests to ensure that You have the means to exercise these rights. If You would like to exercise any of your rights, You may contact our DPO at amexukdpo@aexp.com

Automated decision making
The American Express BCRs Entities ensure that You are not subject to decisions based solely on automated Processing of Personal Data , including Profiling, which produce legal effects or similar significant effects, unless the Processing is:
– necessary for entering into or performing a contract between You and American Express;
– authorized by a law to which American Express is subject and which also lays down suitable measures to safeguard your rights and freedoms and legitimate interests; or
– based on your explicit Consent to such Processing.

In accordance with applicable law(s), We will implement suitable measures to safeguard your rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, at least the right to obtain human intervention, to express your point of view and to contest the decision.

In compliance with these restrictions, We may use automated processes to help Us make certain decisions, for example, to detect and manage fraud (e.g., to help decide whether your account is used for fraud or money laundering purposes or to detect if fraudsters have accessed your account); or to process card applications and assess credit and security risks. These methods are regularly tested to ensure that they remain fair, effective and unbiased.

You may contact our DPO at amexukdpo@aexp.com to exercise your right to request a manual review of certain automated Processing activities that may impact your legal or other contractual rights or that may have a similar legal effect.

[JDB]

Amex is under no obligation to offer referrals to everyone all the time; it is clearly at their discretion as are SUBs, retentions etc. It couldn’t form a successful complaint to the FOS or claim at MCOL.

Yes, you can use the DPA, make a complaint etc, but it will get you precisely nowhere and tweaking Amex’s tail in this manner when there is no basis doesn’t seem at all sensible.

[Rob]

I’m doing an article on this now.

However, I can tell you – from our own Amex dealings – that they monitor the long-term profitability of card accounts and track them back to the original source. This is actually good for HfP since most of the people who sign up via us do become long term profitable customers, even if they do chop and change their cards quite a bit. If Amex sees you referring people who are consistently unprofitable then it would seen logical that they would try to restrict your referrals.

[Rui N.]

Amex can’t keep track correctly of the “member since” dates (I have 3 cards in my account with 3 different “member since” dates, not to mention the authorised user ones), and they can keep track of all of that? Allrighty then!

[BuildBackBetter]

Rui N. wrote:

Amex can’t keep track correctly of the “member since” dates (I have 3 cards in my account with 3 different “member since” dates, not to mention the authorised user ones), and they can keep track of all of that? Allrighty then!

They probably spend more time and money tracking the profitability than a set of data thats just a ‘nice to have’.

[Rui N.]

Yes, I was once young and also believed in Father Christmas.
(I actual don’t remember doing so, benefits of having older siblings.)

[Tricky]

I’ve been following this thread for a while as I needed to a referral link for a friend but link had disappeared.

Randomly towards the end of December I was checking the app and the refer a friend appeared again as a box in my transaction list, however when I went back the next day it had vanished.

More fool me for not taking advantage when it was showing.