topic Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks in Credit Cards

AMEX and sneaky tricks

boilerfan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:19:22 GMT

Here is a link to the Consumerist blog about an experience someone recently had with AMEX cancelling her 20 year+ card membership 2 weeks before she was due a $500 rebate.

http://consumerist.com/5161723/american-express-cancels-your-card-right-before-you-were-supposed-to-get-your-500-rebate

Message Edited by boilerfan on 02-27-2009 01:19 PM

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

fused — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:50:15 GMT

Not surprising!

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:59:51 GMT

Wow...Amex sinking to all-new lows. Glad I didn't bite on that offer I got in the mail a few weeks ago.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:02:12 GMT

fused wrote:
Not surprising!

And yet, a year ago it would have been shocking.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:17:20 GMT

This makes perfect dollar sense. They NEEDED that $500 for their "we'll pay you to close your account" program!!

rat ***tards.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:04:26 GMT

Sounds like a Blue Cash card that was due its yearly statement credit...

Does this mean that technically rewards dollars are not yours?

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:16:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sounds like a Blue Cash card that was due its yearly statement credit...

Does this mean that technically rewards dollars are not yours?

It was a Costco AmEx. I know the t&cs say that basically they can do whatever they like, whenever they like, and that if they close the account, you forfeit any rebate/rewards, but I wonder if there is, or could be, any kind of recourse against this kind of AA? They really should be hauled over the coals for pulling this kind of stunt, where someone's perfectly acceptable as a customer while they're earning AmEx money all year, right up until the point where AmEx has to hold up their end of the bargain and pay out the promised rebate.

I have worried about this with my Blue Cash. I'm racking up a very nice wedge of cashback, and it has occurred to me that my current "unmessed-with-by-AmEx" status might suddenly change immediately before they're supposed to credit me the money back.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

stefanc — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:57:52 GMT

They closed my Starwood card only hours after my statement cut with the annual fee charged on it.

They did the usual AR about a week before closing it - 0 balance on the card (always PIF long before the statement cut). On a friday night the statement cuts with the $45 annual fee due -- by morning the card was closed.

I've spent hours on the phone going around to different depatments and supervisors - they will not refund the $45.

I think even First Premeir will refund you annual fee if the account is closed.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:12:05 GMT

@stefanc wrote:
They closed my Starwood card only hours after my statement cut with the annual fee charged on it.

They did the usual AR about a week before closing it - 0 balance on the card (always PIF long before the statement cut). On a friday night the statement cuts with the $45 annual fee due -- by morning the card was closed.

I've spent hours on the phone going around to different depatments and supervisors - they will not refund the $45.

I think even First Premeir will refund you annual fee if the account is closed.

THAT is outrageous. I'm sure I've read of plenty of occasions where they've at least had the good grace to refund AFs on cards that have been cancelled, even when they've been cancelled at the cardholder's request rather than AmEx's instigation. How can they charge you a fee for a card you don't actually have, and haven't had for even one day of the year they are charging for?

They are just getting more out of hand by the minute. Cutting credit limits and closing cards is one thing, but actually leaving people out of pocket in the process (closing cards days before the cardholder's due a rebate, when that cardholder has kept up their end of the bargain and given the card a ton of use SPECIFICALLY because of the promise of that rebate, charging annual fees for cards that they then close immediately afterwards) in order to desperately pull whatever they can into their own coffers is beyond disgusting.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:15:47 GMT

Okey-dokey, might be time to go find something I can use those 16,000 rewards points on.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:18:50 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Okey-dokey, might be time to go find something I can use those 16,000 rewards points on.

Good plan - believe me, if my Blue Cash rebate money wasn't being held hostage until August, I'd be cashing the lot in right now! I've never been bothered by the fact that you have to wait until the end of the year to get the cash, rather than having it credited monthly. Waiting to get it doesn't bother me, but whether I can trust AmEx to hand it over when the time comes is another matter.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:29:28 GMT

Even Cap One gives you 30 days after AF appears on statement to cancel card and not pay the fee. Or,better yet, call and have it waived!

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:04:55 GMT

Here's an interesting blog by a fellow who wrote a few letters to the VP of Public Relations complaining about one of AMEX's new policies and a few days later had his card cancelled.

http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001638.html#more

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:10:34 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Okey-dokey, might be time to go find something I can use those 16,000 rewards points on.

Let me know if you find anything cool. I've got about the same and I would rather use them than lose them!

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:37:13 GMT

I cashed all of mine out for dining gift certs. I figure with the budget tightening it'll be the only dinners out we can afford.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:39:25 GMT

FretlessMayhem wrote:

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Okey-dokey, might be time to go find something I can use those 16,000 rewards points on.
Let me know if you find anything cool. I've got about the same and I would rather use them than lose them!

I'm beginning to think that I'm reduced to various gift cards. The last thing I need is another gadget cluttering up my life, and at least the cards are 100 points for $1. I'm pretty underwhelmed by the redemptions on the Shop Amex thing, that all seem to be 200 points for $1.

They do have one for Ruth's Chris (Chris's Ruth? Ruth's Chris's Ruth's? what is that all about??) Steak House, and that would probably wipe the balance out pretty nicely.

lol, they seem unaware that Bonnaroo has set its dates already...

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:48:30 GMT

It used to be Chris' steak house, Ruth bought it, didn't want to change the name so she made it Ruth's Chris' Steak House. Isn't that exciting?

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:50:48 GMT

Cheezy wrote:
It used to be Chris' steak house, Ruth bought it, didn't want to change the name so she made it Ruth's Chris' Steak House. Isn't that exciting?

Seriously, thank you! You'll never know how that's been bothering me.

Even if not a word is true, I feel better!

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

KingAdrock — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:06:51 GMT

You think they would at least make it "Ruth & Chris' Steak House". "Ruth's Chris' " is just plain silly.

Re: AMEX and sneaky tricks

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:41:25 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
It used to be Chris' steak house, Ruth bought it, didn't want to change the name so she made it Ruth's Chris' Steak House. Isn't that exciting?

Seriously, thank you! You'll never know how that's been bothering me.

Even if not a word is true, I feel better!

Evidently, Ms. Ruth didn't have a choice:

The chain was founded by the late Ruth Fertel, in 1965, after she bought the existing Chris Steak House in New Orleans. In buying the restaurant, Fertel had to agree that the restaurant keep the "Chris" name for a specified period of time. After the original location sustained a kitchen fire, she relocated the restaurant about one-half mile (0.9 km) to the west on Broad Street and renamed the rebuilt establishment "Ruth's Chris."

Under the purchase agreement, the name "Chris Steak House" could not be used at any other location, and she did not want to lose customers already familiar with the Chris name.