[K1ngston]

I used to be a AMEX platinum Card holder when I was in the UK and when I moved to Asia many years ago I transferred my Account to Singapore which was done without problem, couldnt be more helpful in fact, and I used the card often for the first year until the renewal came through and it was $1,900 SGD which at the time was almost 900GBP which I just didnt see the value for, yes its useful but not for that price.
So at the time I changed to the CitiBank Prestige World Elite card and this has a price of about $450SGD and gives exactly the same features as AMEX including Priority Pass and many different opportunities for fine dining, sporting events etc and I have to say I am delighted with their Concierge service as well, so there are alternatives and whilst I have no issue with paying a fee for the benefits of a card AMEX are way out of kilter in Singapore at least ……

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Polly

[GivingupBA]

K1ngston said, “the benefits of a card AMEX are way out of kilter in Singapore at least ……”

Living in Hong Kong, I had an AMEX card and valued it. Then suddenly 8 or 9 years ago they drastically increased the annual fee (with no change at all in the benefits of having the card). I therefore cancelled my card immediately.

No doubt others have different stories, as seen on this thread, but that was my experience.

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Polly

[Polly]

Remember they dropped the Cathay Pacific Gold card which of course suited us all travelling on One World, lounge access etc etc. That was a bummer when that was removed. Ok Prioity Pass is issued x 2 plus guets which is something. But now they won’t let you in unless you pre book certain lounges. Which negates that benefit. So we still have to aim for maintainability OW Status with BA or whoever… but they have tried recently with that Marriott £400 spend, that will definitely appease the card holders. They had to do something, mass exodus of card holders, stem the flow somewhat?
K1ngston, don’t envy you your trip ahead back to SIN, sounds like a nightmare. And with the animals too? Good luck. At least you are somewhere nice and warm..we should be in Asia from next Sunday, sadly not now.. but always next year, we hope. Have new flights for KUL in Feb as a jump off point or maybe stay up in PEN if we can get in…but not looking good atm…our friends in KKMA won’t get back in if they leave for Xmas, so it seems everyone’s having to decide on various options presented, and changed on an hourly/daily basis….good luck…

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K1ngston

[Chris in Makati]

I must have missed that Marriott offer from Amex. It’s not in my list of available offers, but I see it was limited to the first 2,000 people only.

[Polly]

Chirps,
They still have the 200 spend get 50 back on cards atm too, along with a long list of other major chains…

[MartynSinclair]

Out of the blue today, received what effectively appears to be £100 gift voucher from Amex Plat to spend at Harrods.

“Simply spend online or in store at Harrods between 2 November to 30 November 2020 and you will receive a statement credit for 100% of every eligible purchase you make with your Platinum Card*, up to the total value of £100.”

Checked the small print, unless there is other small print not seen – but all appears to be what it seems (funny how you get suspicious).

Nice bottle of whisky I think – ready for when I restart …

Not sure why, but thank you very much customer services…

[Polly]

Maybe they are reading this thread today!

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DerekVH

[FormerBA]

I have been a member since 2006 but was a member back in the 1980’s when overseas but I let it lapse when I came home as no one took the card in the UK back then.

The platinum charge card is great for me and has been invaluable in terms of insurance especially when the kids were younger.

The current telephone service is awful unless you get Brighton which is increasingly rare. I also hate having to input my details before I speak to anyone. Surely my number should be recognized. Manila are dire in my experience.

However this year has been outstanding in terms of charge backs, Insurance and the offers. I got 40,000 points when I called and have had over £600 of usable offers from them since July. There are many more but they don’t fit my spending at the moment.

One reason I keep it is because my BAPP card is free as I have had both for so long. If that changes then something will have to go. At almost £600 platinum is hard to justify in a Covid world

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Polly

[EasternPedlar]

I’ve had an Amex card of one kind or another since 1981! The current one is the black Premium Plus, for which I don’t pay a fee since I was one of their launch customers. Generally things have been trouble free, except that I have noticed a steady deterioration in UK customer service for some years. There’s nothing premium about Amex in the UK any more! My experience in getting credit for a cancelled ticket that Lufthansa was late in refunding was abysmal. The worst response was from the chat line on their app – I have no idea which agency mans that chat for Amex, but I’d go so far as to say that a deliberate effort was made to mislead me. I’d advise everyone to avoid it.

I also carry a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and am writing to recommend it. It’s a USD card but has no foreign usage fees so I use it pretty much everywhere in the world. Great exchange rates, amazing customer service (US customer service is far superior to that in the UK) and wide acceptance as it is a Visa card. Anyone who travels extensively (as many of us do) will find this card very useful. You earn 2 points per USD on flight, hotel and restaurant spend, and these can be transferred to a wide range of airlines including BA. The cost is just $95 per annum. In the past I held the Sapphire Reserve – it costs $550 per year, but you get 3 points per USD, a $300 travel credit which is very easy to use up, free premium Priority Pass membership and a host of offers. I’ve downgraded this year because my travels have almost ceased, but I will upgrade as soon as I am back on the road.

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Polly, ASK1945, cwoodward, K1ngston

[LuganoPirate]

A slight twist to this, an Italian friend of ours, now living in South Africa, but formerly resident in Lugano, asked the bank (one of the majors here) for her new credit card. Despite a very sizeable balance and many investments managed by them, they refused on the basis she no longer has a Swiss address. Reluctantly, they said they could block on a separate account CHF10,000, charging her 1% on the balance (negative interest) + a fee of CHF250 p.a. for “managing” the sub account + CHF 500 for the cards.

She had just obtained a Revolut and an N26 card so told the bank to transfer Eur 10K to each with a monthly transfer of 2,000 to each. She told us her advisor looked baffled and asked her why she’d do this, to which she replied, no charge for holding the money, great exchange rates and no fee for the cards. Free ATM withdrawals when abroad and no foreign transaction fee for each purchase. He then told her he’d ask H/O if they could make an exception and she said not to bother, just carry out her instructions.

She’s now looking at another bank we’ve just introduced her to.

On that note, I will give up my AMEX this year, fed up with paying CHF700 a year and the only real benefit is the miles on spending, and the insurance. But I have more than enough miles and a much better insurance linked to our house insurance for much less. My Revolut does everything I need, and as I settle my bills in full really don’t need the credit – besides I have other cards from other banks that do not charge an annual fee.

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alainboy56, Polly

[ASK1945]

[quote quote=1014284]I will give up my AMEX this year, fed up with paying CHF700 a year and the only real benefit is the miles on spending, and the insurance. But I have more than enough miles and a much better insurance linked to our house insurance for much less. My Revolut does everything I need, and as I settle my bills in full really don’t need the credit – besides I have other cards from other banks that do not charge an annual fee.[/quote]

LP – do you not find the BA Companion Voucher, for around a 240CHF annual fee (after a spend of 12,000CHF) worth keeping the Amex? Of course, I do appeciate that you are not based in the UK, so you may not be using BA anyway.

[Inquisitive]

Not sure about various people expectations, but concierge service is costly, because some of the service provided could be unique and useful.

Now credit card companies get max 1.5% of the charge amount. Amex may charge a little bit extra. So for a $100,000 spend per year card companies get about $1500. Couple with annual fees, it is not very high amount considering card companies have to maintain back office and many other facades.

Plus they have to make some profit. So one can calculate how much service worth one can expect based on their annual spending.

And if someone card spend is high like over $109,000, they should not bother about service from card company. They can buy all the service they want.

I carry a few cards and each of those have some kind of cash back or point system which can be accumulated to buy various items. I am pretty happy with the cash back that I get considering my not so high yearly spend.

[jsn55]

You’re lucky to have bad customer service from AmEx only recently. I gave up on them years ago, even simple problems became fiascos with AmEx. When Chase launched their Sapphire CC line, I signed up immediately and have been very happy with them. Their Ultimate Rewards program is fabulous. I don’t know if Chase or something close to Sapphire is available in UK, tho.

[Huitsix]

Interesting topic, I just signed up for the Air France American Express card, so far my interaction with them has been pretty decent, let’s see how that goes a few months down the road!

I never understood the point in using credit cards before someone had to explain to me the difference between credit & debit cards which now seems so obvious to all but I was totally oblivious to the entire system. Then I started accumulating miles with my visa premium from Citibank in Singapore which has been a very pleasant experience for several years now.

I do realize that I may not have access to the seemingly “elite” type cards that you all are discussing here, but just wanted to point out the fact that I (and most of the people who I know and own a credit card) simply call in every year to get my annual fee waved which is always done with zero questions asked. I suppose it is not something which can be done for all cards?

[Huitsix]

[postquote quote=1014295][/postquote]

My wife runs a retail shop and as a business owner she only earns 97% (on top of terminal rental fees) from any amount charged to a card (regardless if credit/debit, Amex, Visa etc.) I’m not sure the credit card company gets the full 3% or if there is another commission/fee or whatnot channeled to somewhere else, but just wanted to point that out.

[Author]

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