Centurion Service?

[RichardMannion]

Hi,

There is a general consensus at the moment that Centurion Card is a former shadow of itself due to a reduction in benefits and the fall in the quality of service delivered by the various teams. Speaking to Centurion direct they are a little upset with this consensus, and believe that is the view by its cardbase. I want to demonstrate to them that is a problem, and they do need to seriously revisit several areas.

I know some of the German Centurion cardholders over at FT got together and wrote an open letter to the senior management at Centurion DE to highlight the issue.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=520739

I am proposing to do the same kind of thing, so I ask:

1. If you feel that Centurion has lost its lustre, then let me know your feedback and I will collate it together to send on to AmEx

2. Do you feel the benefits have been reducued, which ones?

3. Do you feel that the service delviered by the various teams has gone downhill (Travel, Lifestyle, Card) - I know I have examples for each area from the past year where they have severely failed. If you have examples, let me know.

4. Are you likely to renew your membership this year?

5. How much of a loss is SPG Platinum to you?

If you don't mind giving me your name, and how long you have been a Centurion Cardholder too. I will be linking to this from FT, so feel free to mail me at [email protected] if you're not a member here or want to reply privately.

Thanks,
Richard

Richard,

You obviously feel quite strongly about this. Just a suggestion, and please do take it or not as you see fit. It seems to me that the wider the audience you can get to this issue, the more likely you are to suceed. Why not set up a specific website with a poll. People can then register by submitting say the last 4 digits of their card number and their mother's maden name. Once registed they can then vote on the issues you bring up, and leave a message if they so desire. With the registration information Amex would then be able to validate on a sample basis that the data you supply them is correct.

[Decker]

PM on way

[preiffer]

It's a shame amexcenturion.co.uk is already taken, really.

I hear Amex have some history with rather annoying public campaigns... [:w]

[RichardMannion]

Aha - good to see someone I know took over my expired registration then!

Sailor....

Thanks,
Richard

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Aha - good to see someone I know took over my expired registration then!

Sailor....

Thanks,
Richard

Not just someone [y][oo]

Well it seemed like such a good idea the first time it was used.........

[RichardMannion]

Good lad - maybe its new owner can make full use of it given the nature of this topic. Had a few responses so far and its giving a pretty consistent image - some very valid topics raised. Chatting with one of them, I think the aim is to go back with a constructive (but at the same time damning) account of how service has detioriated and how changes to benefits has casused this consensus.

Thanks,
Richard

Hi Richard

Excuse my ignorance, but what is SPG Platinum?

I've been a Centurion cardholder since its inception (you get a nice little Charter Memeber inscription on your card) in 1999 or so, and to be honest yes, the personal service is not quite what it used to be. I remember when you could still call up and you'd get straight through to a real persone without having to go through the 'key 1 for travel enquiries, 2 for account related enquiries...'.

The annual cost of the Centurion card has also rocketed, and without any added value.

I had a particularly bad experience about two years ago when a flight, booked through Amex travel by another card holder with the same name, was incorrectly charged to my account. I then had three months of late payment fees (two of which were late payment fees for, yes, not paying the late payment fee that I never owed anyway). This caught up with me about a year later when I applied for the GF to be a supplementary cardholder and they turned it down on the basis that they thought I'd had a 'bad payment record'. I also later discovered that my Experion credit rating had taken a nasty hit as a result too, showing up as three months of defaults. Nice... Well, they did finally correct their mistake, and the GF got her card. Plus I got the other guy's airmiles

I have also been at the sharp end of three or four travel related cock ups, simple stuff like tickets not being available on departure (booked, but not auth'd), or a mess up when issuing a single interlined tickets on carriers that didn't have an interlining policy. Or arriving at a full hotel with a 'confirmed' reservation, even a confirmation number, that the hotel knew nothing about. The closest hotel they found me was a real dive - a room above a pub five miles away. Increasingly, yes, I just do it myself. The fine hotels and resorts upgrades are really nice to have.

When the card first came out, for the first few months or so you got lots of 'ooohs' and 'arrrs' especially abroad where the card had yet to be launched. Nowadays it's certainly lost a lot of that.

The lifestyle side I rarely ever use: to be honest, on the odd occasion I've tried to use their services, either they haven't delivered or I found I could do it myself.

Stuff like airline lounge access seems nice but to be honest I usually have access either with the class I'm travelling in or my FF status. I have only used the Priority Pass only three or four times.

I will renew, if only because everyone expects me to pluck it out now when the bill comes

Cheers, Howard

[Scrooge]

Richard,I get the feeling that the only thing AMex will understand is if enough people vote with their wallets,trust me if enough Centurion holders call and ask to be taken to gold amex will change their ways.

[RichardMannion]

SPG Plat is Starwood Prefered Guest. It is the top tier that is availble (without invitiation) in the Starwood loyalty program. By many it is viewed as one of the core benefits of Centurion. There is another thread on here about it going away.

Thank you for your feedback, that is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for. Nobody is perfect, but ther seems to be a higher than expected rate of mistakes/stupidity on Centurion's behalf. The way I see it, the staff that serve the lines should be the best of the best, hand picked to work on Centurion due to exceptional knowledge and custoemr service skills shown elsewhere in AmEx first - nobody should be coming in fresh and dealing with AmEx's top customers straight off. To have staff that don't know the Centurion beenfits is outrageous, Travel are the worst offenders. 'Hello can you tell me the lowest qualifying rate at the HKG MO so I can get my free night there' 'What free night, are you trying to use miles? You'd need to speak to your air miles company for that' - absolutely inexcusable.

Thanks,
Richard

P.S Charter Members are people from the launch - March 99

The new owner is very happy to make the URL available if the OP wishes to use it in the furtherance of the objectives of this topic... Just shout

[RichardMannion]

Now do we know anyone with web skills that can help create a simple site to allow the intentions to proceed?

Thanks,
Richard

[preiffer]

Originally posted by sailor99
The new owner is very happy to make the URL available if the OP wishes to use it in the furtherance of the objectives of this topic... Just shout

One word, Jeremy - RENT.

(And personally, I wouldn't get involved in such activities - you never know what other websites your exploits might end up being published on... And then how silly would you look [:0])

Rent, oh yes. I think I can take a wider view of paybacks that simple money you know.

Originally posted by jetwet1
Richard,I get the feeling that the only thing AMex will understand is if enough people vote with their wallets,trust me if enough Centurion holders call and ask to be taken to gold amex will change their ways.

Exactly Dave, exactly [y]

If Centurion is so appalling these days, and not suiting the requirements, here's a novel idea: don't waste time & effort, just hit them where it hurts and (shock, horror) get a different card [:0]

Cheers

Michael

[mcmbenjamin]

Originally posted by preiffer
It's a shame amexcenturion.co.uk is already taken, really.

I hear Amex have some history with rather annoying public campaigns... [:w]

They are other websites; with plans for a reality TV show.

Black Card Club Forum There is a funny picture of a guy and his card

Black Card Club Website

Interesting...

[RichardMannion]

Ben, you may want to do a search on that 'website' over on FT - pure comedy.

Thanks,
Richard