VS Amex Black card fee increase/benefit decrease

Tonty,

Thanks for relaying your experience; looks pretty positive overall - in terms of benefits. Should be able to do 1k in three months. Also says that all spends abroad get double points - off to Orlando in 5 weeks, historically our cards take a bit of a bashing in Florida!
Thanks, Craig.

Also looked at the AMEX Gold Reward Card;

http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/gold-rewards-card/?lmc=yes

Looks really good;

Earn FC miles
Double points on Travel (presume VA?)
Double Fuel for a year
20,000 bonus points for £1000 spend in three months.

Certainly worth having for the first year.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention

I will give it a go for a year, and I get £60 cash back through my employee reward program. y)

Renewal next year at 140 quid!!!

I think that is the end of the card for me.

[Nottingham Nick]

Two threads on same subject merged to prevent duplicate discussions.


Nick

I phoned the VA MBNA/Amex number (0800 056 7686) and got put through to the card cancellations dept to ask them how they could justify a ~20% hike.. in fact my card had just renewed at £115, so I told them I'd have to see more offers this year or I'd cancel on next renewal as I wasn't seeing enough miles.

They immediately offered me a 2000 miles bonus now and said I should look in the post for special offers during the year. I spent about £10K on the card last year, so I guess I'm an okay customer for them but not exactly a high roller.

If you are unhappy as well it seems it worth a call to see what they can offer ? (although the 2000 miles is also debatable compensation for going through their godawful automated phone system!)

Hopefully I might see a few more targeted offers as well.

I phoned the VA MBNA/Amex number (0800 056 7686) and got put through to the card cancellations dept to ask them how they could justify a ~20% hike.. in fact my card had just renewed at £115, so I told them I'd have to see more offers this year or I'd cancel on next renewal as I wasn't seeing enough miles.

They immediately offered me a 2000 miles bonus now and said I should look in the post for special offers during the year. I spent about £10K on the card last year, so I guess I'm an okay customer for them but not exactly a high roller.

If you are unhappy as well it seems it worth a call to see what they can offer ? (although the 2000 miles is also debatable compensation for going through their godawful automated phone system!)

Hopefully I might see a few more targeted offers as well.

I wouldnt worry about spend I put about 150k on my black amex annually and i get nothing special from anyone else, i wonder if I was to spend that on my amex plat, would i get an invite to the centurion card

cheers

alex

[RichardMannion]

Alex V - unlikely. They've upped the criteria recently, I believe it is £250k+ spend in preceding 12 months now, alogn with some minimum household income validation via a bank reference.

Not surprised that VS has put up the fee, the BA Premium Plus card is £150/year - which is 1.5 BA miles per £1, or 3 per £1 with BA. At least the companion voucher is far more useful on the BA card.

There are still some people who got the special edition AmEx Gold Charge card a number of years ago with its £90 fee that earns 2MR points per £ spent, and 4 per £ spent with VS. Those were the days

Thanks,
Richard

As an ex-Centurion card holder, it really is not worth the huge fee in 99% of cases.

They immediately offered me a 2000 miles bonus now and said I should look in the post for special offers during the year.

I recently had a voucher from them for if I remember correctly 10,000 Tesco Clubcard points worth £100. Can only be redeemed in Tesco i.e. not valid for any clubcard exchanges but it's £100 I wasn't expecting. y)

Tonty,

Thanks for relaying your experience; looks pretty positive overall - in terms of benefits. Should be able to do 1k in three months. Also says that all spends abroad get double points - off to Orlando in 5 weeks, historically our cards take a bit of a bashing in Florida!
Thanks, Craig.

Craig - i have found that the exchange rates used by Amex are not nearly as competative as my Tesco Mastercard - you might be getting miles for your Amex spend but it will cost you a lot more to get them

Tonty,

Thanks for relaying your experience; looks pretty positive overall - in terms of benefits. Should be able to do 1k in three months. Also says that all spends abroad get double points - off to Orlando in 5 weeks, historically our cards take a bit of a bashing in Florida!
Thanks, Craig.

Craig - i have found that the exchange rates used by Amex are not nearly as competative as my Tesco Mastercard - you might be getting miles for your Amex spend but it will cost you a lot more to get them

Thanks for the heads-up; I don't usually check comparative card rates. I just know theykre better than buying currency. I do love clocking up the miles though - to the extent that I paid slightly over the odds for an iPod recently because it was 7 miles per pound via the VA shopping site!
As long as Abercrombie still take AMEX we'll get a few miles (again).
Thanks, Craig.

I also found their customer services less than efficient - they initially set my card up incorrectly and tried to blame me! They were slow to deal with queries about missing miles and when they sorted out THEIR problems there was never any offer of some bonus miles just a begrudged apololy that makes VS CS seam a model of penitence.

Hi Tonty,

interesting, I have contacted them three a times this past year - all by email and mainly on the lack of bonus points being credited. I always got a very quick and polite reply, and in two of three occasions they gave me £20 credit! y)

Maybe its just my swarve email manner 8D

Hmmm... I've never had any offers.... Grrr... Might ring them now.

In case anyone is getting one the AMEX platinum is back on with a 40,000 point bonus for spending £1500 in the first 3 months. Was tempted but (not counting my chickens yet) a potential JB Jr on the way I think Nairobi might be our last long haul flight for a while!

In case anyone is getting one the AMEX platinum is back on with a 40,000 point bonus for spending £1500 in the first 3 months. Was tempted but (not counting my chickens yet) a potential JB Jr on the way I think Nairobi might be our last long haul flight for a while!

And Quidco has £60 cashback as well!