American Express fee problems

nibelung

I recently took out an American Express British Airways card. There is a fee of £120 per year for the card, but this is reduced if you hold another credit card with them to £30. I have the Amex Blue card.

On my first statement a £120 fee showed up, so I called today to enquire about it, and was told you have to have held the companion card for at least 6 months to get the reduced fee. There is *no* mention of this anywhere in the terms and conditions. She said they changed them about three months ago to prevent people from getting another card just to save on the fees.

I explained that they can't change the T&Cs without letting me know, and she said she would put the case through for review, and I'd hear in the new year.

I've double-checked the T&Cs and there is absolutely nothing in it about having to have the companion card for a minimum period of time.

The T&Cs say only:

Fees

For the Premium Plus Two card, a fee of £30 per year will be payable by you, providing that the Companion Card is maintained. If the required Companion Card is not maintained, a £120 fee will become payable in respect of the Premium Plus Two Card during the second and subsequent 12 months.

And then a definition:

Premium Plus Two: A Premium Plus Card issued to a Cardmember who holds an AMEX charge card or credit account card, other than a Platinum card or Centurion card, excluding Corporate cards.


Any advice?

jimmyjim_uk

If minimum 6 months isn't mentioned then you are in the right.

Don't budge and offer to send them a copy.

iamchrisli

I have one BA Premium Plus card as well. The best way to have it is to have the AE platium credit card at the same time, because the credit card does not charge fee if you spend certaily amount, and also once you have the platium card, you BA card would be free of charge.

I also have the green charge card, i remember that i open the BA card two months after my green account, they charge me 30pounds fee as stated on the T&C.

nibelung

She was claiming the T&Cs have changed recently but there's no evidence of this. When I asked her to refer me to the section which said I had to have had the other card for six months she said she didn't have that information.

Even if you look at the current T&Cs on the Amex website there is no mention of any six month period.

MiM

Every year when they tell me there's going to be a charge I tell them I'm cancelling and they give me it for free, although this year it meant a downgrade from gold to green - they couldn't tell me the difference between the two!

nibelung

In this instance it was on a brand new card. Since there's nothing in the T&Cs about this, I'm assuming they're just trying to get out of their own T&Cs that say the fee is reduced and charge the full one, expecting me to back down.

I was surprised that the woman I spoke to could insist that the reason was because of a change in the T&Cs, insist that they had changed when I signed up, yet couldn't provide me with any details of where in the T&Cs this alleged change was.

Moglex

MiM wrote:

Every year when they tell me there's going to be a charge I tell them I'm cancelling and they give me it for free, although this year it meant a downgrade from gold to green - they couldn't tell me the difference between the two!

Looking at a couple of providers, there was no difference whatsoever in the cards offered except for the minimum earnings required to hold them.

In other words, they are a simple conceit for the sort of customer who thinks having a gold card actually makes them look more impressive than they otherwise would.

I think in the case of Amex, you just pay for the conceit.

Where there are fees involved, it would probably be cheaper in the long run just to have the 'plain' card and go down the market and get yourself some bling to impress waiters and shop assistants

nibelung

I haven't yet had any response from American Express about this. I think the best course of action is to write to them telling them I intend to take legal action if the fee isn't credited back to me within a certain number of days.

Does anybody know where I would have to send a letter like this?