Amex Platinum Card - BEWARE

susangoldsmith

:confused:

I am a regular reader of Martin's email and often act on his advice which has been superb and has saved and made us money over the years.

On the advice of the last email I applied for a Amex Platinum Card to enjoy the cash back bonus as advertised. All went well and yesterday my card arrived and I duly activated it on the phone.

I then went through to Amex call centre to make sure that the standing order was set up to pay the balance off every month only to be told that this card was not the cash back card but a Standard Platinum Card which would cost me £300 and had all the frilly bits associated with a corporate memebrship!

I immediately told them this was a mistake - after a while on the phone they agreed and offered profuse apologies for the mistake. They are now sending me the correct card which will be too late for my husband to go travelling with so we have lost out on some cashback time.

I just wonder how many other people have been caught out like this - perhaps a word of caution on the site might be as well! :rotfl:

Sue Colchester

m_13

The advice says:

The American Express* Platinum Moneyback card pays new cardholders an unbeatable 5% cashback, 5p per £1 spent, for three months up to a maximum of £2,000 spending (£100 cashback earned). After that its rates are tiered depending on how much you spend, up to 1.5% cashback.

How did you take this card out? Did you follow the link in the email (and benefit MoneySavingExpert) or apply via Quidco and get cashback for applying? Either way, having been through this very same loop with the advice and acknowledging that it's confusing for American Express to have Platinum in the name of two different cards only one is called 'Moneyback'!

In addition the application page for one has Moneyback Credit Card written all over it and the other one doesn't mention Cashback or Credit Card at all and says, albeit in small print at the bottom:

Membership of the Platinum Card incurs an annual fee of £300.

I think one of the key things that Martin would suggest to enable people to save money is to read things carefully, especially any small print!