Amex Platinum Credit Card Cashback Complaint

hippey

Finally, after a few months of waiting I have had a result to a long standing complaint with Amex regarding the cashback credit card.

Intially I noticed that you do NOT get the full % cashback advertised, infact the only way to get it is only ever spending full £1 amounts as it did appear that cashback was worked out per £ per transaction and not on the statemented balance.

On checking the T&C's this was not the case and it clearly stated otherwise therefore I lodged a complaint, and intially was fobbed off with no end of excuses from customer service agents who on one or two occasions were very rude however persistance has paid off!

I finally got a resolution with impacts everyone with a cashback card, from the letter received today:

On the basis of the information provided, and the results of our investigation , a final conclusion has been reached. This conclustion is that we acknowledge this particular section, within our terms and conditions could be made clearer to our customers. We can therefore advise that your complaint has been upheld........

We are in the process of modifiying the section relating to cashback rebates..........

To cut a long winded letter short, Amex have admitted that I (and no doubt other cardmembers) have been short changed in the cashback I received on this card, I used to use this card for all my purchases (as far as possible anyway) and many were of the 'odd pence' type where I did not get the full amount of cashback which suprisingly mounted up, more so in the 5% promotion!

It was one of the best cards on the market, but I think it was well overstated even on this site as on some transactions I got way less than the amount that was being advertised. I noticed that the Amex website has amended some of the application process to show the way cashback is calculated. I was disappointed by the length of time this issue took to resolve and the poor communication I actually received from Amex when trying to resolve this but in the end I won!

I think those with the Amex Platinum Credit Card show look at the real value of your cashback as sometimes it just doesn't add up and in many cases after the intial promotion you might actually get better rates elsewhere. And if you really have missed out then lodge a complaint to get the difference back, I did and it did show I was missing out!

td_007

Well done to you for taking this up with Amex. :beer:
I had highlighted this ploy middle of last year on this forum and a surprising number of respondents did not see anything wrong with the way Amex were calculating cashback and happy to go along!

Here is the thread that I had started then as a newbie.

hippey

Thanks,

I was annoyed by the way Amex ran rough over thier own T & C's as they stated you got cashback on everything, not the way it was really being handled.

I have no objection to the terms and conditions I just wanted them to be enforced correctly for all. Which they will be doing from now on, okay they are amending them accordingly to reflect how cashback is worked out and their advertising is also changing to reflect this.

A small victory for honesty!

billion25

so...how much more cashback did you actually get...and how much did you spend in the first place?

hippey

In the end the amount owing was just short of £8 in the cashback element, my yearly spend is around £14k on this card. But in all honesty it was more the point of Amex not sticking to it's own terms where I'm sure if it was in their favour they would be straight on it.

But I did stop using the card as soon as I worked out the cashback was being under calculated.

tali

So if you spend £1.99 you only get the 5% cashback on the £1 and nothing on the 99p?.I always found their calculations confusing mine were "double what i spent each month" i was told


I have 2 halifax cashback cards and am wondering whether they have hidden the terms aswell

hippey

tali wrote: »

So if you spend £1.99 you only get the 5% cashback on the £1 and nothing on the 99p?.I always found their calculations confusing mine were "double what i spent each month" i was told


I have 2 halifax cashback cards and am wondering whether they have hidden the terms aswell

Yes exactly right, rounded down to the nearest full pound per transaction. You can check your cashback amounts online which is how I picked it up.

billion25

hippey wrote: »

In the end the amount owing was just short of £8 in the cashback element, my yearly spend is around £14k on this card. But in all honesty it was more the point of Amex not sticking to it's own terms where I'm sure if it was in their favour they would be straight on it.

But I did stop using the card as soon as I worked out the cashback was being under calculated.

So, just to be clear, your 'battle' with AMEX got you an additional 0.06% cashback on your spending. I'm not sure it was a question of AMEX sticking to it's own terms, rather that the terms were open to different interpretations. But, as long as you feel vindicated...

sharpy2010

billion25 wrote: »

So, just to be clear, your 'battle' with AMEX got you an additional 0.06% cashback on your spending. I'm not sure it was a question of AMEX sticking to it's own terms, rather that the terms were open to different interpretations. But, as long as you feel vindicated...

I think, yet again, this thread shows that people feel they have to "stick it to the man", even though the eventual outcome is a paltry net gain of £8. As far as Amex not sticking to their terms and conditions, I suspect this is some form of oversight rather than dishonestly trying to gain by blatantly going against their own terms and conditions.

Still, as long as the O.P. feels that this battle is won, surely that's all that matters ;-)

Nothing like having too much time on your hands, is there!

thegoodman

I would not have spend my time with Amex for 0.06% exta cashback. If one have spend 3 hours in total it work out to £2.66 an hour plus postage cost etc.

Sponge

It never ceases to amaze me how eager some members of a money saving forum are to mock people for doing just that, saving/earning some money, however small.

This site is about 'Consumer Revenge' and yet many are happy for large financial institutions to walk all over them, either enforcing unfair T&Cs or totally ignoring them.

I, for one, congratulate the OP on their victory. :T