Amex Platinum - fee just gone up from £300 to £450

chattychappy

Musicmanuk wrote: »

Why are you all complaining about the fee increase, if you cant afford it, then you clearly lied on the application form of your income.
...
in addition it works out at just £1.23 per day, I suspect most people spend more than that per day in Starbucks, Costa coffee every day, whilst getting their caffeen fix

Er... I could pay £10 a day for my Starbucks/Costa fix. But I wouldn't because it wouldn't be good value.

Ditto Amex Plat. For me, it used to be good value, now it isn't.

Why would the insurance be valuable to me when my days away would mean I wouldn't be covered? How would PP benefit me when I usually get lounge access with my FF card/travelling in C? Why would use PP to access a Servisair lounge if you can get into the Virgin Clubhouse?

Sorry to say - it's got nothing to do with a demonstration of wealth/status. It is just a product, that's all.

In my experience, the wealthiest and most successful business people still baulk at something that doesn't offer them value, regardless of affordability.

Too much of your post simply comes straight out of their PR. Oh and by the way, there is a preset spending limit - they just don't tell you what it is!

Musicmanuk

First of all I didn't get any of my response from Amex or their PR, I have my own mind.......

Like I said, if you moan about the price, you can't afford it,

If you that un-happy with Amex leave, go somewhere else, do you really think your annual fee and spend per year will really impact on them. They have bigger fish to fry....

Of your that un-happy go for the Amex Basic with no annual fee.....:beer:

thegoodman

Musicmanuk wrote: »

First of all I didn't get any of my response from Amex or their PR, I have my own mind.......

Like I said, if you moan about the price, you can't afford it,

If you that un-happy with Amex leave, go somewhere else, do you really think your annual fee and spend per year will really impact on them. They have bigger fish to fry....

Of your that un-happy go for the Amex Basic with no annual fee.....:beer:

Stop being Amex fanboy. The list of stuff you have witten is from their website.
Have you ever used Amex plat card?
It's not unlimited, you have the limit, unlike other cards you don't get told.
Have you used any or their service such as 24 replacement card?
If not and if you have a card, try ordering a replacement and find out how long it takes.
It's not about the membership fee, even the reach person is not going to through money away.

chattychappy

Musicmanuk wrote: »

Like I said, if you moan about the price, you can't afford it,

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Musicmanuk

I have used to have the the Platinum Card, but I was upgraded to the Black Centurion Card a few years ago, which I might add is considerably more than the platinum card....

Just stop your complaining, if you don't like the price, go somewhere else.... It's that simple, Amex is not forcing you to pay the annual fee, you can leave anytime you like......

So you have a choice, shut the hell up and pay the fee, or cancel your card and cancel your membership....

If you can get better deals by yourself with the products they offer, then you should have the basic Amex Card with no fee as you are clearly unhappy paying it and you seem to think you are better off getting the deals yourself....

It seems to me the only reason you are complaining is the £450 is to big a hit for you to pay, otherwise you would not be moaning about it and the only reason you wish to have the platinum card is to pose to your friends and who you may have around you... If this were not the case and since you say you can get all the benefits cheaper on your own and not through Amex, you would be happy with a basic Amex card that is fee free.......:rotfl:

I have used the 24 hour card replacement, in fact I had a card the same day, the even organised that I could pick up my train ticket at the station and when I arrived in London that day, I had a card ready and waiting for me. When I arrived at my destination… Try and get that from another card provider….

Musicmanuk

thegoodman wrote: »

Stop being Amex fanboy. The list of stuff you have witten is from their website.
Have you ever used Amex plat card?
It's not unlimited, you have the limit, unlike other cards you don't get told.
Have you used any or their service such as 24 replacement card?
If not and if you have a card, try ordering a replacement and find out how long it takes.
It's not about the membership fee, even the reach person is not going to through money away.

I have used to have the the Platinum Card, but I was upgraded to the Black Centurion Card a few years ago, which I might add is considerably more than the platinum card....


Just stop your complaining, if you don't like the price, go somewhere else.... It's that simple, Amex is not forcing you to pay the annual fee, you can leave anytime you like......

So you have a choice, shut the hell up and pay the fee, or cancel your card and cancel your membership....

If you can get better deals by yourself with the products they offer, then you should have the basic Amex Card with no fee as you are clearly unhappy paying it and you seem to think you are better off getting the deals yourself....

It seems to me the only reason you are complaining is the £450 is to big a hit for you to pay, otherwise you would not be moaning about it and the only reason you wish to have the platinum card is to pose to your friends and who you may have around you... If this were not the case and since you say you can get all the benefits cheaper on your own and not through Amex, you would be happy with a basic Amex card that is fee free.......

I have used the 24 hour card replacement, in fact I had a card the same day, the even organised that I could pick up my train ticket at the station and when I arrived in London that day, I had a card ready and waiting for me. When I arrived at my destination… Try and get that from another card provider….

In addition when you call them, your not speaking to someone in Bombay, or the far east that doesn’t understand a word your talking about....

rjg18

Looks like a lot of people a phoning Amex to cancel, complain or ask questions. I've been trying to phone them all morning to discuss a disputed transaction on my account, have phoned 10 times now and all I get is "All our agents are busy, please try later." No hold/queuing system, not facility to leave a message, just -go away.


Anyway..... my views on the price increase.... like many I'm weighing-up cancelling my account and looking at alternatives - of which there are actually surpisingly few similar products on the market. I looked at moving to the Barclays Private/Wealth "Black/Infinite" Barclaycard, which has similar benefits to Amex but a fee of £150 a year. However, I don't like the idea of moving from a charge card to a credit card. Also, it now appears that Barclays have upped the qualifying criteria for this card, and it's no-longer just based on income. Instead, you also need to deposit at least £100,000 cash equivilent savings with Barclays to qualify!! (which I don't have).

Also, I don't buy into the whole attitude that if you can afford to have (or qualify) for these sorts of Premium cards, then you must have enough money to be able to afford to over-pay for anything, so stop complaining. I've encountered this attitude many times before. I assume most Amex Platinum customers are high-earners (six-figure income +), but that doesn't mean they lose all sense of the value of money and accept being ripped off. It's not about what you can afford, it's about what is good value for money. For example, I could AFFORD to pay £20 for a cup of coffee... doesn't mean I would ever choose to do so.

Musicmanuk

rjg18 wrote: »

Looks like a lot of people a phoning Amex to cancel, complain or ask questions. I've been trying to phone them all morning to discuss a disputed transaction on my account, have phoned 10 times now and all I get is "All our agents are busy, please try later." No hold/queuing system, not facility to leave a message, just -go away.


Anyway..... my views on the price increase.... like many I'm weighing-up cancelling my account and looking at alternatives - of which there are actually surpisingly few similar products on the market. I looked at moving to the Barclays Private/Wealth "Black/Infinite" Barclaycard, which has similar benefits to Amex but a fee of £150 a year. However, I don't like the idea of moving from a charge card to a credit card. Also, it now appears that Barclays have upped the qualifying criteria for this card, and it's no-longer just based on income. Instead, you also need to deposit at least £100,000 cash equivilent savings with Barclays to qualify!! (which I don't have).

Also, I don't buy into the whole attitude that if you can afford to have (or qualify) for these sorts of Premium cards, then you must have enough money to be able to afford to over-pay for anything, so stop complaining. I've encountered this attitude many times before. I assume most Amex Platinum customers are high-earners (six-figure income +), but that doesn't mean they lose all sense of the value of money and accept being ripped off. It's not about what you can afford, it's about what is good value for money. For example, I could AFFORD to pay £20 for a cup of coffee... doesn't mean I would ever choose to do so.

I would like to point out, no one is being ripped off, You have a choice to pay it or not, No one is being forced to pay the annual fee, the money is not being taken against your will...

PS, I spoke to Amex today and I got through straight away, I have never had problems getting through....

I would also like to point out the annual fee has not increased for over 10 years:rotfl::T

chattychappy

In my years with Amex Plat, I found they rarely delivered if you wanted anything "special". I also found I'd frequently have to wait in call centre queues. Perhaps no worse than anywhere else, but certainly no better. I found all the claims about their superior service a myth.

So it just comes down to whether the tangible services they offer you are worth the money. For some (eg frequent economy flyers who don't have FF status with an airline), it might be justifiable on the basis of Priority Pass alone.

rjg18

chattychappy wrote: »

In my years with Amex Plat, I found they rarely delivered if you wanted anything "special". I also found I'd frequently have to wait in call centre queues. Perhaps no worse than anywhere else, but certainly no better. I found all the claims about their superior service a myth.

So it just comes down to whether the tangible services they offer you are worth the money. For some (eg frequent economy flyers who don't have FF status with an airline), it might be justifiable on the basis of Priority Pass alone.

For me, that's he biggest factor in the decision. It's not about whether all the marketing noise about "being special, or feeling special", or something about arranging a private teddy bear on a beach (I may have misunderstood that particular advert) are true or useful. It's about whether I want to pay £450 for Airline Lounge access and overseas medical insurance (which are the main two benefits).

If I recall correctly, full Priority Pass membership on it's own is about £300 per year, and you can pay a few hundred for full/premanent overseas medical insurance & assistance cover, so on balance it probably (just) makes sense.

Also, if I read it correctly, the new Cathay Pacific arrangement means you now get full access to all British Airways business class lounges (via OneWorld), which you could never access before under PP. This is quite useful, as there have been many occassions where I've been at either T5 or at Manchester Airport, which have only BA lounges.