I have held an AmEx Delta Airlines affiliate credit card for 12 years. Pay full balance every month and have never been late. I recently received an AmEx promo promising 25,000 bonus points if you sign up for the AmEx Gold Premier Card and spend $2000 in the 1st three months.
I called AmEx and asked "if I cancel my AmEx Delta credit card, would I be eligible for the sign up bonus if I then applied for the AmEx Gold Premier card promotion?" The AmEx rep told me that there was no need for me to cancel my existing AmEx Delta card because they were two different cards. He went on to say that I could apply for the AmEx Gold Premier card and qualify the the 25,000 points bonus. He then offered to take my application right then over the phone. I believed him when he said I would qualify for the promo bonus so I gave him my application over the phone which I never would have done if he had told me the truth — i.E. That I would not get the sign up bonus.
I more than met the AmEx Gold Premier spend requirement within the specific time but when the bonus points were not posted to my account I contacted AmEx. AmEx Indian rep Sharma replied that I was not elligible to receive the sign up bonus because I already had the AmEx Delta airline affiliate card. The AmEx never responded to the fact that the AmEx rep who took my application specifically said that I would receive the bonus — an obvious lie to get me to submit an application.
To add insult to injury — the AmEx Gold Premier Card was cancelled and AmEx also took away my legitimately earned points for spending and using the card.
One has to wonder wheather AmEx pays commissions or bonuses to its telephone reps based on the number of new card applications they take over the phone which would perhaps explain why the first AmEx rep lied to me. Another possible explanation is that AmEx has not properly trained its reps.in either case, AmEx clearly owns this problem and rather than step up and admit a mistake, chose instead to punish the consumer.
0 comments