It Never Hurts to Ask: Possible 100,000 Point Payday for Amex Platinum Cardholders

by The Points Guy on May 6, 2011 · 221 comments

in American Express,Credit Cards

Update: Amex has strongly cracked down on these bonus IDs, so I no longer recommend applying if you only want the increased bonus

As I’ve written about in the past, one of my favorite ways to earn points is simply by asking. I certainly do not encourage people to needlessly complain to get points, but I do think leveraging your loyalty to increase your point wealth is fair game. This type of relationship happens every day in the business world – companies always ask vendors to lower prices if they buy in bulk or refer their business. I see no difference with credit card companies and high-end customers. If you use your credit card a ton and pay on time, then why not ask for a little love here and there?

Recently, several TPG readers have emailed me  saying they’ve been able to ask American Express to give them an extra 50,000 points, because there was a little known promotion that was offering a sign up of 100,000 points. If you’ve recently gotten a Platinum card (and I know a lot of you have), it can’t hurt to either call or send Amex a message through the secure message center (when you log into your Americanexpress.com account you’ll see a message box with X amount of unread messages displayed on your home screen), asking for the 50,000 point difference. I would be as nice as possible (throw in how much you love the Platinum card and all of the benefits) and ask for them point difference as a gesture of goodwill. Mention the 100k promo Offer ID: 3882 or 5748 . For more information on this topic, check out this Flyertalk thread.

Premier Rewards 75k bump code: 5985

Don’t get upset if this doesn’t work out, but considering it will only take 2 minutes of your time to do it, it’s worth a shot. Please feel free to report your experience in the comments section.

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  • CodeSeeker

    what did you tell them in the first two calls. Did try to open with this code right away?

  • Brett2287

    I applied for the premier rewards gold card in august and was approved 8/20/11. I called every week to verify that I would get bonus code 6661, which is the 75000 bonus. I was told every time that I called that I would receive it upon spending 1000 dollars in three months. make a long story short, i spent 1000 dollars on the card two days ago and called today (9/21/2011) to verify that i’d get the points and they told me that i can only get 10,000 points for spending the 1000 dollars. I spoke to the supervisor and he didn’t understand why the people at amex were telling me that i was eligible for the last month. but he said there was nothing he could do and apologized. so i cancelled my card. what a waste of money, when i could have spent that 1000 dollars on my spg card! Be warned, that even though they’re telling you that your eligible for it before you spent the 1000 dollars, you’re only going to get the 10,000 bonus points. The only way you’ll get it is if you signed up with the targeted offer that was specifically given to you. you can’t apply these bonus codes after the fact!

  • Brett2287

    I applied for the premier rewards gold card in august and was approved 8/20/11. I called every week to verify that I would get bonus code 6661, which is the 75000 bonus. I was told every time that I called that I would receive it upon spending 1000 dollars in three months. make a long story short, i spent 1000 dollars on the card two days ago and called today (9/21/2011) to verify that i’d get the points and they told me that i can only get 10,000 points for spending the 1000 dollars. I spoke to the supervisor and he didn’t understand why the people at amex were telling me that i was eligible for the last month. but he said there was nothing he could do and apologized. so i cancelled my card. what a waste of money, when i could have spent that 1000 dollars on my spg card! Be warned, that even though they’re telling you that your eligible for it before you spent the 1000 dollars, you’re only going to get the 10,000 bonus points. The only way you’ll get it is if you signed up with the targeted offer that was specifically given to you. you can’t apply these bonus codes after the fact!

  • Brett2287

    I applied for the premier rewards gold card in august and was approved 8/20/11. I called every week to verify that I would get bonus code 6661, which is the 75000 bonus. I was told every time that I called that I would receive it upon spending 1000 dollars in three months. make a long story short, i spent 1000 dollars on the card two days ago and called today (9/21/2011) to verify that i’d get the points and they told me that i can only get 10,000 points for spending the 1000 dollars. I spoke to the supervisor and he didn’t understand why the people at amex were telling me that i was eligible for the last month. but he said there was nothing he could do and apologized. so i cancelled my card. what a waste of money, when i could have spent that 1000 dollars on my spg card! Be warned, that even though they’re telling you that your eligible for it before you spent the 1000 dollars, you’re only going to get the 10,000 bonus points. The only way you’ll get it is if you signed up with the targeted offer that was specifically given to you. you can’t apply these bonus codes after the fact!

  • Jones

    No dice for me… applied in August and just was awarded my 25k. Called MR and was denied – flat out.

  • JT

    what code did you give to be able to get the 100k points? thanks.

  • Wnstntews

    i tried to open with it, failed. once i activated the card, called MR to ask if i could apply promo, told no. called 2 other times to see if i could apply the promo, told no. last time was rudely told that i had been told 3 other times , referencing my other calls, and do not call again

  • Cankk1

    Did anyone have luck lately ?

  • Sarina

    I signed up for the Platinum card this past July. I spent $1,000 in literally 2 weeks (yikes). I didn’t have to call them to remind them about the 100k membership points – it was automatically applied within weeks.

  • Mike

    did you get an offer for this card? how did you apply (online, phone, mail)? Was there a code you gave them?

  • Babushca

    Is this offer this valid?

  • Demon5

    Wow. When I call them they offer to do anything I want to make me happy. They also apologized for it being overlooked. (code was never there when I upgraded to the card) but I’m assuming spending trend has something to do with resposne. And I recommend not using words like “dissed” and such with financial institutions as it changes the response you receive immediately.

  • Demon5

    Well I feel they owe me this since I don’t even see the 25k points that website offered for upgrading in the first place and I spend 15-25k per month on it with distributor.

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  • Sc487z

    I’m so FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heres the story:
    1. Applied for the card last week of August using the link. Approved immediately.
    2. After receiving the card I sent a secure message asking for the upgrade. Received a no.
    3. On August 30th. around 2pm EST called Amex customer service and asked for the upgrade. After a brief hold she came back on the line and told me she would add it to my account and I would receive the miles after spending the $1,000. I know the exact day and time because I sent my friend a very excited text after finishing that call.
    4. I quickly spent $1,000 in the first month.
    5. Around November I was curious when the miles where going to be kicking in so I called customer service to confirm. She told me “I do see this note on your account, but you’ll need to wait the full 8-12 weeks for the miles to be posted.”
    6. In December when I was confirming some travel reservations I asked the same thing and she told me the same.

    I just called today and asked about them and they seemed to have zero knowledge of any of the calls or the notes on my account. They transfered me to the rewards department when the rep informed me that there was no such code on my card and there never had been. They said there is absolutely nothing they can do even after speaking to a manager.

    I’m amazed I would be told by three customer reps one thing and then they would deny that completely 3 months later. Honestly the benefits weren’t THAT great.. And I would never have paid the $450 fee without the 100,000 miles.

    Also, they are making it sound like I am getting ZERO miles not just being denied the extra 50,000 bump. I wouldn’t be so angry if I had been denied from the start, but to have been approved and promised and expecting it for four months and then be totally let down is not acceptable.

    Has anyone else had this experience? Any suggestions? Is it actually possible to find transcripts of calls since I have the exact date and aprox. hour? Rewards said they can’t but if they told me one thing I think they need to promise through.

  • esquish

    I had the same problem. I wrote them a letter and got the points. Message me on flyertalk and I can send you the letter.

  • Anonymous

    Hi i actually went trough a very similar incident myself is there any way you could also please sort me out with that letter?

  • esquish

    hi yeah just message me on flyertalk. i just don’t want to put my email or anything online and the letter is too long to post here.

  • Sc487z

    Hi esquish, sorry I guess i was thinking I’d get an email notification when someone responded here. I just checked it and saw your comment. I messaged you on flyertalk.

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