American Express, like or dislike?

[Maki]

I invite you to share your good or bad experiences with American Express. I have my opinions about that company but I will keep them to myself for the time being. Thanks to all who contribute...

[rainman]

I no longer have an Amex card. 'Nuff said.

[Maki]

I no longer have an Amex card. 'Nuff said.

I got rid of mine too...

[mstriumph]

i like their travellers' cheques ...

[ynot slow]

They conveniently upgraded me to gold status a few years ago,got quite good at using it,after wife left lol,never bothered to renew at $90.00p.a fees.
Took a hammering when in aussie once,Bathurst liked it.

Have a GAS Diners now,but the nearest gasoline alley fuel is miles away to get 5% disc off fuel.

[Maki]

They conveniently upgraded me to gold status a few years ago,got quite good at using it,after wife left lol,never bothered to renew at $90.00p.a fees.

Strange that. The very same day that I called to cancel my card I got a phone call from Amex offering me a FREE gold card for life. I declined because there are aspects of it that do not suite my needs, first and foremost that they only provide travel insurance for 35 consecutive days max on the card.

[blossomsowner]

i once filled out application form at a home show or something .........


weeks later I get a letter from them saying my application was declined, didn't worry me any.



However form then on I started to get bills from them for my "account" with fees and interest and all sorts of crap on them. Not bad considering I had been declined. Eventually they got nasty because I wasn't paying

took me months and many phone calls and some heated words before they gave up.


so i can heartily recomment them to anyone who wants to pay money for nothing and receive service that makes the warehouse look marvellous in comparison.

[wysper]

I know many retailers that DONT take American Express. I understand it is because the fee they charge to use their card is alot higher than most other cards.

I wouldn't get one. (even if I met their income requirements )

[Fatt Max]

Got one a few years ago when I opened a bank account.

Hardly use it as a lot of retailers wont accept the thing, most recently JB Hi-Fi in Queen Street

[Gremlin]

Mastercard from the bank is all you need... pay for travel on the card, get free travellers insurance, don't see why you would need something else?

and for anything else, there's mastercard

[Mully]

Hopeless.

Miss Mully and I had one, and we got rid of it when we played around with debt consolidation.

Took 6 phone calls, and an e-mail to try to get the address changed (it still didn't happen, all my statements went to my old house.

Closed the account and got an e-mail saying everything was paid and the account was closed. 5 months later, get a letter from them (at the new address) saying I was going to be Baycorped for not paying them. Turns out they had added an account fee (plus $10/month penalty) AFTER I had closed the account.

A shitty letter (with a copy of the e-mail saying it was all paid up) and some lightly veiled threats about Ombudsmen and Fair Go was enough to finally make them fuck off.

[Finn]

As a card, there's nothing wrong with it. Never had any problems putting anything on it regardless of price etc. They are very good while traveling too and their points system is great.

However, NEVER try to call them. They're useless. They were one of the first to rip operations out of NZ and while they were useless prior to this, it is much worse now. Antiquated technology, disparate processes and "Get out of my shop, come again" staff.

[Dilligaf]

Well I love the convenience of having only one bill to pay per month - all other bills go on Amex then we pay that once a month. In return for spending the money we would have anyway, we get free stuff.
We looked around at all the options when we decided to get a credit / charge card and this one suited our needs best.
The concierge service with it can be a bit hit and miss but then in most cases they are contracting to other businesses and it's run from Australia.
The travel insurance and especially the new part with the rental car insurance was a big bonus and in fact was the decider in keeping the platinum rather than going back to gold card.

[Naki Rat]

Had an Amex card for over 20 years, which went to the gold option during that time. Also had a Visa during most of that as a fallback for the many vendors who refuse to accept Amex.

Reasonable service, and convenient when used in conjunction with a Centurion Finance account, BUT I made the mistake of intending to use it as a cash source while overseas for most of '04 by loading up the Centurion balance.

Unfortunately the ATMs in North America don't seem to recognise NZ issued Amex cards and following literally hours of wasted hours to their customer service departments in NZ (transferred to Aussie) I made other finance arrangements.

Amex card cut in half and returned to them on my homecoming

These days it's Visa and Mastercards (both with cashbacks) paid in full each month

[alanzs]

Too much hassle. Gold/Platinum Visa gives much better benefits and has an established credit limit. Screw Amex.