I applied for and was approved for an Amex PRG card in August. After getting my card, I activated it and then called in to apply code 6661. On that day, the agent informed me that I was eligible, the code had been applied to my account, a notation had been made, and that I would likely need to call in to see the points post after reaching $1k in spending
My last purchase to reach $1k in spending this morning, so I called Amex MR. The agent told me I was not targeted and consequently ineligible. She then transfered me to a supervisor. The supervisor informed me that while the agent I had spoken to had, in fact, made a notation in my account and given me the T&C of the promotion, American Express would not be honoring the promotion because I hadn’t been targeted. While the agent in August was speaking with me, he had contacted their “operations manager” who had notated my account to indicate that I was not eligible for the promotion while I was on hold, yet the agent returned to the phone to tell me I was eligible.
For misrepresenting my eligibility, the supervisor told me that the employee would receive a “verbal warning.” The supervisor understood my concern with the bait-and-switch, but could not provide any gesture of goodwill (even a single MR point) because of the operations manager’s directive. As a bit of background to her denial, the supervisor informed me that while historically, Amex has happily honored promotions for nontargeted cardholders who call to apply them, they would no longer due to a “blog post” which attracted “attention.”
Since hanging up and calling again is a tried and true strategy for dealing with customer service, I called back tonight and the agent and her supervisor I spoke to had the same story (and noted that there was a record of my call earlier today).