Are Mercedes Benz Clawbacks Being Reinstated By American Express?
Last month Mercedes Benz Platinum cardholders were left with a choice of whether or not to cancel the card before it was transitioned. American Express was discontinuing the card and transitioning it to a regular Platinum card. This was problematic for everyone who had not carried the regular Platinum card before. Being transitioned to it would make them ineligible for a 100K welcome offer in the future. Amex sent out a letter informing people they were offering a prorated refund because of the change. But when newer cardholders took them up on that offer they were hit with a 60,000 Membership Rewards clawback.
Are Points Being Reinstated?
At least one reader, Dave, commented that his points have reinstated from the clawback. This could be because of American Express’ recent decision to fulfill their backlog of owed points. Many of those were from referrals that never got properly paid. Now that I think of it the timing is strange since they just sent out 1099s for referrals. Moving past that the key denominator seemed to be that you had to have called to complain about your missing or clawed back points.
If this is in fact the case and they are refunding clawed back points from people closing the Mercedes Benz card early I think it is a good move. They discontinued the card, not the consumer. They then sent out a letter saying they would prorate the annual fee if they wanted to close it instead of transitioning to the new card. That goes against Amex’s normal operating procedure. All of this led people to believe that they were safe closing their accounts. Even if American Express has been cracking down on everything lately. It was an unfair move in my opinion.
Conclusion
If you have a Mercedes Benz Platinum and had your welcome offer clawed back let us know in the comments if they have been reinstated. Hopefully you were as lucky as Dave was.
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I called and spoke with retention dept. Was offered 20K MR after spending 2K within 3 months if I continue with regular Platinum. I will need to decide whether to pursue or cancel the Benz.
It has already been transitioned into the regular Platinum by now. That is a pretty solid offer in my opinion.
I know everyone seemed to be doing the freak, but not for a second did I think Amex would clawback my points. I cancelled, my points stayed put, and eligible for the personal Plat bonus when the timing is right for me. Same for my spouse.
Amex MB signup bonus was 60k, so why would anyone keep the card when it meant missing out of possibly 100k +/-?
Are you kidding? This discouraged me from closing the account. Now I can’t close it because it already switched.
Shitty move by amex either way. Sounds like a bunch of morons making decisions at amex. Pick a side and stick with it. Dont do a effing trump.
Amex pulled a trump.
It is why I decided to keep the card as well. Amex has been waffling back and forth for a few months now and it is frustrating. Hard to know which way is up with them right now.