Blues from Ameircan Express

[eleeas8]

Just got this from the mail.

Regarding Your Blue Benefits

Please be advised that as of May 1st, the Best Value Guarantee benefit will no longer be available on Blue from American ExpressSM. This benefit enabled Blue from American Express Cardmembers to shop for the lowest priced items by refunding the difference* between the item purchased and any covered item**. The program will cease for purchases made with Blue after April 30th, 2002.

 

[MedicBob]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, you beat me to posting this.

Regarding Your Blue Benefits

Please be advised that as of May 1st, the Best Value Guarantee benefit will no longer be available on Blue from American ExpressSM. This benefit enabled Blue from American Express Cardmembers to shop for the lowest priced items by refunding the difference* between the item purchased and any covered item**. The program will cease for purchases made with Blue after April 30th, 2002.

I recieved it also. This is a major no no on AmEx's part.

 

[kermalou]

why would they offer a service that makes them lose loads and loads of money........hmmmmm

granted this a not hot deal, but it makes business sense.

i doubt that many credit cards will still offer these services in the near future.

that is just my .02 which with inflation is worth .023 cents.

 

[anxman69]

I'll just my Amex Blue to price match your .02 cents to some shady pricewatch dealer that has it for .01 cents

cya l8r

 

[GetReal]

<< AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, you beat me to posting this.

Regarding Your Blue Benefits

Please be advised that as of May 1st, the Best Value Guarantee benefit will no longer be available on Blue from American ExpressSM. This benefit enabled Blue from American Express Cardmembers to shop for the lowest priced items by refunding the difference* between the item purchased and any covered item**. The program will cease for purchases made with Blue after April 30th, 2002.

I recieved it also. This is a major no no on AmEx's part. >>



Received this as well, but I had already Max out my benefit this year so..oh well. It is not like you were not warned and you know who to blame. I also disagree that it is a "NoNo" on Amex's part. They are eliminating a program that looses money from a demographic that does not contribute any sigificant revenue to their bottom line. Hoewever, BVG will still be available for users of their regular Platnium and Platnium Delta Sykmiles card with an increased benefit to $2500/yr per card account.

BTW - A lot of VISA CC and Debit cards now carry the BVG program.

 

[MarkM]

Oh well, another great deal killed by those who couldn't resist abusing it beyond all reasonable consideration

 

[Noirish]

You can always get a Citi Clic card.

 

[hudster]

well, that bites.

 

[Fiveohhh]

Dang! better make my purchases now This saved me quite a bit of money, allready gotten 350 this year. Maybe I'll go apply for one of their othercards that carries it. of course I did allredy buy my computer, so don't have much of a need to use it anymore. . .. . Ohh well

 

[scsiguru]

Just got my card a couple of weeks ago...never activated it and have no plans to now...will just cut it up.

 

[greg]

>>thanks for killing a great service for the rest of us.

Did you have to work to be that naive?

 

[TechDreamer]

I don't agree with people who say the consumer took advantage of this and ruined it. Consumers used LEGAL ways to save money. American Express offered a program with rules and people took them up on it. Some people might have taken advantage of loopholes, but that is exactly what companies do to consumers. How many times have companies screwed the consumer and said, "We did nothing illegall, everthing we did was within the law". We live in a very capitalistic society and everything is biased towards big business.

 

[manko]

Well, we have a month left to grab our $1000 in PMs...before we all cancel. I'm definitely not going to use it anymore.

Does this mean the last purchase date is the end of April, or does that mean they will stop processing (cutting checks) on May 1st?

 

[dentalboy]

deals was great just drive people away from blue, this will make it a noname in a sea of free credit cards than

 

[athithi]

Is it going to get more difficult to get PMs now since a whole lot of people will be flooding Amex with requests? Frankly, I think Amex gained a lot of new customers based simply on this BVG - perhaps it was not enough to offset the losses....more's the pity - this is the first time I'm trying to do a PM (the WD120G) though I've had the card since middle of 2000....hope it goes through without any hassles, especially considering I don't even need the drive that bad

 

[Steve0]

Two questions:

After BVG goes away, is there any reason Blue is worth keeping?

What other cards offer a BVG type of program?

Steve

 

[Tanner]

<< Does this mean the last purchase date is the end of April, or does that mean they will stop processing (cutting checks) on May 1st? >>



VERY good question if you ask me! But I'll bet that the only ppl that will be able to answer that question are the people that devised the demise of this BVG... which are probably the VERY same ppl that have NO IDEA what the answer is to that very question! I'm sure that they'll honor just about anything to keep customers. And, if youall are lucky, you might just be able to say, "Hey, I'm cutting this one up if I don't have BVG!" But my honest opinion is - NO WAY will they allow ANYONE to keep it...

Then I read this:

<< , BVG will still be available for users of their regular Platnium and Platnium Delta Sykmiles card with an increased benefit to $2500/yr per card account. >>



So, maybe you can call and argue your way back onto the BVG plan! GL! Wish I could have had an AmeX Blue and got in on the hotties like some of Uall... I guess I'll just dream about how great it would have been...

So, obviously, the question that everyone is going to ask is this: "What does it take to get a 'regular Platnium and Platnium Delta Skymiles card?' Are there annual or monthly fees? Hidden crap to deal with? What are the requirements of those?" <------- This certainly includes me, as I want to know what the heck it takes to get one of these as I can get a 19" ViewSonic for under $100, a 100GB WD 7200 RPM drive for $130, a scanner for $3, etc. etc. etc... but I can't manage to get my mitts on one of these friggin' cards! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

REST IN PEACE Best Value Guarantee You will be missed on these forums and throughout the PMin' world!

God Bless

Tanner

 

[Ring]

Figures.. just got my card 2 weeks ago for just this purpose!

 

[soltrain]

<< thanks for killing a great service for the rest of us. I guess I just lacked the imagination on how to SCREW a company that was really trying to give us something innovative and valuable untilI could force them to admit we could not be trusted with the power of such a service. >>


complain, complain...

No one "killed" this 'deal'. AMEX has been very generous in running this feature for a long time now in their Blue cards. Just because they're dropping it means it's the end of the world. Sure, it's a good thing that we'll miss, but there will always be others. Don't worry.

 

[manko]

<< Two questions:

After BVG goes away, is there any reason Blue is worth keeping?
>>



The only thing I can think of is extended warranty. Who knows if it will be around in 2 years when you really need it. I think this is a more common benefit of other cards too.

I was gonna buy a laptop with Blue... I guess I need to buy now or find another BVG card. I'm definitely buying all the other stuff I was holding out on in the next month.

 

[JEDI]

yes it's worth keeping because of it;s one time numbers.

but be warned, those 1 time numbers still work after they expire! so if it expires 1/2002, the charge will still go through 2/2002 (happened to me) i called amex. they said they are investigating it. AND THE CSR HAD *NO* CLUE WHAT A PRIVATE PAYMENT ONE TIME NUMBER WAS!!!

 

[GetReal]

<< yes it's worth keeping because of it;s one time numbers.

but be warned, those 1 time numbers still work after they expire! so if it expires 1/2002, the charge will still go through 2/2002 (happened to me) i called amex. they said they are investigating it. AND THE CSR HAD *NO* CLUE WHAT A PRIVATE PAYMENT ONE TIME NUMBER WAS!!! >>



Actually AMEX Private Payments CC numbers are valid for 30 past the issue date. As long as the merchant authorizes the charge prior to the expriation date of the Private Payments number, they can "collect" their funds up 30 days later even it the expiration date has elapsed.

 

[jeffinbrooklyn]

Just called Amex, I was wondering why I just got a change in policy letter and then a day or two later they would cancel the program. What they told me was that only people that miss payments or have large unpaid balances would have that feature turned off. People in goodstanding will still have the BVG. So start paying those bills guys and girls!

 

[Justincase]

Everybody can thank all those that:

1) Pricematched NEW items to REFURBISHED items.
2) Pricematched to BOGUS web sites that were obvious scams.
3) Pricematched items then RETURNED them back to the store.
4) Pricematched camera packages to KNOWN grey-market vendors that offered a camera body, maybe a lens, no warranty or anything else.

Thanks again. Now there's nothing left to abuse.

 

[mrCide]

<< Everybody can thank all those a$$wipes that:

1) Pricematched new items to refurbished items.
2) Pricematched to BOGUS web sites that were obvious scams.
3) Pricematched items then returned them.
4) Pricematched camera packages to known grey-market vendors that offered a camera body, maybe a lens, no warranty or anything else.

Thanks again. Now there's nothing left to abuse. >>



uh, arent you the same one that bought like 7 cameras and PMed them all just to sell?