Hi. I think this topic has been brought up before in this forum (a few months ago maybe? or maybe it was in another Anandtech forum?), but I think it warrants mentioning again since, in my opinion, this is the hottest deal in town.
Essentially, Blue from AMEX is the ultimate credit card to have for price matching. Under Blue's Best Value Guarantee, "you'll pay the lowest price available on items purchased with the Card. If you see a covered item advertised in print for less than you paid within 60 days of the purchase date, we'll refund the difference to your account, up to $250 per item" (as stated on the Blue web site at www.americanexpress.com/blue). That "advertised in print" part applies to both B&M stores and on-line stores. And it's this ability to price match anywhere on-line that makes Blue such a hot deal because that's where all the low prices are to be found.
In a nutshell, the lowest price I can find either in a printed ad or on-line for any given item I want to purchase (there's fine print for what's not covered) is the price I will end up paying (once I receive the refund check from AMEX). I've had my Blue card since October 1999 and I've used the Best Value Guarantee several times already. The Best Value Guarantee is great for computer components because 1) they have such a wide range of prices on the Internet and 2) their prices can change a lot in 60 days (especially memory and CPUs).
For example, I can go to Best Buy down the street, pay list price for a video card, go home and hop on-line, find the store on Pricewatch with the lowest price for the video card, print out the page showing the price, fax my original receipt and a copy of web page into AMEX, and then wait for my money to arrive in about two weeks. Cha-ching!
The only caveats are that you are limited to a $250 refund per item (as stated above) and a total of $1000 per year, and you need to file your claim no later than 30 days after you find the lower price (but you can file as many claims as you want if the price keeps going down as long as it's within the 60 days!).
Anyway, I hope this info helps some of you. With this card, every purchase is a hot deal!
Tonet
P.S. I think the Best Value Guarantee applies to other AMEX cards as well (but they may have an annual fee).
Essentially, Blue from AMEX is the ultimate credit card to have for price matching. Under Blue's Best Value Guarantee, "you'll pay the lowest price available on items purchased with the Card. If you see a covered item advertised in print for less than you paid within 60 days of the purchase date, we'll refund the difference to your account, up to $250 per item" (as stated on the Blue web site at www.americanexpress.com/blue). That "advertised in print" part applies to both B&M stores and on-line stores. And it's this ability to price match anywhere on-line that makes Blue such a hot deal because that's where all the low prices are to be found.
In a nutshell, the lowest price I can find either in a printed ad or on-line for any given item I want to purchase (there's fine print for what's not covered) is the price I will end up paying (once I receive the refund check from AMEX). I've had my Blue card since October 1999 and I've used the Best Value Guarantee several times already. The Best Value Guarantee is great for computer components because 1) they have such a wide range of prices on the Internet and 2) their prices can change a lot in 60 days (especially memory and CPUs).
For example, I can go to Best Buy down the street, pay list price for a video card, go home and hop on-line, find the store on Pricewatch with the lowest price for the video card, print out the page showing the price, fax my original receipt and a copy of web page into AMEX, and then wait for my money to arrive in about two weeks. Cha-ching!
The only caveats are that you are limited to a $250 refund per item (as stated above) and a total of $1000 per year, and you need to file your claim no later than 30 days after you find the lower price (but you can file as many claims as you want if the price keeps going down as long as it's within the 60 days!).
Anyway, I hope this info helps some of you. With this card, every purchase is a hot deal!
Tonet
P.S. I think the Best Value Guarantee applies to other AMEX cards as well (but they may have an annual fee).