I’ve previously reported on the fact that American Express Business Platinum cardholders will be loosing their Regus Platinum Office benefit. Cardholders are supposed to have access to this benefit until May 1st, 2015 (or until your card member anniversary date if you’ve applied between January 1st, 2014 & April 30th, 2015).
Today I received an interesting tweet from Shashwat Sapre stating that he received a $100 statement credit because of this discontinuation. After a little more tweeting back and forth, this is what happened:
- He went to use this benefit and tried to enroll
- Was told that it was discontinued January 1st, 2015
- Automatically received a $100 credit from American Express
It’s kind of confusing that American Express are stating that this benefit will run until May 1st, while Regus are saying that this benefit was already discontinued January 1st of this year. The benefit is no longer being advertised on the application page (although I’m unsure if it ever was).
It looks like you might be able to use this to your advantage, I envisage two possible scenarios:
- Try to use the benefit with Regus, hope they say no and you receive an automatic credit
- Call American Express stating that you’re disappointed this benefit is going away, either directly asking for compensation or hinting for it
I imagine a lot of my readers have this card after the 100,000 point sign up bonus and a $100 statement could help offset the massive $450 annual fee. American Express has also released a new benefit today, you can sign up for 10 free gogo in flight passes for free.
So I called Amex asking to sign up for Regus. They told me I need a number that’s in my welcome kit and they can’t give it to me so I would need to call and ask Regus for it. I hung up, called again and said Regus wouldn’t give me the number because the partnership expired. The very helpful CSR wrote down my email address and told me she would take care of it and that I should get my membership card in the mail within 2 to 3 weeks.
So instead of getting a $100 SC I’m getting a $300 membership to a service I won’t use. Damn. Never thought I would ever be disappointed because the CSR was *too* helpful.
Maybe try calling again and asking if they can do anything because it’ll take 2 to 3 weeks?
The amex rep on the phone called Regus and signed me up. Womp womp
I tried to register online using the links from this post. I was given a message that my credit card number didn’t work. I wrote customer service and asked why it didn’t work. Got a prompt reply that Regus only has my name, address etc, and a link to register. The link worked. Now I’m registered. Drat. I wanted the $100.
In these situations it’s usually better to call than message. That way you can say you’re frustrated by the whole thing and if there is anything they can do to ease the frustration.
Definitely a YMMV. Called with same story and the CSR was clueless on what the benefit even was, let alone conciliatory that they were cancelling it. Took a more reactive approach and insisted I should be able to register online and pushed in that direction. Ended this long and slow process with a HUCA because it wasn’t going anywhere. 🙁
Confirmed $100 statement credit. Called Amex and told them that Regus was not letting me register for their service even though it is not supposed to end until May. Was put on hold. Told that they would have to submit my registration for me and it could take 2 weeks. I nicely mentioned that I was disappointed about losing the Regus benefit and even more by the delay in registering for the little time left. She registered me and gave me $100 credit.
Thanks for the confirmation. Gonna call myself in a second.
Spoke to an AmEx rep she was unaware and transferred me to the Regus reps for Amex who weren’t really aware either. She found a memo eventually she thought that if I was already registered I should be fine but if I hadn’t registered yet then I couldn’t use it. I will check if registered and try again.
I tried calling to get my gold card number since I’ve never activated this credit, but it didn’t go very smooth. The Amex CSR transferred me to Regus who then transferred me back to Amex, however, this time the rep knew nothing about the program, so he transferred me to his supervisor. The supervisor said the Regus benefit has expired, so I asked for a courtesy credit and he gave me a $50. Better than nothing, I suppose.
Glad to see somebody else was successful
I tried to ask for a one-time courtesy compensation over chat but she mentioned the service will still be available until May 1st so there was nothing she could do now since it is still active. Probably will have more luck when May rolls around..
I called b/c I didn’t have my membership number for the online sign-up, and the Amex rep told me that the Regus benefit was available until april 30th, 2015 to sign up, but is available as a benefit until april 30th, 2016. This came after a 10 minute hold where I’m pretty sure she went on break…