Can You Get An American Express Upgrade Bonus More Than Once?

Reader JJM292 reports getting targeted for a Blue Cash Everyday > Blue Cash Preferred upgrade bonus offer in their Amex Offers for a second time after having already done so a year prior. After upgrading, the bonus never posted. Amex refused them the bonus, both the automated system and upon appeal. Oddly, the Amex reps had confirmed the bonus was attached to the account, yet it still didn’t pan out.

We’ve heard of Amex clawing back upgrade bonuses when you don’t keep the card for a full year, but this is something new whereby they aren’t honoring an upgrade bonus due to having gotten it once already. It’s like a ‘lifetime’ restriction on upgrade bonuses.

On the other hand, I’m fairly certain hearing of people getting targeted for upgrade bonuses on Amex charge cards (e.g. Green > Platinum) more than once and getting both bonuses. It may be there’s a difference between (1) charge and credit cards, (2) cash bonus and points bonus, (3) email offer and Amex Offers offer. It also may be JJM292’s experience is anomalous. Please share your own experiences in the comments below.

Update: In the comments there are conflicting data points with most having gotten more than one bonus without issue. It’s unclear if this restriction is a new thing that only went into effect recently or if perhaps there’s a difference between email offers and Amex Offers or if it somehow depends on the person/offer.

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FoxTokala
FoxTokala (@guest_759211)
May 14, 2019 09:22

I just received my $250 bonus after upgrading and previously received $300 bonus on the blue cash non-preferred… about 5 years ago

Fred
Fred (@guest_751178)
April 22, 2019 19:51

I just got a $150 offer to switch from BCE to Magnet (subject line “[Name], switch to the Cash Magnet® Card at no cost!”). I’ve previously done BCE to BCP and then back. But I guess there’s no risk, since I’m not using BCE anymore.

William Charles
Admin
April 22, 2019 21:12

Can you fwd me that upgrade offer? [email protected]

Steve
Steve (@guest_750081)
April 18, 2019 22:02

I’m no longer dealing with Amex for that reason.
Don’t make your decision based on what they are promising. Maybe you’ll get it, maybe not. Maybe they realize they were wrong and you get what you were owed 12 months after the fact. Who knows, certainly won’t be apologizing or give you anything extra for the inconvenience.

PJ
PJ (@guest_749904)
April 18, 2019 11:37

This may or may not be relevant. Yesterday I accepted an Amex telephone rep’s offer for 60k MR points to upgrade my 3 year old Gold Card to Platinum and spend $5k in 3 months. I had the Ameriprise platinum previously, cancelled 13 months ago. I brought up the old platinum card, and the Amex representative assured me I was eligible since they are separate products, even calling the rewards department to confirm and adding a note to my account that I was assured of the bonus. Fingers crossed!

anthonyjh21
anthonyjh21 (@guest_749665)
April 17, 2019 17:52

I’ve done this at least 3-4x over the years on my BC account and P2. Meet spend, wait for fee to post, downgrade, prorated fee refund, wait for another upgrade offer. Last year I literally had the same offer pop up less than a week later after completing the cycle.

Maybe it’s a matter of always waiting for the fee to post? I’ve done this since day 1 with Amex, even in the prorated Platinum days.

K
K (@guest_749785)
April 17, 2019 23:50

Wish you luck. If you do anything that triggers RAT team review, you’ll get clawbacks for downgrading within 12 months as recently reported/ as mentioned in the article.

veeRob
veeRob (@guest_749664)
April 17, 2019 17:51

Nov 2016: Signed up for Business Platinum w/100k bonus
Jan 2018: Product changed to Business Green Card
Apr 2018: Accepted 50k upgrade bonus offer to Business Gold Card
Dec 2018: Received 50k bonus
Jan 2019: Accepted 50k upgrade bonus offer to Business Platinum

Working on the spend for the last bonus. Would be pretty upset if the $10k spend in 5 months didn’t count for anything, so I sincerely hope I have no issues come May or June when I cross the thresshold. WIll report back here.

Judy
Judy (@guest_749605)
April 17, 2019 15:12

American Express is the leader in “ bait and switch” Recently it took me 2 days in the phone to get the 150,000 points advertised online as well as a brochure on my desk! “Oh no, I’m only authorized for 75,000.” After numerous agents, I finally got one who knew how to provide customer service! Good luck out there!

JetsFan
JetsFan (@guest_749602)
April 17, 2019 15:10

I was once denied an upgrade bonus from Amex offers because I received it previously. It was an upgrade to Platinum. They only told me after I called after meeting minimum spend.

Kev
Kev (@guest_749600)
April 17, 2019 15:07

Got BCE bonus $200 + 10% phone bill
Upgraded BCP $100 then downgraded
Upgraded again BCP $200 decided to keep

James
James (@guest_749598)
April 17, 2019 14:52

Previous upgrade recipients should only upgrade if they receive the $150 w/no annual fee instead of the $250 w/pro-rated annual fee, upon meeting spend requirements. That way it won’t cost them the annual fee if Amex doesn’t honor their upgrade offer.

K
K (@guest_749789)
April 17, 2019 23:54

BCP is not too bad for annual fee you can easily “make it back” by using the bonus category.