Did I Get A Retention Offer for the Mercedes Benz Amex Platinum Card?

Mercedes Benz

Around one year back I received the American Express Mercedes Benz Platinum Card.

The card comes with all of the benefits of a regular Platinum card along with a $100 certificate good for accessories from Mercedes Benz. (We got a few umbrellas and a mug with it.)

When the $475 annual fee posted, I had a big decision to make- keep it or close it.

The card was definitely worth the annual fee for the first year. During that time I received:

  • 75,000 Membership Rewards points signup bonus
  • $200 airline fee credit  (2X)
  • $100 Mercedes gift card (2X)
  • $15 Uber credit each month (4 months)

Going forward, if I decided to keep the card, I’d get another $200 airline fee credit in 2018, another Mercedes Benz certificate (how many umbrellas do I really need?) and $200 (give or take) in Uber credits.

This doesn’t really seem to be a bad deal considering the card also allows for access to the Amex Centurion Lounges, Airspace lounge, Priority Pass and more.

Regardless, I still didn’t really want to pay the annual fee.

I first inquired about annual fee during a live chat and was told that I’d need to call the number on the back of my card and ask for the retention department. (The live chat can only handle certain issues, retention isn’t one of them.)

I called in to Amex and asked for the retention department. After a quick hold, I had a rep on the line that could possibly help me out.

After explaining how I was thinking of closing my card due to the annual fee, I was asked why I don’t really use my card much! I explained how I use different cards for spend in specific categories etc…

He then asked what I liked about the card so I mentioned a few of the benefits. It was then that the rep started speaking to me in a way that made me feel as though he was mad at me!

He told me that I “like using the services but not [the] card“. He then mentioned how the benefits have a cost…

The rep then told me that if I’d like to keep the card open, I’d have to pay the fee, if not I could close my account.

I responded with something like, no problem- I’ll close.

(I wasn’t concerned about having points in my account since I recently received the Amex Blue Business card which keeps my points in good standing.)

Once card was closed, the rep quickly said goodbye. In the end, I didn’t receive any Mercedes Benz Amex Platinum retention offer but I did receive what felt like a scolding from the rep!

If you’ve recently called Amex for a retention offer, what has your experience like?

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15 thoughts on “Did I Get A Retention Offer for the Mercedes Benz Amex Platinum Card?

  1. Ryan- Wish I could’ve got the Sapphire Reserve! It’s the first massive card bonus that I wasn’t approved for.

    Tony C- Thanks for the info! Sounds like Amex doesn’t want to retain Mercedes Platinum cardholders…

    Eric- Thanks for sharing your plans as a bank exec. Let us know when your credit card comes out. Hopefully it has a massive bonus which doesn’t fall under 5/24! 🙂

  2. Glad they didn’t offer you retention bonus. If I was Amex/Chase/Citi etc I wouldn’t want customers like you. I would not even approve your accounts/Biz/ to begin with. And I would shut down your accounts and claw back. Churners are no real customers. I would post sign on bonus after 24 months. Kind of like Chase savings bonus offers. Keep account active with certain balance for xx months before getting bonus. And I would enforce 24 months or life time languages. Today society has too many abusers/churners/whiners/useless people.

  3. My partner and I both have the regular platinum, and we both got $100 or 15,000 points after $2000 spend. My mother and sister both have the Mercedes version and they got no offers on it. None of us put much spend on this card.

  4. When I spoke with Amex the representative seemed disinterested in keeping me as a customer. It was take it or leave it. I left and went with the chase sapphire reserve. The customer service at Amex has really tanked over the years.

  5. Oliver- They don’t value our business!

    mastervk- Same here!

    Jason- Good points.

    Arlington Traveler- They def are and it is getting much tougher to earn tons of miles through credit cards.

    Richard v- Didn’t expect them to waive the fee, I hoped for some sort of additional incentive to pay it.

    MSer- Thanks for the info!

    Jared- LOL

    Jsucool76- Not bad!

    Julianne- Wow, they credited the full fee?

  6. I’m surprised you had this experience because mine was the complete opposite! I have the regular AMEX Platinum card. I told them I couldn’t afford the fee this year so they credited it to my account. Honestly I’ve only ever had the most helpful service reps and they have all seemed to really care about my business.

  7. I got an offer for $200 credit or 20k membership rewards points when I called for my plat fee last year.

  8. Not a surprise. No reports of retention offers on FT. I just closed my MBZ Plat last week with no retention offer either. Never expected one, but gave it a shot.

    Personal Plat was 30KMR retention. Downgraded back to PRG after getting retention offer in late April, but in May was offered targeted 60K MR bonus to upgrade back to Plat for $3K spend. Met spend, got bonus, downgraded back to PRG again late June because 2x grocery plus 1x bonus at Whole Foods sync offer (= 3x) is much more useful. Played upgrade/downgrade game with Plat/PRG for 4 years.

  9. What do you expect them to waive the annual fee? If they did all you would do is post it and others will follow. They have those rewards for a reason

  10. Amex does not want churners folks. Look they have the once a lifetime sign up bonus and they just made the benefits of the Plat card more lucrative. They have cards like the Everyday and Everday Preferred card that will make you want to pay the fee. Honestly, I think all issuers are getting more savvy, and becoming more discerning in offering retention offers through the use of data mining.

  11. Everyone’s retention experience will be different, it depends on the person talking with you and what is going on with the particular company at that time. I got a nice retention offer the first time I asked but after that they said that they can only give me a retention offer once every two years so I closed the account.
    With other credit cards sometimes I get them and sometimes I don’t, it is different year to year.

  12. I also did not received any retention offer for my Mercedes benz Plat . There were lot of DP for $200/$300 offer on personal Amex Plat so i was hoping for similar offer on Merc Plat also.

  13. Similar experience for my business gold card recently. Rep basically said pay annual fee or close the account. No effort to retain or offers provided.

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