American Express Platinum
84 reviews
I have been with Amex for a very long time. Just recently I wanted to increase the limit. And not by much. I was declined and not even a reason. Finances are impeccable. No reason no answers. So cancelled the card. Good luck Amex with your bad service Show details
I originally wanted to become a loyal customer. However, after paying, I did not receive the level of service that was promised, which was extremely disappointing. If zero stars were an option, I would give it zero. If you truly understand and follow their rules, apply them for max one year due to the promotion; if not, they should not be considered at all.
I’ve had this card for over 18 months now and it has been nothing but trouble and disappointment from the beginning. For a start Amex won’t tell you what the limit is so I kept getting declined even with only $2,000 or $3,000 charged to it. Apparently it’s a debit card not a credit card even though you don’t secure it with any debit type account… Read more
hence the opaque credit limit - so they are developing a relationship with you to see if you pay on time. No matter how hard I tried they just wouldn’t give me a limit.. So it’s not a credit card and it’s not exactly a debit card either.. Confused? Yeah, me too … I tried to use their travel desk deals but I could only fly with Malaysian Airlines via KUL so that wasn’t any help either. And to add insult to injury they just reduced the points I can accumulate for my favourite rewards scheme so now I’m slowly moving my spending away from this card to my HSBC Master Card which is far superior in every aspect. The annual fee is over $1,000 whereas MC and VC are free with the added bonus of defined limits and defined statement cutoff dates (about 3 weeks prior to payment) - The AMEX PC just cuts off where it cuts off so it’s about a week or so before payment is due which does make it harder to prepare for at the end of the month. About the only thing it’s got going for it is Airport Lounge Access but with that expensive annual fee I’m not even sure that’s worth it. I will be giving it back once I’ve removed all of the auto payments.
Reviews with attachments
They don’t even response to card fraud – My card was colones. When I call them, Shreya from fraud team is just so “HELPFUL”, with the worst customer service I have ever had. Shreya asked my CRN - I’m not aware I even has a CRN so I asked where can I find it. She then said some memorized 4-5 sentence “ your account has been cancelled, the CRN has been sent to you, call back after you… Read more
receive it “.
I asked “are you sending via message or email?” ( very standard common question either? As I didn’t receive it)
Shreya said “I can’t tell you. Just call back after you receive it”
I never received it and I have now cancelled my card. And I had to pay $800 for my card being copied by someone else. For people living in VIC using my $800 while I live in NSW. TRIED TO contact AMEX for so many times over 2 months. No one want to deal with it.
Funny about what they said on the website “Fraud protection guarantee” as that’s not true. They just don’t response to you when you had a dam card fraud !
So take this fake advertisement off the website Been a platinum member for years but not going to put up with this anymore
Positive reviews
Looking after customers – Recently we suffered a hacking incident on our home network which involved our bank accounts and credit cards. The organization that was the most proactive in blocking and retrieving fraudulent transactions was American Express. Thank you so much Amex we are extremely grateful.
good customer service – Has been having a lot of issue with online shopping, bills and need to call various customer service lately. American express has been helping me sorting out those problems. And the customer service are the easiest to deal with, no long waiting time and very friendly people. Show details
Could be perfect with no FX fees – I have had my Amex platinum card for 2 months. All of my direct debits come out of it. There are only a few businesses that charge a bigger surcharge on the card. I have just been on a 5 weeks trip to Europe and Jordan. Forget about using the card in France, pretty much no one takes it. Had no issues in Portugal, Greece and surprisingly even a… Read more
few places in Jordan.
Unfortunately I could not use the card for all my expenses as they charge 3% foreign transaction fees. To me, this is the biggest drawback and actually makes no sense for this card. This is a card designed for travel, the main feature should be free foreign transaction fees. Many other banks do it, therefore making Amex uncompetitive.
Amex just introduced dining credit with $200 for overseas dining and $200 credit for local dining at selected restaurants. This really increases the value of the card for me.
Customer service has been good and very quick to reply both on the phone and via live chat.
Amex travel hotel offers is good with upgrades and credit. However I would not recommend for car rental as if you need to update your booking, you first need to cancel the original booking (wait 6 weeks for refund) and pay for another booking.
I have made a few requests to Amex concierge and it isn’t what I had in mind. Lower your expectations, all they are good at is book restaurants and send flowers. Anything else they won’t bother too much, one of them even suggested I use google and look it up myself.
Negative reviews
Been a member with Amex Platinum since 2019 and been with Amex most of the time since the early 2000s. Paying a high card fee for Platinum is no longer worth it. When you travel you can't get into lounges because everyone has one now. I paid all my statements on time in full and they recently cancelled my card no notice no contact at all over an… Read more
administration error and took all my points saying they were forfeited. Customer service totally unwilling to deal with the issue and told me to reapply. Lifelong never again American Express customer.
Overhyped and Underwhelming – Not Worth the Fees After using the Amex Platinum Card for over a year, I honestly can’t see what the fuss is about. For a card that charges such a high annual fee, the benefits feel lacklustre and, frankly, not much better than what you get from much more affordable credit cards. The travel perks are hit or miss,… Read more
and unless you travel constantly, you’ll struggle to get real value from them. Lounge access is nice in theory, but access is often limited or overcrowded. The Priority Pass restaurant benefit being removed was a big blow too.
Customer service is decent, but nothing exceptional. And while the card is marketed as a "premium" product, it often just feels like you're paying a premium for the name, not the service or value.
When I compare this card to others in the market — many of which have no annual fee and still offer points and perks — the Platinum just doesn’t stack up. I expected something special, but it’s been a massive letdown.
Definitely not renewing.
The card promotes many benefits such as travel insurance and cheap hotel. I placed claim for damaged goods on flight but the fine print would make it impossible to have the claim approved. Be very careful travelling with AMEX platinum business card if you believe you are covered because you are not. Also promoted discounts on hotels and accomodation is never cheaper than booking.com or online platforms. Show details
Recent reviews
Inspite of being with them for 8 years and having an excellent credit score, they were stupid enough to turn down my request to increase my credit limit from 4k to 8k. I just closed the account and got a Coles credit card with 17k limit. Bye bye amex. Show details
Bad Service – I have had the worst customer service fromAmex business and credit card department I transferred funds into my business account instead of my credit card account and it has been more than 12days they are taking to transfer from one account to the other still don't have the funds mean while charging me interest I have been a customer for over forty… Read more
five years.I have never experienced such bad customer service no reply to emails.A ver dissatisfied customer
Please remove foreign transaction fee – Please remove the foreign transaction fee, and I’ll gladly give you 5 stars. I also suggest that if you’re going to charge a high annual fee, remove the FX fee and unnecessary benefits that go unused—just keep the travel credit. The perfect Amex Platinum card for me would include: 1. Same annual fee 2. $450 travel credit 3. No foreign transaction fee That’s it. Keep it simple, and your customers will be happy.
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Amex Platinum, horrible experience – As a Gold Amex customer, I applied for the American Express Platinum card, and it was approved quickly. However, two months have passed, and I still haven't received the card. The most frustrating part is that I'm being charged the monthly fees without being able to enjoy the benefits that I'm supposedly paying for. It is unacceptable that a card… Read more
promoted as an upgrade in status comes with such poor service. Every time I call to inquire about the status of my card, the treatment is deplorable, and I don't get clear answers. Given this situation, I am in the process of filing a formal complaint, as I find it unacceptable to be charged a fee without having access to either the card or the promised benefits. This experience has been a complete disappointment.
AMEX Platinum Travel is Absolutely Appalling – Do not sign up for AMEX Platinum Travel. It is a complete rort. The service is absolutely appalling and the staff are completely useless. If there is an issue with your booking then best of luck getting AMEX to resolve it for you! There is no email address and no way for you to escalate your issue or even talk to a manager. Every time you call… Read more
you go through multiple security questions and regularly wait for up to 15 minutes for a platinum team member to take your call. You rarely get to speak to the same person and as other people have said, very few of the staff have any training or experience in the travel industry. Many of them cannot even comprehend the notes attached to your booking. You will be told different stories and different reasons why there is a problem but ultimately no solution. I cannot tell you how frustrating and pointless it has been dealing with AMEX Travel. Never again!! We too are gong back to using a travel agent, so that when a problem arises, it takes 1 minute to call their office, speak with the person who made the booking and get a sensible and efficient resolution.
There is absolutely nothing 'platinum' about AMEX travel!
As far as the hotels on offer, all the deals are totally overpriced and everytime I have looked at a hotel on the AMEX website, without exception, I have been able to get a significantly better deal direct with the hotel. Sure, AMEX says their deals include breakfast and a possible room upgrade, but don't be deceived. You are paying for that breakfast and more!! I don't actually even know how it is legal to say they are offering their platinum customers a special deal, when the only thing special about is the high price you are paying!
As a result of our experience, we are cancelling our AMEX platinum card and am writing this review to hopefully prevent others from having the terrible experiences we have had to endure.
Disappointed with amex platinum card service – Good service from platinum card has been long gone. I used to have one as primary card holder from the 90s to 2015. The service I received from the staff then were second to non. Now I am the supplementary card holder, my wife and I were so disappointed with the service they provide to their crad members. Through our recent experience, when you… Read more
need them most to assist you, they were closed. The staff promised He will call you back in the morning, the call never came. It used to 24/7. Now, they try to reduce their cost, therefore lowering their staff number so they closed after 7pm in couple areas. But, when you were overseas, 7pm perhaps in the morning or midday. How could they justify with $1450 card fee per annum? In my view, It is not worth the price you pay for and don't hold high hope for their assistance on urgent matters when you needed them.
Platinum Price and Cheap Service – I activated a new $1450 per year Amex Platinum card. On the same day, I requested via Amex website a direct payment for the card from my bank account. I made one online payment for my son's school fee of $3000, and after 3 days, I tried to pay my body corporate for about $2000. I received a text saying I was spending too much, so they couldn't… Read more
process the payment. After many calls and chats online, I was just told not to spend too much in the first couple of months, as they needed to make sure I had enough money. I feel insulted and furious! For the fees they are charging, you will expect top service, not this. Amex advertises no pre-set limits (as I am spending my own money while they are making a profit on it) and asks you to spend over $5,000 in the first 90 days, but when you do, they put a limit on the spot. A no-fee Mastercard offers a far better and more secure service. Shame on you, Amex! Do your job properly before approving cards, and don't try to tell me how to spend my money! I will forward a complaint to the ACCC for false advertising and unfair competition practices.
Terrible concierge service – Terrible concierge service! Utterly ineffective in three attempts for various events, both overseas and in Australia. Failed to assist with restaurant bookings and ticket inquiries. Compared to the USA service, it falls drastically short. When requesting clarification from the manager, they flatly refused. This is by far the worst service I've ever experienced. Show details
Fraudulent company – Amex is the most dodgy company I've ever experienced! I explicitly asked them about FX fees and they didn't tell me the correct rate. I explicitly told them to automatically pay off the whole balance on my card each month and they didn't - they enrolled me in partial payment so I was being charged interest. They refused to refund the fees they had… Read more
fraudulently taken and then they didn't even cancel my card when I asked them to so they still charged me the annual membership fee. Dodgy company, terrible customer service! Not worth the points! They know they can get away with anything because they are such a huge company - shameful!
Be careful re your points if you cancel your card – I sold my business so cancelled my $1750 per year tianium business card. I went to redeem points about 35 days later. I triedon and off for 2 weeks to navigate the app as I could not find the points. When I eventually used the chat line I was informed that they were irreversibly cancelled. Apparently I had 30 days to redeem them but was never… Read more
advised of that. There are close to 1million points at stake. Surely they were duty bound to advise of this condition and perhaps warn me close to time. Any advice on next steps welcomed
Aussie AMEX members get ripped off – If you ever hold a U.S. issued Amex, you never touch foreign issued Amex cards. Why? to begin with, you pay 3% foreign transaction fee if you use Australian issued Amex card abroad including American Express Platinum charge card (this card). The perks are not as good as U.S. issued cards. In addition, not many merchants accept Amex in Australia… Read more
and many other countries around the world, if they do, most probably they will pass the merchant fee to customers. I consider that a rip-off. It is particularly enraging when Amex longtime partner, the Hilton Hotels and Resorts charge you 1.5% merchant fee if you pay by Amex. Also, perhaps 99% of people are unaware, but Amex jacks up the interest rate on your credit card, perhaps without telling you. mine was lifted from 20.99%pa to 23.99% without any notifications. Absolutely unacceptable.
Unhelpful – Am on the phone for more than 1 hour. Simple question was how does the American Express card insurance works when you used the card when you use it to purchase air tickets. Guess what, your consultant ask me to look up myself. He kept on insisting that this is simple. Refused to transfer my call to his supervisor. Very disappointed. So is the insurance all a scam. Show details
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Appalling Customer Service – I called Amex Platinum card customer service to request help with the various security codes, safe key numbers and other hurdles they now place in your way with online purchases. Once I eventually got through the relentless answering machine options to actually speak with someone, he was arrogant, aggressive and totally unhelpful. And then,… Read more
mid-way through a sentence that I was explaining for a third time, he simply hung up! Is this what I pay annual membership fees of 720 Euros a year for? Disgraceful behaviour!
Useless Customer Service! – So you go along for months, paying in full, using their preferred payment method until it suddenly stops working. You get a message to ‘contact card member service’ You call them to find out they are ‘closed’ even though the web page says they are open. You get on a text chat and after 40 minutes of wasted time you finally get someone who… Read more
tells you it’s your problem, your web browser, your computer.
You try a different web browser in a different computer, and it still doesn’t work. But you are reassured it’s ‘your problem’
You request the issue be looked into to find that a month later you will need to go through the same hour long process to pay for bill.
Pointless nonsense, too many hoops to jump through.
Stick with your bank, o matter how frustrated you are with them, they somehow seem to manage to work things out, but Amex… 2 months later it’s still my problem their web page won’t process my payment!
Don't waste you time or money – Wont let you use it like a credit card even though they offer interest on late payments sometimes in business you cant make full payments on time and need few months to pay off after 60 days and making regular small payments and almost clearing outstanding amount they cancelled my card account and took my points and threating to put a default on… Read more
my name for 5 years what's the point in having a card to make payments and then having to pay what you purchased back in full 4 weeks after the statement waste of time get a Qantas credit card instead
Inflexible security process that makes no sense – Due to a glitch in the system, they didn't take my payment for the month properly. So they refunded my payment while charging an extra 6 dollars. FINE. I'll pay AGAIN. But guess what? I can't make payment because they BLOCK me off and I'm forced to use BPAY as the app and website don't accept direct payment through their platform (?) And… Read more
apparently, I have to wait for 6 months till they unblock my ability to pay directly on their website or app? SERIOUSLY?
Waste of time, inconvenient, inflexible, annoying!
Getting pretty fed up with this card – This card was good, then AMEX started taking away most of the benefits that I actually signed up to use. - Shangri-la Golden Circle - AFR Membership - Lounges are all closed Its infuriating when you realise the Americans pay something like 550 USD and get far better benefits. I started travelling when the world opened but everywhere I went… Read more
the AMEX lounges were closed, youd think less throughput would lead to less costs but no, CLOSED.
I was on hold with the "Platinum Service" team today for an hour just to confirm a hotel booking.
Points transfer to Qantas now at a 2/1 ratio and that's also a joke.
We cant even get no international transfer fees, I have a 0 dollar a year card that offers me that.
I am happy to pay the premium, but not when I feel like I am being ripped off.
American Express is rigid and impossible to deal with – I changed direct debit details on my account. I confirmed with customer service that the new details were operative. They said yes. They then charged the old account. Then they hassled me repeatedly, after I told them over and over to put direct debit through to new account. I refused to clean up their mess. Their Asian call centre was impossible… Read more
- robotic, and did nothing! Can't recommend AMEX, and you don't ever want to get on the Asian call centre merry go round
Annual fee does not make sense in 2022 – After the removal of AFR and addition of The Australian, they should have changed the fee to $999 pa. These are not equivalent newspapers of equivalent value, and AMEX completely disregards the target demographics of both and which is a better fit for their customers. At least give us WSJ or something remotely useful! The US equivalent costs only… Read more
$950 AUD equivalent pa. and the benefits are MUCH better and more worthwhile (uber credit, digital entertainment credit, etc) - not to mention the US card has no forex conversion fees at all! Australians are simply being screwed by AMEX on this product, there's no doubt about it.
The benefits to Australian cardholders are a lot less while the fee is a lot more - why?? I wish I could apply for the US card from Australia, I would be happy to have it as it would actually offer much better value for money!
Dishonest dealings and threatening behaviour – I had an AMEX card for many years and was a loyal customer. When lockdown occurred, I asked for a payment pause because I had no work, which they granted. I received harassing phone calls, several times a week, letters of final demand, and a letter to appear in court for my missed payments during the 'pause'. Then they advised the credit rating… Read more
company that I had missed payments and when I rang them to enquire about this mix up they told me "it was their legal obligation to report it". Even though I had a payment pause. They lied and discredited me because I left them. The Ombudsman looks very good right now.
The Card that you can not make payments to easily as can only handle one payment every 72 hours – AMEX can only process on line payments or by telephone payment once every 72 hours. No where on their web site does it state that their system is limited to only one direct or telephone payment every 72 hr period. Thus if an employer reimburses you for expenses directly to AMEX you can not process a payment to your account until 72 hours later… Read more
which translates really into 3.5 days. BPAY takes as long as 96 hours to go through and appear as paid on your statement instead of the next day. In to-days age of OSKO payments and electronic payment gateways it is quite absurd that an organization can only receive a payment on an account once every 72 hours, or it is a deliberate. AMEX, it would seem to have this as a deliberate marketing ploy to make late fees and interest out of customers, or their system are that antiquated.
AMEX maybe a great card to use but a shocker when it comes to try and make payments to. A customer of 25 plus years this is not good enough in to-days age of modern banking transactions.
There is also no online email query or chat line from your user sign in to your account.
Lots of Promise, No Value – I've been a member since 2003, dutifully paid my card off on time, happily paid my fees. They lured me with promises of flights/ points, access to lounges, travel vouchers, etc. It all sounded great. But nearly a couple of decades later, having done the math, it's apparent that I've probably wasted more than half of what I'd spent. And most of… Read more
their stuff is impossible to use if you don't live in America.
Couple that with the constant embarrassment of asking "do you accept Amex?" To try and beg for points like a povo, and the subsequent subtle eyerolls from the cashier...I've decided to give up trying to extract my sad, worthless points on their behalf.
Add to that their less than stellar follow up and customer service, and I'm a bit annoyed for ever signing up in the first place.
Would strongly not recommend.
AFR removed after 6 months – As an Amex Platinum cardholders for over a decade I have been stunned by the conduct of Amex Paid my $1450 fee in Dec 2020 after much thought as Covid obviously impacted on the travel benefits of this expensive card AFR digital subscription was the plus and I paid for the card Last week I received an email which stated the AFR subscription will no… Read more
longer be available and finish 30 June 2021 I paid in good faith and regard this action as bordering on false and misleading conduct Australian Banks and others were slammed during Royal Commission for charging customers for services that were never received No difference as I effectively paid for 12 months and actually received 6 When I asked for a credit I was told not possible and Amex gave me 30000 points Benefits on the Platinum Card have gradually fallen away over the last few years (eg airline points no longer 1:1) and frankly regard this expense as impossible to justify Sad that Amex have destroyed my trust as it appears they think it ok to remove any of the card benefits without warning or appropriate compensationno
AMEX are a joke, stick with VISA. Worst experience ever Show details
Card is meant to provide benefits but it does not. Even with the account $17k in credit I am unable to make a $5k booking. Don't bother with this awful card.
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