Updates on the American Express Gold Card 25,000 Mile Bonus Offer
(Update: the 25,000 mile offer is now expired) 
I finally got around to opening some mail today and saw that my American Express Gold Business card arrived. I had almost forgotten I had applied for it in the whole move. (I convinced my wife to apply as we could really use the 25,000 Membership Reward sign-up bonus as frequent flier miles.)
As has been reported by other readers, the paperwork that came with it only mentions a bonus of 5,000 points after the first purchase and another 20,000 after spending $50,000. I really wanted to get to the bottom of this, so I called American Express and talked with multiple reps about the bonus. I explained to them that the wording is very clear, I have the specific bonus code, and is the offer still up after more than two weeks, so it is clearly not some unintentional misprint:
Upon the Basic Cardmember’s first purchase, a one time bonus of 25,000 points can be earned toward the Basic Business Gold Rewards Cardmember’s Membership Rewards? account and may appear as separate credits of 5,000 and 20,000 bonus points.
Most of the reps seemed like robots and just sounded confused as this wasn’t on one of their scripts, so I just ended the call quickly in that case. But two of them were familiar with this promotion, and said that they had already fielded several calls about it. The summary:
1. The same paperwork goes out to everybody, and what is mentioned is the standard, older promotion. This doesn’t mean you won’t get the 25,000 points, as this special promotion does exist and is valid.
2. The problem is that they can’t tell on their computers which promotion you signed up for. However, it should be tracked in their systems internally if you used the right link. I would keep a print-out of your page. If you want, you can call them and ask them to note specifically the Bonus ID 2329 on your account, which may help you dispute if anything does happen later.
4. Otherwise, there is really nothing you can do right now. Personally, I am confident that they will come through, as I have already scored $100 + 5,000 miles from the same card last year, and in that case nothing about any bonus was mentioned in the paperwork that came with the card! I’m just going to make my first purchase quickly, tuck it away, and wait the 6-8 weeks.
Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 7/18/07, 1:09am | Trackback
July 18th, 2007 at 6:19 am
For what it’s worth, I signed up for an AmEx Personal Gold Card a few months back. The signup bonus was 50k points. Yep, 50k — two tickets on most airlines. I thought it couldn’t be real, but they were waiving the first year’s fee so there was no risk in applying. A few weeks ago they credited me the 50k points. All it required was I believe $1000 in purchases in the first three months.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Jonathan, you won’t get your full 25,000 points in 6-8 weeks. Having been through this entire process with them a few weeks ago, I discovered I had to go through even more grief to convince them to give me what I was owed.
Like you, I enrolled on the valid online 2329 bonus program. After receiving my card, I called in and made sure they had me entered into 2329 despite their materials indicating I was not. This meant that people simply made notations in my account to that effect.
After I made my first purchase, in an abundance of caution, I called the myrewards people to verify that I would be receiving 25,000 points in 6-8 weeks. I was told I would be getting 20,000 in 6-8 weeks and 5,000 in something like 12 weeks. I asked where in the terms did it say such a thing? And the woman read me terms for 2329 that DID NOT EXIST in the terms and conditions on the website or anywhere else. HER version of 2329 deals only with 20,000 points and says nothing of the 5000.
I made a big fuss and we eventually 3-wayed with someone in customer support, whose computer reflected MY terms. Apparently the myrewards people’s terms database is out of whack. The terms we signed up for say nothing of 10-12 weeks, though it does mention that the 5000 and 20000 may be listed seperately. But seperate entries does not mean temporally seperate, as far as I am concerned.
The added 6 week difference may not be a big deal to some, but I just thought I’d share my experience so those of you who are dealing with these double-dealing rotten term-changing scumbags know what to expect when you log in and don’t have all the points you thought you should have.
As things stand after insisting that the myrewards and customer service people both make notations in my account acknowledging that the myrewards database is incorrect and that I am entitled to my full 25000 points in 6-8 weeks, I should receive them in that timeframe, but I have no idea what new trap/loophole/deceit AmEx will try to spring on me next.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:45 am
Jonathan,
I see that you frequently take advantage of credit card bonus offers and balance transfer offers. I myself have done the balance transfer trick this year.
But how has your credit score fared? How many credit cards do you have? I know you don’t carry balances on them, but having all of that available credit with several different cards could be detrimental.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Good luck getting the original offer that you applied for. I have only had good things to say about my sign-up for the AE Starwood Rewards card. I hope Rob is painting a picture that you can avoid.
July 18th, 2007 at 8:28 am
I like the Starwood card, but my wife got the Blue Sky card and I think it might just be more flexible, esp. since we don’t fly as much now that we have kids.
She got the Blue Sky offer in the mail about the same time I got my Starwood Card; she got 30k free points (7500 points redeems for a $100 credit for travel stuff). Has anyone see that offer online anywhere? I haven’t found it.
I’m thinking of calling Amex and seeing if I can somehow transfer Starwood points over to the Blue Sky card. If we both had the card, we could pretty much cover any spending on airlines or hotels.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I also spent about 30 minutes on the phone with customer support and they told me that 2329 doesn’t exist. I’m awaiting my formal response. I’m not activating the card unless they agree to support the terms that made me sign up for the card.
Last year’s $250 for the platinum card was great. hopefully this one will come through too.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Actually, having “too much” available credit is a credit score myth. The factor involving available credit that matters to FICO is utilization ratio, which is how much of your credit limit you actually use. If you have more available credit, then your utilization ratio just goes down. I have a ton of credit cards, a ton of limit, and my credit score is very good when I don’t carry balances.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Jake - I’m afraid not activating your card does nothing. It’s already a credit line and will be on your credit report. Activating it is only a security procedure that allows you to actually start using it.
If I were you I would just make the 1st purchase as soon as possible, print out the page, and forget about it until the points show up eventually.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
How many is a ton? 5+?? 10+?? 15+?? 20+??
July 18th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Definitely over 20
July 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Another Credit Score Myth - Don’t Cancel Old Accounts
July 18th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Out of principle — I will not activate this card until Amex sends me documentation that matches the terms that were shown to me when I applied. I have been a customer for 17 years — if they won’t honor those terms, then I’m going to cancel the card (and not even bother activating it).
July 18th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
The 25,000 points won’t even show up eventually unless you call them and insist that they alter your account to reflect that you signed up for 2329. Otherwise, you’ll only get 5000 points within a number of weeks and won’t get 20,000 more until you spend $20,000 — which is the default plan/documentation they apparently send out to those of us who actually signed up for 2329.
If what Jonathan says is true, Jake, your principled position only serves to needlessly harm you. The damage will have been done to your credit for nothing. Furthermore, since you likely only intended to use the card to make a straw-purchase and recieve a free trip, AmEx actually benefits from you choosing not to do so by following your principles. My own principles made me raise hell until they gave me exactly what they offered. I intend to make sure that AmEx loses money on me.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I had no problem with this promotion. I spent $11 at the post office on the card and cut it up. It took a LONG time (2 months at least), but eventually, the points showed up on my statement. I ordered a bunch of cards ($100 Williams-Sonoma for a wedding present; $100 for Avis rental car for said wedding; and $50 to take out my honey to dinner). Then, I cancelled the card.
Easy. You just have to be patient, and don’t waste your time pestering the SRs.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Best bet is to confirm the promo is tied to your account several times.. like 5 or 6. just call every other day and confirm the promo with the CSR, mention the descrepency you’ve seen on financial blogs and get their CSR ID #. Document the info in a spreadsheet or in word and I am very sure you’ll win any future argument should one arise. If not , cancel card and wait to see if they give you the terms or perks. For those that play these sign on games on marginal credit… possibly you shouldn’t be in this game in the first place.
July 19th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I also applied for this card. Soon afterwards, a $10 charge on my other Amex card showed up. Amex had decided to link the new business card to my old card’s membership reward programme and charged me $10 for the privilege. It took me an hour to go through the various customer representatives to get it off. That was 10 days ago. Then today, yet another Amex representative called me to say they cannot credit the $10. It took another 30 minutes to explain that no, I did not want the business card linked to my old card, and no, the business card is exempt from the $40 membership reward annual fee. I’m beginning to think the 25,000 points are not worth this pain!
July 29th, 2007 at 2:35 am
Got approved, got the card, my paperwork says “earn 25,000 bonus points on your first purchase - enough for a roundtrip domestic airline ticket.”
I hope we get these points soon!
July 30th, 2007 at 7:00 am
I got the card with the incorrect documentation that others mentioned (only 5k points on first purchase, another 20k after you spend $50k). I had to call twice, but the second time I got an American who knew exactly what I was talking about and said that they probably just sent the wrong docs. She said that I ought to get the 20k points but that she’d notate my account and if I didn’t see it to simply call back.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Hmm..even I got my card last week and this week I see a $10 charge on my amex blue card for linking this new business card to that..how do I get this waived? this is absurd..anyone had this experience other than Hazygrey..share your thoughts please
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Anyone had any luck acquiring their 25,000 miles for the Am Ex Gold? I’m at the 7.5 week mark since my initial purchase, so I’ll wait a few more days before contacting customer service.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I have been waiting for my 25,000 bonus points to post and they didn’t so I finally called today and they acted like they have never heard of this program and I was crazy for thinking I should be getting 25,000 bonus miles. They even fedexed the cards to me in the beginning to make sure I would get them in time to spend my thousand dollars to qualify for the 25,000 miles. They said they will look into it and call me in 5 days. Starting to hate AmEx.
September 13th, 2007 at 3:02 am
I say call them again. Or try online messaging, that is good too. I got my 25,000 points and have already spent my gift cards.
September 13th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Luckily my wife is organized and she found the original offer we applied for so I called them with that info and they credited my account with the points. Just wondering if my wife didn’t save that information whether or not we would have received the points.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Jeff, I have 25 active credit cards, and my credit score fluctuates between 740 ~ 780 during the past 5 years.
November 17th, 2007 at 5:46 am
I got my first statement and didn’t see my reward points. So I called customer service (got transfer to reward department [1-800-297-3276]) and they made my points available. Redeem for gift cards and now I’m waiting for cards to arrive.