‘Lost A Little Bit of Love for Amex

In case you’ve been in a coma for the past week or so, Almighty Steve Jobs announced a $200 price drop on the Jesus Phone.

I bought an iPhone for one of my pet dragons last month, and this kind of sucked a little bit for me.  The good thing was (well, at least during that time) I bought the iPhone using my trusty American Express card…which offers price protection of up to 90 days for most purchases…or so I thought. 

Back when it was one of the more obscure benefits of the Card, it was called “Best Value Guarantee.”  And if you know about it, it is reason enough to make all purchases through American Express.  Amex will provide a credit for price drops within 90 days of purchase.  And it was very painless: they would even accept just a link to a website which sells the item in dispute for a lower price.

When they started offering the American Express “Blue” some few years ago, they made a mistake of announcing this as one of the benefits.  Retards left and right abused the benefit…so much that they removed the benefits for most of the Amex card line.

Within the last year or so (which I found out this morning as I tried to make a claim and got denied), they crippled this benefit further when they changed it “Return Protection Guarantee.”  Which is now basically price matching up to $300 maximum item purchase price.

This is fair, I suppose, if they applied the same rule to all members.  But Amex didn’t.  And that sort of pisses me off.  So much that I sent an e-mail to Molly Faust, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications:

–
I am writing to express my disappointment with American Express regarding the refusal of honoring the price protection to some card members for the recent iPhone price drop.

I can accept the refusal if you are doing this to all cardmembers, but you’re not:

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/06/amex-mulls-iphone-purchase-rebate-policy/

http://digg.com/gadgets/AMEX_Giving_200_to_iPhone_Purchases

Being a loyal card member for over ten years and have been using the Card for most credit card purchases when applicable this is disconcerting. 
–

Am I being greedy?  Absolutely. 

Updated: An American Express representative left a voicemail at my office acknowledging the receipt of the letter and as a result of my whining, they gave me a “goodwill” credit of $107.  Not bad, since I’m getting the $100 store credit from God Steve Jobs himself.  Amex rules again in my book.

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