Retention Bonuses

Jivepicnic

Level 2 Member
On New Year's Eve I called Citi about my three TY cards. I was able to get the following three offers (among a few others that I rejected in favor of these):
  • TY Preferred -- 15000 TY Points after spending a total of $4500 in the next six months
  • TY Prestige -- 10000 TY Points after spending a total of $3000 in the next six months
  • TY Premier -- 5000 TY Points after spending a total of $1000 in the next six months
So I'll get a total of 30000 bonus TY Points after spending a total of $8500 in the first six months of 2016. Since I called on December 31, the end date is easy to remember. Not a bad return for a 10 minute call while I was driving.
 

jlang

Level 2 Member
Have 2 Alaska cards, and wanted to cancel one to free up some credit for a new one. called to cancel and got the hardest sell to keep it. I had said that with the new year I wanted to close some accounts I don't use - he noted I had only had it for 6 months and offered:

- a free balance transfer offer;
- a reduced APR offer; or
- 5,000 miles for keeping it open

I accepted the 5k miles (no spend requirement). It will apparently post in 2 weeks, he requested I don't just go cancel it tomorrow... fair enough, I will just cancel the other one this week instead.
 

Billiken

Level 2 Member
Just tried to close my AA Exec MasterCard ($450 fee with AAdmirals Club membership).
Have had the card for two (2) years.
I tried to move some of the credit line few days ago to other Citi cards....Nope.

Retention offer:
Receive $50 credit for each of the next seven(7) billing cycles in which at least $1500 is spent.

Accepted.

YMMV
 

kellybme

Level 2 Member
Called on my AMEX Delta Plat Biz. I had spent 50K on the card in the prior year to keep medallion status. I complained about the annual fee and was offered to downgrade the card to a no fee business card. I declined then was offered 10K. I explained that would not cover the cost of the annual fee. Finally they offered 25,ooo and I accepted.
 

Craig

Level 2 Member
New to Saverocity, been on Travel Codex for a while. I'll just go ahead and post my retention offers for the past year:

AMEX Delta Gold (4/28/2015) - 3000 miles, no requirements
Citi AAdvantage (4/28/2015) - $25 credit for $500 spend in 3 months
Chase United (4/28/2015) - $60 statement credit, no requirements
Chase IHG (4/28/2015) - 15,000 points after $5000 spend in 3 months
BoA Alaska Air Card 1 (5/11/2015) - $100 statement credit, no requirements
BoA Alaska Air Card 2 (7/1/2015) - 5x total miles on AK Air per $1 spent on AK Air, with no cap
Barclay AAdvantage Aviator Red (8/10/2015) - 5000 miles, no requirements
Citi Prestige (8/11/2015) - 4x TYP bonus on grocery, drugstores, gas up to 50,000 bonus points in 6 months
BoA Alaska Air Card 1 (8/27/2015) - $50 statement credit, no requirements
BoA Alaska Air Card 2 (8/28/2015) - $50 statement credit, no requirements
BoA Alaska Business (11/16/2015) - $75 annual fee waiver
Barclay AAviator Red (11/16/2015) - Waived annual fee
Citi TY Premier (11/16/2015) - 5,000 TYP after $1,000 spend
BoA Alaska Air Card 1 (11/22/2015) - 2,500
0 miles
BoA Alaska Air Card 2 (11/22/2015) - 2,500 miles
AMEX Everyday Preferred (12/16/2015) - $50 statement credit
BoA Alaska Business (12/16/2015) - $75 annual fee waiver (one month removed from the last AF
reimbursement)
 
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LearnMS

Level 2 Member
1. My Amex SPG AF posted. No offers when called. Didn't use the card except for Amex offers. Anybody thinks this card is worth it? AF is now $95
2. AF for Barclays A+ is also due. No offers as usual. but has 14k CL. So far used it to fund bank accts and NW. Wort keeping it for fee? Or cancel it ?
 

idearr

Level 2 Member
All within the last week:

Barclays Red Aviator - first call told no offer, 2nd call transferred to supervisor who waived fee. This is the card that gives 10,000 miles every year on renewal so I probably would have kept anyhow.

Chase Ink - two calls, no offers, 2nd rep pointed out I had the fee waived the last two years. My plan is to downgrade to Ink cash - if I understand correctly since I have the Sapphire Preferred I'll still be able to use my points to transfer to UAL/Hyatt and only real difference is reduction in 5% spending from $50K to $25K (I doubt I did even $10K). If I'm missing some important angle, please let me know.

Citi Premier - nothing on 1st call, 2nd cal offered $95 credit plus 1,000 TY points if spent $1000 a month over the next three months OR $95 credit if spent $3,000 over the next three months. I accepted the latter but then realized I'm better off canceling the card as I have less than $5 in unredeemed TY points and I have the Prestige and Preferred - might as well reset the 18 month clock rather than jump through these hoops.

Add to the above a call to Verizon Fios to get a deal on a 2 year contract renewal this was a pretty significant time drain. Good thing I (we) actually find this stuff kind of fun when it pays off.
 

Briankolee

New Member
I applied and received my AMEX Platinum in Dec 2015, not realizing that the airline fee credit is by calendar month. I called CS and they told me they would credit me up to $100 for airline fees in January.
 

Pat

Silver Member
1. Barclays Red Aviator -- first call got annual fee waived. I also took an offer of 5000 miles after 1k spend in 3 months to encourage spend on that card
2. Ritz Carlton Card -- nothing. Cancelled.
 

zceuxbhjutf

Panel 3 Member
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red, one call...
  • Annual fee waived
  • up to 8000 extra miles at 1 extra per $1 spend (meh)
  • 0% APR on purchases in next 4 months (meh)
I almost felt like I should decline the two meh offers, I probably won't swipe the card for those. But it would be difficult to gather weird datapoints like, hmmm, "I only accept the fee waiver offer. Declining the other offers makes it more likely they'll offer a fee waiver next year" or something.

I only used the card enough to get the signup bonus, plus about $200 during foreign travel.
 

Billiken

Level 2 Member
Just tried to close my Barclays American Airlines card (formerly USAir card).
Fee waived if I keep the card another year.
Kept/done.
 

LearnMS

Level 2 Member
1. My Amex SPG AF posted. No offers when called. Didn't use the card except for Amex offers. Anybody thinks this card is worth it? AF is now $95
2. AF for Barclays A+ is also due. No offers as usual. but has 14k CL. So far used it to fund bank accts and NW. Wort keeping it for fee? Or cancel it ?
Canceled Amex SPG. applied for a targeted Amex Gold card and approved.
Debating on Barclays AP as new rules take into effect in August. Thoughts?
Citi AA plat - which offer is good? $95 statement credit or 7.5k with AF and 1k spend?
 

Craig

Level 2 Member
Chase Sapphire Preferred - after 2 years of no retention offers, I was offered 6000 ultimate reward points after spending $4,000 in 90 days.

I accepted, but was really calling to downgrade to Chase Freedom. I am traveling out of state to a place where I know I can buy gift cards at a gas station, and could max out another quarter 1 freedom bonus this week. That would only cost me $14.85 for 7500 UR, and I wouldn't have to worry about tracking the $4k spend. With that in mind, I think I am going to call back and product change to Freedom (have Ink Plus for transfer partners).
 

PillanSmye

Level 2 Member
I've recently received:

Barclays Aviator Red - AF waived. No spend offer available. Barclays never gives me the targeted spend offers
Citi AA Pt personal - 1,000 bonus miles every month that $1K is spent. This offer was at the six month mark
AMEX PRG - 5,000 MR up front, 15,000 MR for $3K spend in 60 days
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
My wife also got the fee waived on her Aviator Red. First CSR said she didn't believe it could be waived, but we were ready to cancel. The retention specialist immediately found she was eligible for a fee waiver. So now we're chasing the previous offer of 15k after 500 in the next 3 months.
 

PillanSmye

Level 2 Member
Aviator Red is easy to get AF waived.

Barclays had a deal to buy US Air miles that got carried forward since US Air technically purchased AA.

So they have no desire to lose those accounts. They aren't even pushing people to downgrade to Aviator Blue or Aviator Vanilla products, even though they are available.

IMO, they are grooming the portfolio for a future sale to Citi
 

dukerau

Level 2 Member
Aviator Red is easy to get AF waived.

Barclays had a deal to buy US Air miles that got carried forward since US Air technically purchased AA.

So they have no desire to lose those accounts. They aren't even pushing people to downgrade to Aviator Blue or Aviator Vanilla products, even though they are available.

IMO, they are grooming the portfolio for a future sale to Citi
Has this changed? I called yesterday and today and was told there's nothing they can do other than downgrade me to a free card. I specifically mentioned that I had the Citi AA card and all the benefits were redundant. Today, the CSR commiserated with me that indeed the benefits are the same as Citi's, and I should evaluate based on APR, etc., and I have until 60 days from AF posting to cancel and get it back. I don't want to cancel the card as I do have the spend $500 in Jan, Feb, and Mar, get 15k bonus miles. I'd rather pay the fee to get that than cancel and get the fee back and lose out on the 15k.

Granted, I didn't get to the retention department. I'm afraid to push too hard with Barclays as once I called in and said "I'd like to cancel my card" expecting to get transferred to retention, and the CSR just said "Ok, I've canceled your card." Uhhhh. That was a US Airways card and I ended up just figuring I'd get another one later anyway, but I really should've held onto it as it had the 10k annual bonus. Anyways, I digress. So all I say when I call in now is "I saw that the annual fee posted and I'm really questioning if I want to pay it to keep the card since my Citi American Airlines card has the same benefits." No dice, twice. Any advice? That's a lot of rhyming.
 

SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
I posted in a different thread today that I easily got the annual fee waived on a call this morning. I was hoping there was a bonus offer on my account. Since there wasn't, the retention specialist asked if I would keep my card if he waived the fee. Easy peasy, took about 2 minutes.
 

spamman808

Level 2 Member
Just got a retention offer a few weeks ago on my Amex PRG. $50 up front and another $50 after $500 spend. Hadn't put much spend on it since getting the sign up bonus in August. According to threads on Flyertalk, people who actually used the card more than me got better offers. I was pretty happy with what I got though :).
 

Flanmann

Level 2 Member
I called about Citi Business AAdvantage today. I wasn't thrilled that 2x office supply was getting replaced with 2x gas. Given offers of $95 statement credit or 1000 bonus miles for $1000/mo spend for 16 months. Turned down both, then was offered 10000 bonus miles for $5000 spend in 6 months. I took it. Also called about SPG Amex for a courtesy adjustment, and I was given 3000 points. Not a bad day!
 

spamman808

Level 2 Member
I called about Citi Business AAdvantage today. I wasn't thrilled that 2x office supply was getting replaced with 2x gas. Given offers of $95 statement credit or 1000 bonus miles for $1000/mo spend for 16 months. Turned down both, then was offered 10000 bonus miles for $5000 spend in 6 months. I took it. Also called about SPG Amex for a courtesy adjustment, and I was given 3000 points. Not a bad day!
I called and asked about my SPG yesterday, not so fortunate. Rep said no way can she do anything, asked to speak to a manager and she told me she could transfer but that they would say the same thing. I hung up, haven't called again yet. Should I escalate to a manager even if rep says they won't do it? Anyone have an experience like this?
 

zceuxbhjutf

Panel 3 Member
With Amex I believe you have to talk to a second tier person (Membership Consulting Services).

Q. If I cancel an Amex Biz, can I transfer the MRs to my non-biz Amex MR account?
 

dukerau

Level 2 Member
With Amex I believe you have to talk to a second tier person (Membership Consulting Services).

Q. If I cancel an Amex Biz, can I transfer the MRs to my non-biz Amex MR account?
There's no transferring among Amex MR accounts. When you cancel the Amex Biz, just confirm with the phone rep that the Amex MR account that is linked to your Amex Biz card is also linked to your non-biz Amex card (prior to canceling). If the online view for each card both show your combined MR balance, then they're already linked, but doesn't hurt to confirm.
 

idearr

Level 2 Member
Called for partner. Barclays AA Red - front line people said they can't waive AF. Asked for supervisor, chatted three secs (yes, I know the benefits, I have the citi AA card, seem redundant etc) and he immediately waived the AF and then gave me a few options - $1000 spend in 3 months for 5000 bonus points OR grocery & gas category bonuses that would have allowed earning 8000 bonus points. I chose former. He then added in some uber promotion - add the card to your uber profile and earn two additional points on all uber spend through July 31.

I will need to call for my Silver Aviator in the next few weeks. Are there any reports of fee waivers or at least spending incentives on that card? I'll need to keep it as I earned a companion coupon which apparently doesn't hit your account until roughly 2 months after the annual fee is paid.
 

Craig

Level 2 Member
Amex EDP - Annual fee waived ($95)

Citi Preferred - 4x bonus TYP (5x total) on supermarket, drug, gas, commuter transportation, and parking merchants for 3 months, up to a max of 35k. Had the same offer on my Prestige earlier in the year. Not bad for a no-annual fee card. Account was opened in December 2015.
 
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zceuxbhjutf

Panel 3 Member
There's no transferring among Amex MR accounts. When you cancel the Amex Biz, just confirm with the phone rep that the Amex MR account that is linked to your Amex Biz card is also linked to your non-biz Amex card (prior to canceling). If the online view for each card both show your combined MR balance, then they're already linked, but doesn't hurt to confirm.
Thanks, duke!

Amex Business Gold Rewards $175 AF

First call, in hopes of a retention bonus, was a month ago. My only spend was for the signup bonus, a few Amex Offers, and maybe $500~ more. The best my Membership Consulting Services agent offered was $50 statement credit. I took it, then waited until yesterday, then cancelled anyway. So I pocket the $50, cuz the AF can post and you still have another 60 days to cancel in order for the AF to "un"post.

I had no other Amex associated with Membership Rewards, so ten days ago I got the no AF Amex Everyday to preserve my BGR MR points. Like duke alluded, the sequence went like...
1. apply online for Everyday card
2. instant approval
3. right away (i.e. no need to wait for card in hand) I assign that card to the same login as my BGR
4. there was one additional step online, made clear by clicking around the upper right "Membership Rewards" section, something about merge or something
5. cancel BGR

If I had it to do over again, more planning woulda had me sign up for the Amex Everyday at a more opportune time. I pretty much knew the whole year that I'd be cancelling the BGR. As time passed, a 15000 better Everyday MR offer had passed. Oh BTW there are some Amex MR-earning cards where the MRs aren't as good (no transfer to airline/etc partners), so use care when choosing the new card.
 
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heavenlyjane

Level 2 Member
Asked for a retention bonus on my Wells Fargo World Propel CC - something to offset the $175 AF. I was offered nada so I cancelled.
 

MickiSue

Level 2 Member
spamman, your question was over a month ago, but ask yourself: why would a CSR have any idea what a manager will do? Yesterday, I was on the phone with IHG, trying to get my 58,500 points from the Priceless Surprises sweepstakes. Surprise! We froze your account because you already had one you hadn't used since 2000, and the points disappeared!

CSR offered me 10K. I asked to speak to her supervisor. Supervisor offered same. After trying to get her to understand that it was THEIR doing, asked to speak to HER manager. Kept asking. She kept saying manager would say the same. FINALLY got the manager, and after some discussion, was offered 47K, the amount I'd have gotten if all the entries had yielded the minimum number of points.

NEVER take the word of a minion for what their boss will do.
 

nickelfish1

Level 2 Member
Chase Marriott -first time ever they wouldn't waive the AF and no offers. I'm debating closing this card. Said I have 180 days to close and would have the AF refunded. I'm out of luck for any new Chase cards for the next two years since I just got two Alaska cards last week. Maybe I keep it?

Aviator Red-AF waived for both hubs and I.

Amex AA- spend $85 in the next 30 days and get a $95 credit.
 

LearnMS

Level 2 Member
AF posted on United MileagePlus Explorer card. No offers. Will cancel it.

However, does anyone know if the no-fee version has same award inventory as the Explorer card? If so, I will switch to no-fee version instead.

P.S. I already asked CSP both at Chase and United - none had a clue.
 

torkay

Level 2 Member
I recently got denied offers on both chase British airways and Marriott cards guess il just close them both:(
 
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