Le Bernardin Experience

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a “foodie.”

A better description might be, “Spaz who can’t be left alone with a pack of Oreos.”

Or maybe, “Dude who pays the ice cream man to keep driving.”

Anyway, you get the idea.

But if you’re a foodie with a nice Starwood balance, here are a few interesting auctions ending this morning. Thanks to reader Dave for reaching out. As always, if you have the points, try to keep up with SPG, Delta, Hilton, and Wyndham auctions. Every once in a while, you’ll be able to find some good value there.

Two From Tom

Reader Tom is seeing this in his United app. You could have something similar available. Definitely worth taking a look. Potentially worth over 20,000 miles.

Tom is also one of many who got an interesting offer from Hertz last week. If you typically ignore promotional emails, make sure you’re paying attention to anything from those guys. Keep in mind that 550 Hertz points is a free day, so you’re looking at 2 freebies. Only if you got the email (sadly, I did not).

 

National Rental Giveaway

A couple of small random tips from emails this week…

  • Reader Jerry recommends resortfeechecker and lasvegasjaunt for resort fee research.
  • Reader James says, “It seems American is making saver availability on 2 leg one-ways (positioning-hub-destination) where the leg from hub to destination is at a higher rate. Completely blows the old way of searching AA for saver space 1 leg at a time out of the water.”
  • Increased Hilton card bonuses (if American Express chooses not to screw you).
  • As far as the giveaway, this is probably my final set of rentals to pass out from the One Two Free promo. This round is courtesy of generous reader Stephanie. She’s giving away a pair of codes (they can be used for a free rental day whether traditional or one-way). Only enter if you know you can use one before June 15th. Please send your email entry to the address below. As always, I don’t read messages there, so only use that inbox for contests. Blank email entries are fine. The subject should be, “May National Rental.” I’ll pick two people randomly on Saturday night.

Have a great weekend, nerds!

Follow-Up

Lots of great responses to yesterday’s post. Here’s a super-quick summary for those who missed it:

  • I applied for an American Express card expecting to get a bonus.
  • No bonus showed up.
  • Multiple customer service attempts didn’t help.
  • A CFPB complaint went nowhere.
  • Amex quoted once-in-a-lifetime bonus language.
  • I have screenshots. None of that language existed.

Again, I’ve never gone past this point to collect a credit card bonus. Haven’t needed to. But reader Jason was VERY helpful and wanted others to benefit. His awesome email is below…

“Can’t take them to small claims. You have to take them to arbitration. You have a pretty open and shut case, but your first step is to fill out this form and mail it to them certified.

https://web.aexp-static.com/us/content/pdf/GCO/gco_claim.pdf

For your claim, include the miles and a dollar amount. Delta sells them for 3.5 cents per mile on the website, so technically that’s their value. Mention that if relief isn’t provided, you will file for arbitration. Then wait a couple weeks while they don’t do anything.

Then you can file for arbitration/mediation – you can pick which service to use. JAMS is reportedly more consumer friendly. Amex picks up the tab and they have the option of settling once the arbitration wheels get set in motion. If that does happen, they’ll make you sign an NDA.

https://www.jamsadr.com/about/submit-a-case

That’s where you can submit for mediation. Include a write-up of points requested and what happened. Also include screenshots of everything and  PDFs of the Amex contract stating they have to pay for arbitration. Good luck, I’m happy to help you out any way I can as a thanks for al the great stuff you’ve given me!”

 

Getting The Shaft: Amex Edition

In 2016, I wrote a post entitled “How To Not Get Screwed Over.”

Even though I have the memory of a forgetful 80 year old drunk man…I still remember that post.

It wasn’t my best or worst…just one I happen to remember.

Maybe it’s because of my deep-seated feelings about dishonesty.

Or because I hate seeing people get screwed over.

Who knows?

But, in spite of posts like that…even with precautions and a big brain…you’ll still get screwed over sometimes.

It just happened to me in a new and creative way.

Here’s the story…

We all know that American Express is clear with their small print “lifetime language.”

We get it.

Those words (like “bonus not available to applicants who have previously had this card”) prevent us from getting bonuses more than once.

We apply for a card, collect the bonus, and move on to a different card.

That’s how it works with Amex.

But we also know that, sometimes, they have application links available without any lifetime language.

What does that mean (in non-nerdy terms)?

No lifetime language = collecting a bonus on an American Express card more than once.

At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.

But…

  • In January, I applied for a Delta Gold card without any lifetime language.
  • I met the spend.
  • And, you guessed it, no bonus showed up.
  • I made zero progress after speaking with reps and supervisors.
  • Their explanation? “You’ve had this card before and already received the bonus.”
  • My response? “There was no limitation in the terms for this particular application. I have proof.”

They.

Could.

Not.

Have.

Cared.

Less.

It was strange that they didn’t even care about my proof. Is this what talking to a brick wall feels like?

Usually, a CFPB complaint would be the “easy” solution to all of this. It’s not like a bank can advertise a bonus in writing and then refuse to pay it. American Express can’t just invent new bonus terms for me after I get the product…right?

Well, that’s exactly what happened.

  • Even with a CFPB complaint, American Express didn’t budge.
  • They said the terms stated bonuses would not be given to previous cardholders.
  • The crazy part? That’s a flat-out lie. The terms never said that. And I proved it by INCLUDING A SCREENSHOT.

It was weird as hell. They kept saying the same thing about the terms even as they were being proved wrong.

Now, I’m not a lawyer here, but this sure as hell seems like financial fraud to me. To recap:

  • They attracted me by advertising a bonus.
  • I filled out an application and received the card.
  • I met all of the terms for that bonus.
  • They refused to pay it out.

American Express changing the terms after the fact (talking about lifetime language that didn’t exist). What that means is…

Well, to be honest, this is unchartered territory for me.

I’ve never actually had to go beyond a CFPB complaint to get a credit card bonus.

Crazy stuff.

Do I really want to go to small claims court to get a few SkyDongs?

Not sure.

I guess, at minimum, that would be fun to document here.

Time to ponder my next move.

To be continued…

Edit: Looks like I’ll be heading to arbitration.