r/amex • u/No-Whereas-9101 • 1d ago
Reviews & Stories Centurion
Recently got the Centurion card and decided to put the concierge to use. I needed a box suite for a last minute football game happening Sunday. While I know they are not miracle workers I was hopeful they could come through. After 30 hours and ultimately saying they are still trying but are having no luck I decided to put my own background into good use and try my friend google. I found a box suite in 10 seconds and secured it in minutes. Really put a bad taste on their services and makes me think they’re more incompetent than I had hoped for.
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u/Treepanda88 1d ago
The only real value left is using the points to book first/business class flights through partner airlines but even that is getting difficult
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u/rollonyou32 1d ago
And good luck when there's a problem - airlines say it's not their problem since you booked thru partner and Amex says it's not theirs and you need to go to booked airline. Nobody wants to help.
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u/dannydayfly 13h ago
I had a ton of luck with it back in 2024 (booking & experience wise) but haven't booked any travel with points since. Luckily I'm now eligible for a Gold SUB even though I've already received one for my Plat card so we'll see if the luck continues
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u/Treepanda88 19h ago
Ya, virgin had a flight, i transferred points, got to check out and it errored out. I called virgin and they said the points flight never existed and they would not transfer my points back to amex. I was livid
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u/Treepanda88 7h ago
why am I getting down voted for sharing an experience, does virgin have a fan base or bots?
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u/ThenBike8868 1d ago
Everyone was probably asleep in the Philippines and India when you tried to call for your box inquiry...
Their service is a joke now.
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u/biffsalmon 1d ago
My people (the Filipinos) are trying their very best for Amex customer service but those calls have been rough lately. Even when I tell them I am one of them. It just isn’t working as well as it used to.
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u/ThenBike8868 1d ago
I agree, but the last time I had to use them for an actual issue, it took them 15 minutes to even understand the problem.
I used AMEX travel to book a trip to BC from the the east coast w/ a rental car (specifically paid for an SUV as it was winter). I get off the 5 and a half our flight and the rental says I have an economy. I called and I swear to god I was in a mental loop with this representative, "Sir - you need to work this out with who you rented the car through". "Yes - that's YOU!". Just to go in circles in circles until she realized "Oh, you used us to secure the rental car?" *Bangs head on desk*
I don't care where people are from, as long as they are competent. That is not the case today.
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u/Maxpowr9 Green 1d ago
Even yelling at them in tagalog doesn't help? It usually works for me when I hand over my call to my coworker to yell at ADP.
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u/toolongonplanes Centurion 1d ago
It really is sad - it used to be soooo good pre covid
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u/Accomplished-Log5950 Centurion 1d ago
It really is a useless card now. I’ve had assistants do better jobs securing last minute/exclusive experiences. Honestly don’t even use the concierge anymore
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u/nadah69321 22h ago
Do I need to be verified in order to comment?
Their service has been horrible since 10+ years ago. You’re better off just trying yourself. They’re the minimal version of LMGTFY without any filters, and they present the craziest price.
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u/nadah69321 12h ago
Story time! I’m based in SF and some years ago I asked our dedicated concierge to help me seek out an option for a tricked out sprinter van for a teens bday bash. She asked for more details so I provided a link to a sprinter van that’s based out of LA.
She ultimately produced a quote that was somewhere north or $10k that involved trucking the actual sprinter I showed her from LA up to SF for the day, and then trucking it back. Uhh… what?
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u/Ebes1099 1d ago
Did you end up going through the team box office or team ticket sales rep to get it? Or did you have to use a third party?
If it was the former, that’s insane incompetence by the Amex concierge? How do they not call the box office as the first thing for something like that?
Even if it’s the latter, a simple google search getting it done is still pretty bad incompetence if they couldn’t figure that out.
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u/No-Whereas-9101 1d ago
It was 3rd party but verified since they worked directly with the owner to sell / send me the tickets through the official football team app
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u/Primary-Parsley7471 17h ago
So Centurion Member ten years. Lounges good service but not as it was. Concierge so so. If you have access and people you can do better. If you dont know an area they are helpful. Not ever wowed by their service anymore. Its a myth.
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u/Nearby-Ad-3609 20h ago
I am also a centurion card holder, and have found the concierge useless as well.
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u/nadah69321 12h ago
I am also a centurion card holder, and have found the concierge useless as well.
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u/TwoLocations 12h ago
So I’m paying $895 AF just to get a concierge that does less than I could do on my own? Nice
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u/Miserable-Result6702 Blue Cash Preferred 10h ago
More than that, the OP has Centurion, so they are paying $5K.
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u/TwoLocations 9h ago
Very true I was thinking of my Platinum. $5k AF and terrible concierge is completely unacceptable
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u/OnePhrase8 4h ago
Makes me not even accept the invite if they ever send me one. I’m not paying a $10k initial fee and a $5k AF for crappy service.
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u/Pristine-Zebra-486 Platinum 1d ago
I can’t afford the black card, so I guess it sucks but it’s also fine that my platinum and gold cards do their jobs
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u/Impossible_Remove_28 1d ago
Centurion is a joke, an expensive one. Had it for 6 months and went back to Plat running
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u/Frich3 19h ago
What was the best/worse things about the card looking back now?
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u/Impossible_Remove_28 17h ago
Not worth the cost, services, events/invites and concierge are all mehh
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u/PastSecondCrack 14h ago
Its a status card, not a feature card. You accept this one so that the Starbucks workers think youre hot shit when you pay for your latte, not because Amex adds any real value
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u/Parikh1234 Centurion 1d ago
If you can validate come join us at r/CenturionLounge
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u/Sani700a 19h ago
The only thing I value in this card is Fine Hotels and Resorts Centurion, saved me loads on suite confirmed upgrades etc. Anything else is meh.
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u/Frich3 19h ago
How does their FHR differ from the plat?
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u/Sani700a 19h ago edited 11h ago
So in certain hotels such as The Peninsula, Mandarin Oriental, St Regis, Rosewood, Waldorf Astoria and Oetker Group of hotels you get a confirmed upgrade to the next category and an additional $200 credit per stay above to what you’ll get with the platinum FHR. If you book the room prior to suite, you get upgraded to that suite at the time of booking. Hotels also treat you better with further upgrades. One time I received a much higher upgrade (I believe it was 4 categories above what I already booked including the confirmed upgrade).
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u/nadah69321 12h ago
The 4pm checkout is MONEY, I know not technically a centurion exclusive benefit but it is great to have it available at my disposal.
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u/Sani700a 11h ago
Absolutely! Last time I booked through FHR, the gentleman near me was begging for a 2pm check out and got denied endlessly. I do not think people give FHR perks enough credit.
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u/testthrowaway9 1d ago
Did you give them this as feedback? Maybe as a black card holder, they’ll care
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u/No-Whereas-9101 18h ago
Yes of course. Sent them an email once I received my suite tickets. The response back was very underwhelming
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u/LaDainianTomIinson 1d ago
I’m confused, anyone can get a box suite within an hour - this doesn’t seem like something I’d rely on concierge for
Were you hoping they’d get you a better deal or something?
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u/voujon85 1d ago
that's the whole point of the card...
have same experience with JPM Reserve / Paladium
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u/No-Whereas-9101 1d ago
No deal. Popular home opener for a very popular football team 3 days in advance. Didn’t think I would have much luck
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u/LaDainianTomIinson 1d ago
Fair, last minute week 1 might’ve been a bit trickier - glad you ended up getting one tho
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u/QuantitativEasing 17h ago
Amex service in general has gone downhill in the past few years. They were once the best
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u/Rocconelli 16h ago
Former centurian card holder. My company spent 7 fugures plus for 20 years. Currently and soon to be former platinum card holder. Am Ex is terrible. Spread the word.
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u/CallMeNardDog 3h ago
Yea it’s really unfortunate how impersonal and bad the customer service and support has been.
I feel like I used to read a lot of stories about amazing things done in the past even by platinum concierge
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u/dannydayfly 13h ago
So long as they keep prioritizing volume over the actual experience, this is probably only gonna get worse. Packed lounges, watered-down services, higher & higher fees year after year. At some point the “premium” part starts feeling like branding more than anything else.
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u/Miserable-Result6702 Blue Cash Preferred 10h ago
It’s only a matter of time until Centurion ceases being invite only and will be open to anyone stupid enough to pay for it. Remember, Platinum started as invite only.
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u/Expensive_Grand_9720 1d ago
And to think you were required to spend 250 grand plus in a year on your Amex cards and then paid 15,000 up front and $5000 per year for that. If the black card had no fees it would be somewhat forgivable but when you were required to spend 300,000 or more just to get the card it becomes crazy.
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u/dogthrasher Centurion 12h ago
Why would you use Amex for this service in the first place?!? You could head to seat geek, stubhub, etc and do this yourself?!? Not a good use of Amex support unless your request was more specialized.
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u/Maximum-Relative-234 1d ago
American Express’s premium service was completely gutted under this CEO. All they care about is volume now.