Several years ago I hired
someone who had spent most of his career at
American Express. After a get
acquainted lunch with my managers, I paid the bill using an
American Express
Gold card. "Oh, you should switch from that," he said. "There is no reason
to pay the higher fee just to carry a gold card."
The employee lasted a year. I am still going strong with this card.
Strong enough, in fact, that I just crossed $150,000 in lifetime spending
on the card. Yes, it is used a lot - for personal and business expenses.
Cheap Insurance - Think Twenty Dollars
Let's first get the basics out of the way. An individual
American Express
Gold card costs $75 each year. Each additional card, for a spouse or family
member is $35. That sounds high, but the basic green card is $55 with a
$15 charge for additional cards. Paying only $20 more for the gold card
is an incredible deal.
Mind you, a charge card, one in which you pay the full balance each
month, is not for everyone. I like having a charge card because I do run
up large travel bills in the course of work. I don't have to float the
money to the company using a charge card. My expense checks are ready
by the time payment is due.
Meanwhile, I get a wide variety of protections that the standard green
card does not offer, all for about $20 a year per person. In just the
last two years, I have more than paid the incremental cost ten times over.
Sure, you can find credit cards with a killer teaser (introductory)
rate and a passel of product offerings too, but Amex seemed to recognize
that about a year or so ago, and their card is competitive with anything
on the market.
Take My Vacuum Cleaner -- Please
My wife bought a fancy new vacuum cleaner with all the bells and whistles.
Several months later, the relatively new vacuum quit working. The store
would not even consider a return, and Hoover was not very cooperative either.
After calling
American Express, however, a check was in our mailbox within
two weeks.
There's Also A PlayStation 2 Here
A present from my wife to our three sons and me prompted me to go out and
buy a brand new BFTV - big, um, television. Families of yore may have sat
around a parlor table playing mahjongg or bridge or checkers, but we were
jamming to
Dave Mirra's BMX or
Hydro Thunder. Until the PS2 stopped working,
that is.
With some trepidation that American Express' customer service files
would start flagging our family as grifters, we hesitantly placed a call.
A simple form later, and the PS2 is wrapped up snug as a bug ready to
go back to Amex. They presumably have a distressed inventory center that
will deal with the issue. All I know is that I am getting a new PlayStation
for a problem that Sony is getting hammered on hobbyist's boards for knowing
about and still not fixing.
The two events total more than $500 worth of replacement cost value.
At that rate, I consider my annual card fee to be paid for through 2006.
American Express Gold offers these protections:
Buyer's Assurance- extends the manufacturer's warranty for one year,
up to $10,000 per incident and $50,000 per year.
Purchase Protection -- 90 day protection on items not covered by warranties
with the same limits as Buyer's Assurance.
So How Much Did You Pay For Yours?
One of the best features this card offers is most likely the one that is
the least used. We are all familiar with stores that proudly advertise that
they will honor their sales price for some period of time. Aggressive marketers
even volunteer to honor their competitor's prices.
When you pay for an item using the American Express Gold card, you are
assured that you will get the lowest price for the next two months. If
you see an item advertised in print for less than you paid for it, American
Express will reimburse you up to $1000. The catch is that the price difference
has to be more than $10 and you must file a claim.
This is where I admit to not knowing the rules and not paying full attention.
You see, right after I bought my Dell last year, the company slashed prices
and knocked a good $200 off the price. But claims need not be for big
ticket items. Go back to that vacuum cleaner. Let's say my wife purchased
it for $250 and carefully notes the date and amount. If another retailer
puts the same model on sale within sixty days, American Express will refund
the difference. Diligence can be very lucrative!
Shop Online A Lot? What About Travel?
Another underused card feature is free shipping and handling on many online
orders. Let me repeat that magical four letter "f" word - free. There are
not many participating partners yet, but both
Gap and
Eddie Bauer participate.
Shipping at those sites can run $5.95 to $15, so if you are a customer,
you can again save some serious money using the card.
I contacted both merchants to confirm that catalog and online orders
were treated this way, and there was no hesitation. One caveat from both:
you can't use other discounts or promotions. In plain English, that means
no sale items. But if you're a regular customer of either, the savings
are there.
Traveling is another whole kettle of fish. Frankly, the gold card benefits
are the best I have ever seen for frequent travelers. Here is a lovely
scenario illustrating why:
There's a blackout, flood or other temporary situation that prevents
you from returning home one day. Your card is safe and secure in your
wallet. on your dresser. American Express has an emergency check in feature
that actually allows you to go to a hotel without the card present. Yes,
check in and get safe - all without your card.
Or how about this? You're in a strange city and your wallet is stolen.
You can still go to a hotel. How can you beat that?
The gold card also offers $100,000 of travel accident insurance that
covers death or dismemberment, as well as secondary coverage on rental
cars. That's right. If you rent a car that becomes damaged, American Express picks up where your insurance stops. Rental car companies hate that since
their margin is huge on insurance, but that coverage alone will pay for
itself should the need ever arise.
I make twenty to thirty trips a year, renting a car virtually every
time. By waiving insurance coverage, I'm saving several hundred dollars
every year. Plus I get standard benefits such as emergency check cashing
and other features that are now standard on premium cards.
The Bottom Line, Loose Change and All
Once a year, I get to see the bottom line in a statement that
American Express provides gold members. Others I have talked with love this feature. I download
directly from
Amex to
Quicken, so I always have pretty, colorful charts
available, but the throw weight on the year-end statement is pretty impressive.
My bottom line is that this card makes sense for consumers looking for
convenience. Not every merchant accepts American Express, but virtually
every major merchant does. Provided that you exercise discipline and purchase
only what you had planned, the American Express Gold card gives great
features and protection. The customer service is solid; the web site is
certainly navigable although a bit uninspired, and the card is still accepted
in enough places to allow me to use it as my primary form of currency.
That avoids the problems some couples have when both are accessing the
same checking account or splitting cash between them.
Now I don't carry cash. I carry the American Express Gold. Think I am
exaggerating? Last week, I drove from Washington to Baltimore, flew to
Detroit, went to a meeting an hour away the next day and returned home.
Not counting airfare, I spent just over $300 in the two days, but I did
not use a dime of cash. Good thing too. I had a dollar in my wallet.
