Better Than Money
American Express Gold Card
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.
