Question
Does anyone know of any credit card that has no annual fee and has concierge service ? I was looking at an Visa Signature ad and noticed that they have a concierge service.
I don't know if this is the right place for the post, so please move it to the appropriate forum if incorrect ..
Thanks,
KFlyer.
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Merrill Lynch + Card
https://www.card.ml.com/MLRewardsCenter/View-Cards/MERRILL.htm
Look under "Card Benefits" and you will see Concierge listed. Have never used it but if you search you might find more info from those that have used the concierge.
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Does anyone know of any credit card that has no annual fee and has concierge service ? I was looking at an Visa Signature ad and noticed that they have a concierge service.
I don't know if this is the right place for the post, so please move it to the appropriate forum if incorrect ..
Thanks,
KFlyer.
Merrill+
Citibank Premier Pass (not elite)
Citibank Hilton HHonors Visa Signature
Citibank Professional Cards
MBNA Fidelity Visa Signature
MBNA WorldPoints Visa Signature
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Citibank Platinum AAdvantage
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Don't expect any of the concierge services with free cards to be very useful... (Other than Merrill+ when you get to the $50k spending threshold and get upgraded concierge service at that point.)
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Citibank Platinum AAdvantage
$85 fee
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Ah true but it is first fee waived ;-)
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Thanks a lot everyone for your replies.
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Don't expect any of the concierge services with free cards to be very useful... (Other than Merrill+ when you get to the $50k spending threshold and get upgraded concierge service at that point.)
karthik,
In what way will they not be useful ? Are those concierge services just "for display" without any real customer service support ? :confused:
- KFlyer
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karthik,
In what way will they not be useful ? Are those concierge services just "for display" without any real customer service support ?
As I understand it, yes... Honestly you can't expect much from a fee-free card in the way of perks like this. My one experience with the basic level of VIPdesk is described here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6264492&postcount=37). (To summarize, I was looking for a specific cellphone in stock in London, and after having to contact them myself twice over a week found out they couldn't find it.) This is the same as you'd get with any Citi card other than the Chairman Card. Not sure about the other issuers, but I'd expect similar.
Anyways, as a followup, I asked the Citi Personal Assistants (the higher level VIPdesk service provided with the Chairman Card) to do the same. They got back to me within a couple hours saying that they'd contacted Samsung and that the phone was not actually available in the UK yet, even though some sites might be accepting pre-orders, but should be out in the next few weeks. (It's actually out now. And I'm annoyed I didn't buy it in Spain a week ago since it would've come out the same after VAT refund as getting it back in the US, but it's significantly more in the UK. :()
So in the case of the first request, I would've been better off trying to contact Samsung myself. (I'd already looked on the web and couldn't find anything about UK release dates.)
I would not expect the free concierge folks to be very useful other than in a few limited cases where you have a cell but no net access and you need them to find out something fairly simple for you or perhaps make restaurant reservations.
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Oh ok .. So that is more of a window dressing than anything else ..
As for the chairman card and such like, do you think that the concierge service in itself is that good value wrt to the annual fee ?
I'll also read the Amex Plat v/s Citi Chairman thread for more details regding those two cards ..
Thanks a lot !
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As for the chairman card and such like, do you think that the concierge service in itself is that good value wrt to the annual fee ?
I'll also read the Amex Plat v/s Citi Chairman thread for more details regding those two cards ..
It really depends on your needs. In my case, I was planning on getting a Priority Pass anyways, so getting the Chairman Card instead made much more sense. (Since it comes with an even better Priority Pass.) The amazing concierge service is just a very nice bonus for me. I might pay something like $200/yr for the concierge service itself... but most of what they do are things I could do myself, just often with more time involved.
Definitely read the thread; it should help answer your questions. And keep in mind that the Chairman Card is being changed/relaunched, and there is speculation that new applications may be stopped as of Sep 15! So if you want one in its current form, you'd be best off applying very soon.
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doesnt the MBNA quantum card come with concierge service and IIRC the quantum card has no fee
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doesnt the MBNA quantum card come with concierge service and IIRC the quantum card has no fee
I used to be a Quantum Visa user. (Yes, I had a Visa version.)
Still their application shows "No Annual Fee," they started charging $50/year from last July due to my statement. I complained it and they waived that $50. They also started charging overseas transaction fee, and the concierge service is outsourced to a company in San Francisco or somewhere and the quality is far inferior to Amex-Pt Citi Chairman. I streamlined Quantum Visa after all.
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...the concierge service is outsourced to a company in San Francisco or somewhere and the quality is far inferior to Amex-Pt Citi Chairman.
Well, all credit card companies outsource their concierge service as far as I know. Amex Platinum and Centurion are handled by Circles (currently out of Canada and previously out of Boston, I believe; the Platinum concierge was slightly more useful when they were in Boston since I live there), at two different levels. Merrill+ at the $50k threshold gets you the higher level Circles concierge equivalent to what Amex Centurion gets (not sure what you get below that; I would be surprised if it was even equal to the Platinum concierge for being fee-free.)
Citi outsources to VIPdesk (apparently based out of Virginia,) and there are different levels as well. The free/cheap cards get the "My Concierge" service, which as I posted above is not very good. The Chairman Card gets the excellent service (branded as "Personal Assistants") which is a higher level of VIPdesk; the two are completely separate branches of VIPdesk, as I found out after my mistaken request to the lower-level concierge.
From various threads debating the issue, plus having spoken to various friends with Centurion cards about their concierge, and from having used the Chairman Personal Assistants extensively myself in the past few months, I believe that the Chairman Card concierge service is at least equal to the Centurion concierge service. (Not bad for $400/yr vs $2500/yr.)
But anyways, be glad that they're outsourcing it to a company in the United States at least... :) (Not trying to provoke any flamewars here! Outsourcing has its place, but not in providing concierge services to US-based customers.)
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[QUOTE=karthik]Well, all credit card companies outsource their concierge service as far as I know. Amex Platinum and Centurion are handled by Circles (currently out of Canada and previously out of Boston, I believe; the Platinum concierge was slightly more useful when they were in Boston since I live there), at two different levels. Merrill+ at the $50k threshold gets you the higher level Circles concierge equivalent to what Amex Centurion gets (not sure what you get below that; I would be surprised if it was even equal to the Platinum concierge for being fee-free.)]
At least some of the people are still in Boston. I hired someone who worked there a few months ago and she gave two weeks notice.