A New Plymouth woman has had to fight to hang onto her late husband’s 200,000 loyalty points after they were forfeited by a major credit card company when he died.
Graham Ricketts passed away suddenly in July 2021, just as he and Lynda, his wife of 39 years, were looking forward to enjoying retirement together.
Among things they had saved up for the future, Graham had 264,169 points on his American Express credit card (the value of about $1650).
“About two weeks before his death, I'd said to him 'what are we gonna do with all these points?'” Lynda said.
In early August, she rang American Express (AMEX) to find out how to transfer the points to her account. She was asked to provide a copy of Graham's death certificate and his will, showing she was the beneficiary.
She sent through the documentation and was told by a customer service representative that she would be entitled to the points. Later, a different representative said she wouldn’t get points, but would receive vouchers instead.
Lynda accepted that outcome but over the next couple of weeks, she heard nothing further from AMEX, instead having to call the company herself to follow up on the case.
She told Fair Go she had to repeat the story about her husband’s passing to a different AMEX representative with each phone call.
“I started to think 'they want out', they don't want to pay out. They don't want to give the points to me, as a widow that is sitting down in little old New Zealand."
When someone from AMEX finally did call her in mid-September, she was told all of Graham’s points had been forfeited and his nearly 20-year membership cancelled.
“Where's the loyalty?” asked Lynda.
“This is a loyalty type card and where's the loyalty now, when you're told 'well, sorry that's it, finished, goodbye'."
American Express’ US website states a deceased card member's points 'may be reinstated to a new account or redeemed by a beneficiary'.
But under the terms and conditions for cards in New Zealand, points cannot be transferred to any other account. Although, there are exceptional circumstances.
When Fair Go raised Lynda Rickett’s case with the company, it had a change of heart.
An American Express spokesperson told the programme they prided themselves “on providing the world’s best customer experience every day and we apologise that in this instance, the escalation process of Mrs Ricketts’ request didn’t uphold that promise”.
It decided to provide her with $2000 worth of Farmers Gift Cards, which is the value of the points her late husband accumulated plus $350 “to compensate for the inconvenience Mrs Ricketts has endured".
American Express couldn’t comment on whether its New Zealand policy may be brought into line with that in the United States.
Fair Go took a look at some of the most popular loyalty companies to see how they handle member deaths.
Countdown OneCard and New World ClubCard
Both supermarkets say they’ll transfer points to a family member or another person if there is clear proof of entitlement, but they add that each request is treated on a case-by-case basis.
AA Smartfuel
The fuel savings scheme will also transfer the balance upon verification and if the deceased member’s card was linked to others, the balance can be used by anyone in that group. AA Smartfuel also added that due to the frequency of redemptions, the average balance on a member’s card will be approximately $10.00 (20 cents per litre).
If fuel discounts expire, they are refunded back to the retailers that issued them - AA Smartfuel says it doesn’t benefit from expired fuel discounts.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
Air New Zealand also requires proof of entitlement – this could be a letter from a lawyer and/or executor who was administrating the deceased member’s will. The request needs to be made within two years of the death of the Airpoints member.
Loyalty NZ - Flybuys
FlyBuys doesn't require any documentation - unless it's a huge number of points.
Loyalty NZ says it doesn’t ask for a death certificate because it says that can cause unnecessary stress. It only requests proof of entitlement in cases where someone is claiming upwards of 500 points accumulated by the deceased member.
Fair Go also contacted Living Rewards - a programme for some pharmacies – with a spokesperson confirming their policy is also to transfer points or give vouchers. They’re also looped into a database that helps identify members deaths so they know to stop sending marketing messages.
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