Update: the AmEx offer for a free Sam’s Club membership as highlighted below is no longer active, however, there is currently a great 50% off membership offer available. Separately, there are ways to shop at Sam’s Club without a membership if you’d like to give the Walmart-run club membership retailer a trial.
By many accounts, Citi hasn’t done the greatest job with its rollout of the new Costco Anywhere Visa Card, after Costco and American Express parted ways this year. Citi received 1.5 million customer service calls in a 2-day period recently, with one of the biggest issues being that 180,000 customers didn’t get a card because it was mailed to the wrong address.
Yeah, that’s a bit of a problem.
The new Citi card actually offers improved cash back rewards over the old Costco TrueEarnings American Express, however, American Express is well known for great perks and customer service, so I can see Costco customers being upset about the change. People hate change.
Apparently, American Express and Sam’s Club have been paying attention and smell blood in the water as they are teaming up on a targeted promotion with American Express cardholders to basically give out free Sam’s Club memberships for a year in the form of a statement credit. Sam’s Club had begun accepting American Express, following Costco’s decision to move from Amex to Visa in an attempt to lure Costco customers.
If you have an existing American Express card, check out the “Amex Offers” section at the bottom of your card home screen when you log in to your account (note: you should regularly do this because there are actually some pretty sweet offers from time-to-time).
If you’re eligible for the promotion, you’ll see this (as I did in my account under my “Blue Cash Preferred” Amex):
If you have multiple American Express cards and don’t see this offer under one of them, click over to your other cards, as the offers per card can vary. There are reports that this card is offer is only showing for personal cards versus business cards.
To claim the offer, just click “Add to Card”, become a Sam’s Club member, and you’ll get an automatic statement credit. Note that you must become a “new” Sam’s club member, so this offer is not open to existing members. The $45 is enough to cover the full cost of a 1-year membership at Sam’s club with either the “Sam’s Savings” or “Sam’s Business” memberships.
Here are the full TOC’s:
Enrollment is limited. Valid only on a new Sam’s Club Membership (Savings, Business or Plus) purchased in-Club at a Sam’s Club location in the 50 U.S. states and not valid on memberships purchased online or by phone. Not valid on membership renewals, upgrades, add-ons or additional membership or any purchase of Sam’s Club Gift of Membership or Prepaid Sam’s Savings Membership. Must add offer to Card and use same Card to redeem. Limit 1 statement credit per American Express® online account. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 9/30/2016, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchase is returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you will not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party. By adding an offer to a Card, you agree that American Express may send you communications about the offer. Sam’s Club is not a sponsor of this promotion. POID: CC1C:0001
I haven’t been a Sam’s Club member for a while (and love Costco), but it’s hard to go wrong with free, so I may give this a try.
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Whoa, thank you for pointing this out. I would have completely missed the rewards on my AmEx card if I didn’t check this post.
I’ve never been to Sam’s but I just must start going to it…
Yeah – this was not broadly advertised or messaged – but it’s a nice little promo for current AmEx customers.
Thanks for pointing this out!
What better way for AmEx to stick it to Costco than this?
I’d love to see what kind of impact this whole card switch has on Costco’s bottom line…guess we’ll find out in the next 10-Q.
Thanks again for the useful post.
I want a one day pass
How do i get a one day pass to Sam’s
How do I get my day pass .
I will look there half day pass for one day .
Iwant a one day pass.After my visit l will consider be membership . Thank very mush and good year.!
How can I get free pass for 1 day please
How can I get a free one day pass from Sam’s Warehouse