Cancelling AMEX cards and dealing with angry reps

[Walk On the Ocean]

Recently I called to cancel my Platinum card and encountered something that I never had to deal with. When I called to cancel they were extremely obnoxious. in the past I have called to cancel they were sort of annoyed but always obliged to my requests without much issue. NOW, however, they were screaming at me saying things like "applying for credit cards is not like shopping at a boutique where you can just return the item... we see that you have opened and closed lots of cards with us in the past...."
Do these reps get bonus's/make commission when they retain customers? Otherwise why would they be so vicious?
BTW I HUCA'd a few times hoping to get a rep who wasn't so scary and stern sounding but they ALL were scolding me!
I guess it's because they saw that in the past few years I had opened/closed 6 AMEX cards. If I remove these accounts from online account management will they stop seeing the on their system? If not, how long does it take for these cards to drop from the system?
Can they look at my closed accounts and tell they're supervisors to ban me (or something) for churning? 

Anyone else had this experience recently?
TIA

[zale]

Did you know that you can close an account by just sending a SM?

I did it about 6 times with Platinum cards. They close it instantly, no questions asked.

[Walk On the Ocean]

Did you know that you can close an account by just sending a SM?

I did it about 6 times with Platinum cards. They close it instantly, no questions asked.

Interesting, because I have closed 6 plat cards over the past 18 months, and always called. Isn't is scary to SM them since the SM dept is considered an executive dept? (and they could catch onto churning?) or do they not see all the open cards, just the one the  inquiry is about

[zale]

Interesting, because I have closed 6 plat cards over the past 18 months, and always called. Isn't is scary to SM them since the SM dept is considered an executive dept? (and they could catch onto churning?) or do they not see all the open cards, just the one the  inquiry is about

An executive department? Do they staff the executive department with Indians? Every response from an SM on Amex has terrible spelling mistakes, and is signed with a name that has a lot of J's and a lot of E's. Like Neeeerajjj Jameelllllo.

[eliteflyer]

I wish I would have known earlier that cards could be closed via sm. I just read that in a comment on the main site. I ended up keeping an Amex Plat for another 10 months (and getting an additional $200 in airline fee rebates) as a result of an agent that scolded me last year for "using" amex to get over 100K in sign-up bonuses, $200 in refunds and then go cancel the card within a month.

[Fan of Dan]

can you downgrade a card using sm or just close out?

[Yitz]

I also have cancelled through CS online by sending a email and it works beautiful.

[smart brit]

I have closed many of my amex accounts recently and never encountered such treatment. Did u call the platinum department?

[ChAiM'l]

"using" amex to get over 100K in sign-up bonuses, $200 in refunds and then go cancel the card within a month.

I did just that, and canceled last week. The CSR was most gracious, and did it happily. They even apologised when I called about not getting the full refund.

[dirah]

I've had gracious CR's, and downright rude ones.
But remember that you don't owe them any explanations or information.
Just tell them that you want to close your account because it no longer suits your needs.
If they start questioning you, just politely repeat the same mantra like a broken record.
They might bark over the phone, but they can't bite over the phone.
They will eventually have no choice but to close it for you.
And it will get done in a lot less time than if you try to reason, explain or argue with them.

[compddd]

you can't downgrade through sm I tried, you have to call

[Walk On the Ocean]

When these reps see how many cards you've opened/closed to get the bonus's, can they potentially report you to higher authority and possibly lead to an AMEX ban? Or F/R?
They didn't tell me this but the fact that they see everything so easily made me nervous especially since they were so obnoxious

[Yitz]

When these reps see how many cards you've opened/closed to get the bonus's, can they potentially report you to higher authority and possibly lead to an AMEX ban? Or F/R?
They didn't tell me this but the fact that they see everything so easily made me nervous especially since they were so obnoxious

The open and closing has been going on for years without any problems. Again the best way is closing through a email.

[Drago]

I wish I would have known earlier that cards could be closed via sm. I just read that in a comment on the main site. I ended up keeping an Amex Plat for another 10 months (and getting an additional $200 in airline fee rebates) as a result of an agent that scolded me last year for "using" amex to get over 100K in sign-up bonuses, $200 in refunds and then go cancel the card within a month.

Ooof, that weakness cost you a pretty penny.

[Walk On the Ocean]

Thanks everyone for the SM suggestion
Worked like a dream when cancelling my other plat card

[Shmelly]

Did you give a reason for closure in your SM? Or just simply said please close my card.

[asks]

Did you give a reason for closure in your SM? Or just simply said please close my card.

recently did this with an SPG card and simply requested to have it closed. got a response saying it was done a few hours later.

[jblacker]

can you please share the canceltion letter (i am not sure what i am supposed to write)

[Yellow]

I just wrote
"Hello, can you please assist me with closing my account? Thanks in advance for all your help"
By that evening the card was closed

[lcyitz]

can you please share the canceltion letter (i am not sure what i am supposed to write)

i wrote: Please cancel my platinum card.

That simple