No Centurion VIP Treatment at McDonald's. No free BBQ Sauce. =(

super-mileage-fan · May 24, 09, 12:38 pm

I went to McDonald's the other night and bought some french fries in the drive-thru. The guy wanted to charge me an extra $.10 for BBQ Sauce, EVEN THOUGH I was using a Centurion card.

I tried to explain my status, yet to no avail.

Then, I mentioned that I had been recently shorted a BBQ sauce by McD's on a previous order. He asked me if I still had my receipt! Fortunately, I have hundreds of receipts spread throughout my car to use in such situations, so I got 1 free sauce.

I'd like to see AMEX work this out with McDonald's to add it as a card benefit. I'd say 2 BBQ sauces per purchase, up to 48 per year, would sound about right.

(Note: This post contains 4 facts, 1 exaggeration and 2 outright lies).

**Gaucho100K** · May 24, 09, 1:06 pm

Wirelessly posted (Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

McD's prefer Visa.....

terminalfive · May 24, 09, 2:22 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by super-mileage-fan

I went to McDonald's the other night and bought some french fries in the drive-thru. The guy wanted to charge me an extra $.10 for BBQ Sauce, EVEN THOUGH I was using a Centurion card.

I tried to explain my status, yet to no avail.

Then, I mentioned that I had been recently shorted a BBQ sauce by McD's on a previous order. He asked me if I still had my receipt! Fortunately, I have hundreds of receipts spread throughout my car to use in such situations, so I got 1 free sauce.

I'd like to see AMEX work this out with McDonald's to add it as a card benefit. I'd say 2 BBQ sauces per purchase, up to 48 per year, would sound about right.

(Note: This post contains 4 facts, 1 exaggeration and 2 outright lies).

You speak for us all. Would help McD as well - haven't been to one in years. Great idea - think of one for starbucks (do ocassionally go..)

ptxl · May 24, 09, 2:48 pm

I went to a striptease bar and used my Titanium card to give the girl 200 bucks. She told me: the next time please, warm the card between my 2 hands before I swipe the card.

chuckd · May 24, 09, 3:35 pm

If you read the Ts & Cs of the card you will see that extra condiments are in fact unlimited "within reason" at all McDonald's for both you and one eating companion (as long as he or she is eating at the same table and food purchases show on same receipt), however you must eat inside to get this benefit. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to go in only to be accosted by people looking for someone to be their sauce sponsor. I think there are even threads here on FT where people beg for BBQ access.

ahrz · May 24, 09, 4:04 pm

MacDonalds doesn't have consistent VIP recognition... I must sometimes request my upgrade to the clean seats

But the water for free in the restrooms is usually granted.

elitetraveler · May 24, 09, 4:07 pm

I often find the Breezeway backed up with cars. They need an additional Elite Access line within the store.

PS - Did you use your Amex Cent to gain access to the Mickey D's Club?

**RichardInSF** · May 24, 09, 8:08 pm

I think that the Cent benefits only apply to the Honey Mustard sauce. You should write Amex suggesting your improvement to the system.

daniellam · May 24, 09, 11:13 pm

Most McDonald's employees are too low paid to even know what an AMEX Platinum card, let alone Centurion card is (or care less if you pay with one as they would most likely not be able to get one in their lifetime anyways [unless it's an ambitious college student working a job to help pay his tuition])!

Employees working at higher end establishments tend to know the difference.

SusanDK · May 25, 09, 1:02 am

Better watch all those McD's charges on your Centurion. You'll get pulled for the dreaded financial review or just have your card cancelled outright because you've tarnished the image of the black card by flashing it around an unworthy establishment.

Susan

KTW · May 25, 09, 1:17 am

He wanted to scam you out of a dime. There is no charge for sauce.

ringbark · May 25, 09, 4:06 am

You're lucky to be able to use your card at all.
In most of the British McDonalds restaurants, the blue box is on display, but the card is repeatedly declined by the machines and the staff then have no idea what to do. Nor do the managers.
I wrote to McD and AX about it. McD apologised for the inconvenience and said it was a system incompatibility that was being investigated. Amex didn't reply at all.

Roger · May 25, 09, 4:28 am

My plat was accepted last week in GB. The plat enhancement was an extra charge for the drink in a meal deal.

That means an 88p surcharge.

Or perhaps it was because I didn't want Diet Coke in my ice, preferring the drink without the ice ...

JamesS · May 26, 09, 8:47 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ringbark

You're lucky to be able to use your card at all.
In most of the British McDonalds restaurants, the blue box is on display, but the card is repeatedly declined by the machines and the staff then have no idea what to do. Nor do the managers.
I wrote to McD and AX about it. McD apologised for the inconvenience and said it was a system incompatibility that was being investigated. Amex didn't reply at all.

I've had that once or twice with my Platinum (credit, not charge), getting instructions like 'swipe card' (presumably a fallback after the chip fails to respond correctly?) - normally, I'd suspect the card since my Mastercard then worked fine in the same terminal, but the same card has worked fine elsewhere as well...

The free sauce in McDonalds is usually easy enough to get, even being offered unprompted - it's getting sauce free in KFC that takes luck, skill and/or the right card. Last time, the fact I was redeeming a 'customer satisfaction' 20% discount (side-effect of having just received a refund on a screwed up order from my previous visit) did the trick.

chriswufgator · May 26, 09, 9:08 am

You guys are laughing, but if Amex keeps going the direction they have been lately, then free BBQ sauce at Mickey D's might be the best reward/perk the cards offer before long.

FHR program is noticeably going downhill, as none of the hotels seem to have any training about the program anymore, and then there is no enforcement on Amex's end when a hotel arbitrarily refuses an upgrade you're entitled to, or makes up a fake room category to "upgrade" you to to get around having to give you a real upgrade (I find the latter VERY annoying, and this is becoming the rule not the exception).

Hotels are also playing games with the other benefits, like free breakfast that you can only use in one restaurant that closes at an odd time, or like the Four Seasons in Miami where they tried to charge me for my "free" lunch because we placed the order at 3pm, and they tried to say that was "dinner" not "lunch", and therefore not covered. W-T-F? Who eats dinner at 3pm?

I used to use the lounge access, but now with all the airlines screwing with their schedules and cutting service, the only way I can get a nonstop anymore is by flying JetBlue or Southwest, and while hanging out in a lounge on a layover is OK, it's certainly never going to outweigh just getting where I'm going and not having a layover. So that benefit has been virtually nullified in this economy.

I'm pretty much over Amex.