iDine/Rewards Network - Beware Rewards Network restaurants not honoring AMEX

I've received three denials of miles this week ostensibly because the restaurants in questions didn't honor AMEX for miles at the time of my dines. This KILLS the utility of the miserable program, as now once again, just like in the Bad Old Days of TransUnion, you have to actually look at the whole darned directory of Rewards Network restaurants individually restaurant-by-potential-restaurant before you dine, because the application shows only the names and rewards available dates, NOT that a given restaurant won't honor a particular card for miles, on a directory page.

I got a snotty response from RN on this, too, as if this has been a regular feature of the program. It may have been: however, in approximately 1,000 dines, I've only encountered it in a couple case. This week was three, and for the first time in about 5 years.

I'd welcome someone starting a class action on this bait-and-switch, as this heavy user has never had these problems before. RewardsNetwork just keeps making the system more and more complex, and couldn't care less about the users' convenience. The iPhone app sucks, the website won't print, now I find it's time to drill down into any listing, the website listing alone is insufficient.

I have shredded any notion of using a friggin AMEX card with the program for the future. That's the only way to avoid this miserable gamesmanship. Brickbats to AMEX for charging so much merchants would have an incentive to do this, brickbats to the individual restaurant cheapskates, and a huge raspberry for RN.

Once again, I'm beginning to look forward to the day this whole program collapses, and I am free to eat anywhere fancy moves me, instead of trying to play these silly games.

I'd welcome someone starting a class action on this bait-and-switch ...

could well be overcome with a defense that the individual listings indicate eligible cards. For what it's worth, I was recently "gotcha-ed" by this, remembering that the joint had been (RN) MC/Visa only, but saw the AMEX logo on the door, so (incorrectly) assumed that AMEX was new to the restaurant, rather than that they'd always taken it, just not given dining credit.

as now once again, just like in the Bad Old Days of TransUnion, you have to actually look at the whole darned directory of Rewards Network restaurants individually restaurant-by-potential-restaurant before you dine

It's been this way all along, the "selective" dining miles by card type is nothing new!

Points Scrounger is right on the money on this - I got skunked once or twice because I did not bother to check to see if the restaurant accepted AMEX and offered miles with AMEX (two completely and separable issues), or forgot they accepted AMEX but did not offer miles.

No way to sue, no bait and switch - they disclose the information, it's up to us to check. It has been like this for a number of years, I can assure you.

Since RN has been revamping the site lately, they could do something about it.
For example, like how we can now filter out the search results to exclude restaurants not participating today, how about including the ability to filter out by CC?
I'm probably asking for too much, since the CC companies wouldn't be too happy that it would make it easier for their specific product to be excluded.

your anger is understandable, but you, the cardholder, are not the only "customer" that RN has to cater to: they also have to satisfy the restaurants. In a way, any one restaurant may actually be more important than any one cardholder: Y
There are fewer restaurants, so the typical restaurant processes more idine sales than the typical cardholder.

Also, you might condsider this: Amex really costs significantly more than other cards to process a transaction. add the RN costs to that already-costly transaction, and you've cut into profits by quite a bit. wipe out the profit, then the guests will have to eat points instead of food, because there won't be money to buy food,

Sorry to revive an old thread but how can you tell if a restaurant will no give points on Am Ex or not?

I know all the local restaurants that accept Am Ex that I go to on a regular basis give the points, but I am concerned about when I travel.

I normally use the RN app (which I hate btw) to try to find places nearby when I am travelling and it only tells me how many points I will earn each day. It won'd tell me if Am Ex is excluded or not. I just don't want to dine at a place to find out later I am not getting the points because of using an Am Ex card.

Sorry to revive an old thread but how can you tell if a restaurant will no give points on Am Ex or not?

I know all the local restaurants that accept Am Ex that I go to on a regular basis give the points, but I am concerned about when I travel.

I normally use the RN app (which I hate btw) to try to find places nearby when I am travelling and it only tells me how many points I will earn each day. It won'd tell me if Am Ex is excluded or not. I just don't want to dine at a place to find out later I am not getting the points because of using an Am Ex card.
The normal (accessed on a "regular" computer) RN website certainly does tell you for each restaurant which card types you can use to get miles/points, in the lower left of the main RN page for the restaurant. So if the app doesn't, use the website. (I presume you can pull up it on your mobile device, even if it's hard to get around on a small screen?)

I'm virutally always at a "real" computer before I go dining (with the rare exception of not realizing the place I was going to dine is closed, and so I have to choose an alternate from memory), so I always check on the RN website.

Sorry to revive an old thread but how can you tell if a restaurant will no give points on Am Ex or not?

I know all the local restaurants that accept Am Ex that I go to on a regular basis give the points, but I am concerned about when I travel.

I normally use the RN app (which I hate btw) to try to find places nearby when I am travelling and it only tells me how many points I will earn each day. It won'd tell me if Am Ex is excluded or not. I just don't want to dine at a place to find out later I am not getting the points because of using an Am Ex card.

I don't travel nearly as much as you do, but I generally check the RN listings for an area ahead of time to see which are participating and earnings restrictions. If I know it's participating, but am not 100% certain as to whether they take AMEX, I use a Visa/MC instead.

Thanks for the replies. I'll start checking the site before a trip from now on to make sure the merchant is giving points on Am Ex. Good thing to know.

I've learned to start checking the site too. A certain location had the issue with Discover. Though the vast majority of locations seem to allow any cards that they accept for iDine earning. Fortunately I only spent a few dollars so it wasn't a big deal.

Discover/Amex when they're doing the 5% cash back is a great opportunity to double or even triple dip with MOGL.