Originally Posted by
gengar
My point is simply that people need to complain for the right reasons.
Merchant coded as MCC that is a bonus category -> AMEX doesn't give bonus -> something worth noting as an exceptional case / taking up with AMEX
Merchant coded as MCC that isn't a bonus category (regardless of whether the MCC is appropriate/accurate) -> AMEX doesn't give bonus -> that's what we should expect, and is a merchant issue.
Buyers of course should be aware that merchants may not have an accurate MCC. The possible fact that Square merchants are much more likely to have an inaccurate MCC (which is true IME) is part of that.
Yeah, it just seems like something of a flaw in the overall execution... from Amex's standpoint...especially since more and more and more merchants are moving to 3rd party payment systems like Square and Toast. This issue isn't going anywhere. The benefit loses its luster if it only goes through at 50% of establishments. And I guess I'm still a little fuzzy on how the MCC process works. All of the places that I'm referencing that use Square or Toast categorize on my statement as 'Restaurant - Restaurant' - so since Amex is clearly recognizing the establishments appropriately, why are they, then, not able to give me the bonus points? There's a technical flaw in the upstream MCC code? I feel like I'm in the matrix, you're recognizing it as 'Restaurant-Restaurant' on my statement, so give me the darn 4X!