Well I decided to chat with AMEX last night to go over some charges that only earned 1x instead of 4x.

I knew some of them were a shot in the dark and some others were legitimate:

Shot in the dark charges:
Shop Rite Liquor Store: Shows as “Merchandise & Supplies: Groceries”. Told liquor stores don’t count

Iffy charges:
Bakery/Cafe’ where I had bought some pastries. Shows as “Merchandise & Supplies: Groceries”. Really is a restaurant. Told that because it’s first category is “Merchandise & Supplies” I would only get 1x. I told the chat rep that Shop Rite grocery stores also code as “Merchandise & Supplies: Groceries” and I receive 4x. I was told “it’s not on the list”

Legitimate restaurant charges:
1 coded as: “Restaurant: Bar and Cafe’”. Rep told me it’s not listed as a “US Restaurant”. I said the address is clearly listed in the United States. I was told “American Express is not responsible for how merchant’s code themselves”.

2 coded as: “Restaurant: Restaurant”. Rep copy and pasted same response as above and supposedly put in a “claim”.

Gave the “I am a good customer why are you giving me a hard time over a few 100 points on blatant errors” spiel and got nowhere. I know I should call but I hate spending time on the phone with them over less than 1000 points.

I know chat reps are empowered to do literally nothing, but to me it’s a wasted resource if it just leads to customer frustration.