armstwa

It shows up as groceries every time when I look through the detail online, thus my confusion.

I guess I'm chalking it up to this particular store not being coded as grocery. Anyone ever had any success with AMEX categorizing one that is not coded correctly but clearly is a grocery store?

mia

In this case the CSR's explanation makes no sense. This may simply be another manifestation of a recent problem discussed in this thread. The thread title refers to a different card, but read it:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...er-2013-a.html

armstwa

FYI, after reading that thread, I tweeted @AskAMEX and got the issue resolved after a chat session.

Thanks.

mia

What is the resolution?

mia

armstwa's question has been appended to the established thread discussion a problem with supermarket bonus points on various cards, and the thread title has been edited.

armstwa

The AMEX chat rep gave me credit for the points that had not posted correctly, and stated that the most recent Whole Foods charges were showing 2x points.

I wanted to call out that tweeting them and going through the chat rep resolved the issue quicker than calling the CSR number and being told that Whole Foods didn't count as groceries.

patrick.barnes

FWIW, I haven't received 2x on all my Whole Foods purchases until very recently.

Sigh...

Edit: I don't really understand it... since the charge says "GROCERY STORES" on the statement. But out of 17 Whole Foods transactions, they only gave 2x on 4 of them. And I pretty much use the PRG solely for Whole Foods.

OnTheRocks

Well after tons of nagging I have bee issued the points and too my surprise I was credited with double what I should have got. I did about 7k spending that month (dec) and was given ~21k points on the statement but issued none of the bonus points. Too my surprise instead of just receiving the additional ~21k pts I was just credited 42k+. Guess ill look at it as payments for waiting so long.

crabbing

thanks to mia, i was directed to this thread after posting here.

i noticed that my bonus wasn't posting for a particular whole foods store. after some research, i discovered that the bonus for this particular store posted for prior months.

interestingly, my spouse received a cheque from amex for some other cards, and amex said it was for something not being credited correctly. neither of us asked for it, and i didn't think about it until now. so maybe amex was proactive, at least for some of our accounts. but not for my BCP.

for those who have had your issues solved by amex, what did you find to be the best method for contacting them: calling, tweeting, or otherwise?

farwest101

I still had problems with Safeway bonus points not posting correctly in January (in addition to December) on Surpass and PRG (closed 2/12). One friend says his recent PRG statement showed correct bonus points for Safeway for Feb points, so I'll wait to see if they fix my bonus point issues on my next statement.

It appears Amex knows about this problem, but is not doing much about it unless you call. I have "lots" of gc purchases and am loathe to call lest unwanted eyeballs start perusing my activities...

I called and tweeted. Tweeting is best because anyone reading their feed will see the complaints and they might be shamed into doing something proactively.

Social media is great for public shaming, which is what all too many companies need before they change things.

ctbarron

I've PM'd a couple of people on this topic in general. To follow-up on results from my AMEX PRG:

1. I did not get grocery bonus points on my December 2013 purchases if the purchase included a GC. Even if it was grocery+GC, no bonus. A couple of just-grocery purchases did get the bonus. This was true across all grocery stores (Giant, Safeway, Food Lion).

2. My January 2014 points posted over the weekend and I did get the full 2x on all grocery purchases, including GC's. Again, Giant, Safeway, Food Lion.

3. My "pending" February 2014 points seem to include the full 2x on all grocery purchases, including GC's. Giant and Safeway.

So, for me it looks like December 2013 is the issue. I have not contacted AMEX about this.

farwest101

Can you check your point totals again for the PRG? I got 2x for gc purchases up to Dec 4 at Safeway. After that, only 1x for rest of December and all of January/early Feb.

You can check to see if individual transactions were awarded bonus points if you go to Membership Rewards site, click the "Points Summary" button, then "Activity Detail" and then click the "+" sign next to the date - if you were awarded bonus points, you'll be able to click on "See Card Bonus Detail" and each transaction where you were awarded bonus points will show up.

ctbarron

Some examples of dates/transitions for bonuses on my PRG, starting in mid-Nov:

11/14/2013, 11/16/2013, 11/23/2013: 2x at Safeway with GC
11/23/2013: 3x at US Airways

STATEMENT PERIOD ENDED 11/25/2013

12/2/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/4/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/5/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/11/2013: 1x at Food Lion with GC
12/12/2013: 2x at Whole Foods, including a Whole Foods GC
12/12/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/13/2013: 1x at Giant with GC
12/17/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/18/2013: 2x at Food Lion, NO GC
12/19/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/20/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC
12/21/2013: 2x at Giant NO GC
12/22/2013: 1x at Safeway with GC

STATEMENT PERIOD ENDED 12/25/2013

12/27/2013: 1x at Superfresh with GC. Missed this one earlier.
1/7/2014, 1/19/2014, 1/24/2014: 2x at Safeway with GC
1/13/2014: 2x at Food Lion with GC

STATEMENT PERIOD ENDED 1/24/2014

1/30/2014, 2/5/2014: 2x at Safeway with GC
2/8/2014, 2/15/2014, 2/16/2014, 2/20/2014: 2x at Giant with GC

STATEMENT PERIOD ENDED 2/21/2014

So it looks like I didn't get the 2x bonus if a gift card was included in the purchase from 12/2/2013-12/27/2013, other than the weird Whole Foods one. I did get the bonus up through 11/23/2013 and from 1/7/2014 after. The periods from 11/24/2013-12/01/2013 and 12/28/2013-1/6/2014 are unknowns with no transactions. I also reduced the usage of my PRG a lot in Jan and Feb since I was using the Wells Fargo and meeting the minimum spend on Flexperks. Hope this helps!

farwest101

Thanks. Odd, I got 2x until early Dec. But nothing since (at least since my latest statement on 2/12), whether gc or not.

I did get 5% on my BC at Safeway when I got over the $6500 in January, so that tracked properly.

My Surpass statement closes tonight, so will see how that goes.

None of this makes much sense.

farwest101

2 Surpass cards posted "almost" correct bonus points. Close enough not to care.
Now the key will be to see if PRG posts correctly in a few weeks.