mia

American Express is a mass market business. They are not going to review individual transactions, because it's frightfully expensive and inconsistent. This has the hallmarks of an IT problem, nothing sinister. They know they cannot reliably classify transactions from some processors, and they excluded them by rule. Now they are discovering other issues.

Making manual adjustments to the points awarded by the IT system is expensive not because of the extra points, but because of the time it takes to do the reviews, which will grow exponentially if cardholders learn that calling will generate results. They will take a hard line now simply to buy time for IT to implement fixes.

If you cannot cope with the inconsistency, why continue to use the card?

gengar

Of course it's always more likely to be incompetence than malice, but then why make the default rule so opaque and customer-unfriendly? Let me also make clear: the response I received left no room for later changes. There was no 'we're going to look into this / continue to look into this', no 'we will try to improve our recognition of merchant categories', etc. etc.; rather, it was a simple 'we're not going to give bonus points at the merchants you complained about, and that's final'. The brevity and finality is what led me to believe that they knew they were taking an aggressive, customer-unfriendly stance from the get-go and that they're not going to change that stance.

Don't be overdramatic. It's not a matter of "coping" but of holding a company that I transact with (in my case, quite a lot) to an appropriate business standard, as well as reporting the issues in order to benefit the FT community at large.

In any case, I haven't been using the card except for making some test charges (as I'm still truly curious how AMEX makes its determinations) and I've made it clear to AMEX I will cancel my PRG as a result of their decision. I don't think I'll even wait for the AF renewal to use up the $10/mo dining credit; I'll probably just cancel it after the calendar year passes and using up the $100 airline fee credit. Honestly, it's probably still a net-positive CC for me, but it loses a lot of utility when I can have absolutely no idea about whether I'm going to get a bonus or not, and I'm certainly not keen on supporting such a deceptive product

lax01

Agreed that this is most likely a bug/issue in their codebase...but if users aren't willing to speak up and provide their teams with feedback, they may also never know...I suggest everyone contact AMEX if you are having MR issues

mia

If it's incompetence, it's not a deceptive product. Deceptive requires intent, which I do not see. It may be an unsatisfactory product, and cancellation is the best way to communicate that, but don't close before the account is 12 months old, simply set it aside.

gengar

Quote snipping is always great, but my point was that I don't believe it is is simply incompetence. If it was incompetence, I would expect AMEX to make things right - or indicate that they are, at the very least, interested in the possibility of doing so.

uppereastsider

To add another DP for earning points with Square - went to El Porron on 1st ave, paid on Square system (groaned when I first saw it), but is displaying as 4x earned. When you click on it on the website, it also lets you see the receipt, including tip/tax.

There's been a few non points oddities - my local bar is a "restaurant - bar & cafe", but earns 1x, while the bar next door codes as 4x. Both code as 3x on my CSR. Local german and local asian grocery store count as 1x despite being labelled as groceries, but the corner independent / small grocery store does code as 4x. Just need to be vigilant and whenever in doubt, just use a CSR.

Happy

One local ethnic grocer is coded correctly by Chase Freedom (5x on quarterly bonus) and by TD cash reward (2x) but always 1x at AMEX despite it shows as grocery on every description. So now I try to remember to use TD instead. TD also earns worldwide without forex fee.

I just cannot understand why Visa coded it correctly while AMEX could not. (yes I understand the 2 payment networks are independent - but the grocer shows up as grocery store in every area of the transaction description on AMEX!)

Statman

I'd complain if I didn't get 4x points from a $1k dinner at the French Laundry, but for a take out sandwich from a merchant using Square, I don't even bat an eyelash. Life is too short for me to worry about 40 points vs. 10 points on a take out sandwich.

rasheed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy

One local ethnic grocer is coded correctly by Chase Freedom (5x on quarterly bonus) and by TD cash reward (2x) but always 1x at AMEX despite it shows as grocery on every description. So now I try to remember to use TD instead. TD also earns worldwide without forex fee.

There is a separate thread that tracks AmEx's US Supermarkets definition. I added a Wiki with AmEx's information about that category. Just like the restaurant problem, a small independent grocery store (non-bonus) does not look any different on AmEx's transaction data visible to cardholders compared to those that do get the bonus.

What is (or not) included in the U.S. Supermarket category?

In general, local, single-location grocery stores never seem to get the bonus, but some small ones do especially when they are part of a chain or franchise. Of course, there are always exceptions. However, I feel AmEx has done a bit better job of explaining what qualifies for supermarkets even if the visible data gives no clue. This means not to expect the bonus for most smaller grocery stores . The restaurant situation doesn't have the maturity for some reason. Whole Foods should have worked, but I have never tested outside of the normal checkout lanes. It is possible that they are coding the transactions at other "takeaway" terminals differently, but I am not sure what they are using. It is worth an inquiry to AmEx to report it.

Also, it still does appear that AmEx uses the same MCC dictionary as V/MC according to their merchant manuals, but they interpret it differently (aside from the fact that they don't really provide that visibility on the transaction detail).

Happy

A single, independent Asian grocer earns correct bonus on AMEX EVD and PRG, now Gold.

The Caribbean grocer has 2 or 3 stores, correctly earned Visa bonus but not AMEX.

Fred Meyer, is a big chain but I have seen reports that that does not earn AMEX category bonus. My friend lives in Oregon shops at Fred Meyer, it is actually owned by Kroger. He said it did not earn category bonus on his EVP, and also not on the PRG. Go figure!

Now just why Fred Meyer does not earn category bonus? It is a multi-states chain, owned by Kroger, a full-service de facto supermarket chain.

barrytuneup

for the unhappy..get a Discover Miles card for 3% on everything..paid at 12 month mark. Then you will get a guaranteed 3% at places that use Square. if you have a Disc card now, you are allowed 2. My entire family is on the 2nd and 3rd year of 3 % miles cards. When the 12 mo. period is ovwer.. another family member applies. Seems easy to get. And if you apply via an Amazon.com link you get 75.00 credit when you make a 1 time purchase at Amazon.. including any Amzn. gift cards.

Diplomatico

Probably codes as a "superstore", similar to Walmart or Costco. To be fair, even Fred Meyer bills itself as a "hypermarket", not as a grocery store.

lax01

For real??

Diplomatico

https://www.discover.com/credit-cards/travel/

mia

Standard Discover offer since 2015, double points on all purchases during first year instead of a new account bonus. I would rather earn two Membership Rewards points than three Discover "miles".

Discussion is here:

Discover it Miles Credit Card Launched, 3x Miles On All Purchases 1st Year