acarney

Any reports of people getting warned or shut down for VISA/MC gift cards at grocery stores? So far my purchases have been low (a $100 or $200 gift card even couple week, I'm single and don't buy a lot :P) but I just got a notice my car insurance is coming due. Currently don't have any card that earns bonus on that, so was going to buy a $500 gift card (plus maybe $30 in misc food items I need) and use that to pay my insurance online :P

krazykanuck

None that I'm aware of. I bought $5k this weekend. I was in an MS friendly area so took advantage! I bought the same amount over a weekend last time I was here. No issues. Just ramp up your activity. Buying a $500, lol won't register a blip on Amexs radar.

beachfan

Thanks!

fangtl

4x was consistent up until a week ago, I noticed my recent grocery store purchases don't have the 4x icon next to it. I am not remotely close to $25k this year yet.

linglingfool

Bonus categories can take up to five days to register on the site.

hawata

wendySFO

Is there a common outcome if a restaurant not properly coded? I read the Wiki about there are restaurants not properly coded so don't get 4x points but not sure what's the usual outcome once you call/chat to Amex.

I had 2 transactions not getting 4x points and not getting the 20% dining credit for open within 3 months. Opened a case with Amex and they closed the case says there is a list of restaurants I need to do business with. Anyone knows if such list exist?

Tanic

Or drop the supermarket limit to $6k like AmEx did to Blue Cash Preferred.

hawata

Diplomatico

So is $25K reasonable or does it suck? Or did you just feel like dumping on someone in your first post?

hawata

acarney

~$500 a week on groceries is pretty high. I bet that covers almost everyone, unless people are buying hundreds of dollars in fancy meats and seafood and stuff every month.

I'm kinda in a gray area, I actually use almost all my grocery spend for actual groceries, just at a store that doesn't code as one (Fred Meyers, though I hardly ever purchase home/electronic goods there, just food, they have a good produce and vegetarian selection).

Then occasionally I'll pay my car insurance using a gift card and maybe my cell phone bill or something... but I'm way under $25k/year. Probably ~$8500 total; hopefully that isn't enough to piss off Amex.

Tanic

I wonder if ordering through the click list app and using the pick up lane would show as a Kroger purchase and get 4x.

krazykanuck

I'd argue that MSers are probably not the primary cause of that cap, since Amex has long had limits on the grocery store bonus category, ranging from the Everyday to the BCP, and both at far lower caps than the Gold card. I'd posit that the reason for the cap is because the rate Amex (and V/MC for that matter) charge grocery stores is lower than what they charge restaurants, which has no cap on 4x earn. We might be a secondary reason though. Also if $25k/yr isn't enough for your grocery budget you can simply get a second gold card account with its own $25k 4x allowance.

Bringing this back to the point of this thread, it seems Amex is getting better at 4x coding with the 3rd party systems. I had both Toast and Square using merchants code as 4x in the last few weeks, and a couple of them were breweries that don't serve food, so it's proving to be fairly reliable. 1 brewery posted as 1x as a "bar & cafe" though

travelling companion

This card is extremely frustrating and sometimes I feel like AMEX is doing everything they can to limit the 4X bonus on this card. As one example, I used grocery delivery service Shipt and in January all of my transactions coded as groceries and posted with 4X points. However, all of sudden in February none of the transactions posted as 4X points. I contacted AMEX and about a week later was able to finally get an answer. AMEX told me they stopped this merchant from posting as 4X in January because they sell items other than groceries. This is ridiculous since they literally only sell groceries. This is just one example of so many charges I have had posted incorrectly. I almost never have a problem with travel and dining coding with Chase but I have had so many problems with AMEX coding. This is my first membership rewards card and when taking into account issues correctly coding bonus points combined with the slow posting of points I am so far unimpressed.