serpens

This.

Is there some simple way to check before making a charge? The tedious Merchant Category Code lookup site was so often missing the merchant that I wanted to check that I gave up.

Happy

Right. Hence the suggestion of a test charge so you will KNOW for sure whether it works or not.

The problem is, not every merchant you may use would be listed on the site, plus the merchant CAN and often CHANGE its code. This happens a lot with independent retailers. They may opt to change to a different code so to save on transaction costs. Case in point, when AMEX Small Business Saturday was in full swing a few years ago, quite a bit of us found out our independent grocers or restaurants no longer bill us in their own name, but used ADP or First Data as the billing party instead. Needless to say, those charges did not earn any Small Business credits because the process codes were used and the processors are multi-billions companies. Reason for such switch - the real merchants may have a lower fee in processing their transactions using the Processor as the consolidator versus their own code.
That is why if something is at stake, it is much advisable to make a TEST transaction. Just like I have no idea whether WalMart Neighborhood store would count for Freedom 4th Qtr 5x when it only mentioned WalMart. So I did a $1 transaction to find out.

Happy

I booked a cabin thru SANPark at Storm River Rest Camp in July. It was coded 3x. Therefore it is eligible for reimbursement though we have already used up all ours before that. I assume it would be the same for Kruger.

serpens

That is not always feasible, particularly while traveling. Will a military hotel code as lodging or government service? Will a vacation home rental code as lodging or something else? Will a grocery store in a national park and run by the concessionaire code as travel, grocery, or something else? The front line staff will have no idea, and even the most senior person at the grocery store was flummoxed by the question.

Did WalMart Neighborhood count as WalMart?

Happy

Of course test is not fool proof. In situations listed above, you would just have to accept what it is. Chase is not going to budge if those not coded as you hope for.

that is also why 2RETIREDTRAVELERS asked if anyone has experiences in booking camps at SanParks.

So you ask around on the net, if someone happens to know and reply, that is good. If not, you just have to take what it is. You can make endless calls and you will still not be able to find out. Besides, just how much $$$$$ we are talking about? Seriously?

It showed as WalMart neighborhood store but still earned 5x.

serpens

The vacation homes place was by far the most, at just over $2,000.

Since Chase presents travel rewards as a benefit of the Sapphire Reserve, it would be nice if the $450 per year card provided some method of checking in advance how a purchase would code. You're right that the 4,000 extra UR points ($60 value if redeemed at the UR portal) for my vacation lodging isn't worth a lot of anguish. But I would like Chase to step up rather than leave the customer guessing. The information exists. Chase could provide a tool to access the information.

Happy

Just HOW Chase can step up? sort of doing a manual adjustment for you when it does not show up as a travel provider? Just how many accommodation Chase has to do if it does it for you, then for another customer, another customer, so on so forth? I dont know if you are having too high an expectation or being unrealistic or being naive - may be a combination of all such.

It all depends on HOW the provider of services define what their business is. Chase has clearly stated in the T&Cs it is up to the merchants to present themselves via the merchant codes they used. No, Chase can NOT provide a tool to check this because Chase has NO IDEA how the merchant would code itself UNTIL the transaction has occurred. I dont think you really understand the matter. This is not something like each merchant has the obligation to inform the bank what code they are using and then the bank has a dept to enter this information into some kind of table then comparing the charges.... No bank would EVER do such a thing.

This is how it works for ANY banks that provide Travel bonus. If you dont like the way how Chase handles it, then dont use Chase cards. Use other cards that also provide similar benefits. FYI, Capital One would manually adjust it if, so as Barclays which would "escalate" the case to another dept to investigate. I once was able to get Barclays approved redemption on a $450 Chinese Visa application cost using a sanctioned visa service company (had to because otherwise we needed to personally show up at the Chinese consulate in Houston which governs 7 South East states in US), despite it was a personal service by any definition. Took 3 phone calls though to get passed the front line reps and talked to the reward dept. So if you feel Chase let you down, use other cards for your vacation rental when other banks are more willing to do manual adjustment.

Diplomatico

There is a tool that exists to research VISA merchant codes. It's linked in this thread a couple of times. So, yes, you are correct - the information exists.

Nick92

Does Chase know the merchant code based on an authorization? Can the reps access the info and tell you?

serpens

How can Chase step up? By providing a functional replacement for the Merchant Category Code lookup tool. I said that in the message you quoted: "Chase could provide a tool to access the information." As I said earlier, the tool that is available is missing information—or at least does not present the information that it has.

What did i say that misled you into believing I wanted a manual adjustment after the fact?

If a merchant category changes between the time I check and the time I charge, well, that is a shame. You would almost certainly know more about it than I would, but I hadn't expected the code to change much. However, the code is known and my request is that Chase make the information available before my transaction rather than after.

Happy

As the example cited about how some independent grocers and restaurants changed their merchant codes to the one belongs to their processors such as ADP and First Data, hence none of the spend at those True Small Businesses earn the AMEX Small Business Saturday offers because, the AMEX offer T&Cs clearly stated AMEX has no responsibility on what codes the merchants use. If they do not use the "right" codes for whatever reasons, ther cardholders therefore do not earn the credit from Small Business Saturday, well, too bad.

Even Visa would not have the most updated, real-time, codes the merchants are using at the time you put on your charges. Hence your expectation is unrealistic that Chase should know about any up to the minute changes on how a merchant handles its billing process mechanism. No bank would be able to do that.
Therefore, the only remedy is a manual adjustment. Chase actually has done that, at least several years ago. It would say that was a one-time courtesy but reiterated that Chase has NO control on how the merchants classify themselves. In recent years, Chase simply quit doing manual courtesy adjustment altogether. It is a business decision and a decision that actually makes sense albeit you may not agree.
As I said, Capital One's Venture card and Barclays A+ card would still accommodate manual adjustment IF you can convince their reward dept. So vote with your pocket - dont give business to Chase. No more "Chase should do this, Chase should do that." as Chase would never do what you feel should be done. Quit using its card. No more anguish.

serpens

I'm sorry I'm having such difficulty making myself clear. I'm asking to have simple, real-time access to the code the merchant is using at the time I check. Of course the code could change. We seem to have different opinions about how often it changes, and I already said you almost certainly know more about that than i do.

I'm mystified by your assertion that Visa would not have the code, unless you mean that Visa applies the code in effect at the time the charge posts rather than at the time the purchase is made. But even if Visa doesn't have the code, someone does. Someone provides it to Chase. And Chase could provide it to its customers.

lamphs

Sometimes tone can not be detected in an e-mail. For one, I posted this as a point of information, not a compliant. Lesson learned - read the fine print, i.e. transaction date vs. post date. You seem to imply that I shouldn't have challenged it. Why not? It was worth a try.

For two, I was just pointing out that most credit card companies will do something to retain a customer with a good credit rating. Adding on to the WSJ July article regarding CSR retention, I would have expected more of an effort on the representative's part. I attempted to cancel a card with a different bank two weeks ago, and that bank made me an offer that enticed me to retain the card for at least another year (and the offer increased as I continued to resist).

I am currently evaluating whether or not to retain the CSR card, by looking at my business and personal travel plans for 2018.

If I finally decide to cancel, I'll let folks know what was offered, if anything.

Zorak

My interpretation of what's been said recently, is that Chase cannot 100% predict how the next transaction from a particular merchant will be coded. They do know how the most recent transaction was coded, however.

So, it seems they could certainly build a system that lets you look up this info. There's still a problem in that we, the consumers, don't necessarily how a transaction will post -- you might be buying from XYZ company but they actually process the transactions through some other business unit that, if you wanted to look it up, you would actually look up ABC.

So if you're Chase, you have to:

- pay programmers to write this lookup tool instead of some other feature
- hire/train staff to handle service calls when a customer wants to know why they looked up XYZ but it posted as ABC

balanced against, what incremental revenue will implementing this feature bring in vs. what customers will be lost if you don't.

From my point of view, I don't see a compelling business case for this. And people sweating to hit the $300 annual travel bonus are probably not high value customers they'll be sorry to see go.

84fiero

My Kruger National Park lodging (and some rest camp activities) booked through SANParks website was credited at 3x earlier this year.