This morning, Greg published a post about the disappointing reports about the new Amex Gold card not earning 4x at some restaurants, even in situations where Amex clearly shows “restaurant” as the merchant code online. That’s very disappointing. While Greg asserted that this isn’t a big deal, I disagree. I think it’s a huge dealbreaker for some people.
What doesn’t work?
Some restaurants just don’t work. Based on some reader reports, it seems like some of the following are things that indicate a restaurant will not code at 4x:
- Restaurants that use a Square reader. It’s actually relatively common for businesses with a Square reader to be mis-coded one way or another.
- Restaurants that show as TST* plus the restaurant name for the merchant name on your statement / in your transaction history (according to a reader report)
- Some other restaurants with no clear rhyme or reason.
In my case, I went to a place called Ablueo’s Mexican Restaurant in Myrtle Beach last week. It’s a regular (large) Texas-based chain restaurant. They do have those payment terminal things you can use at the table if you want, but ours was off — our waitress took our card and ran it. It doesn’t show up with TST* and they aren’t using a Square reader. I have no idea why it didn’t code at 4x.
I looked closely at Greg’s screenshots and my statement. For a moment, I thought the fact that one address said “United States” and another said “United States of America (THE)” might be the difference. It wasn’t. I thought that maybe it had to do with whether a restaurant had a local phone number or corporate number. That wasn’t it. I tried to find a pattern so I could know which restaurants would work, but it didn’t happen.
Looking through my own purchases, I wasn’t surprised that things like Amazon and Walmart (both online and in-store) coded at 1x, but but I was unhappy to see restaurants like Abuelo’s code as 1x purchases. At least one member of our Frequent Miler Insiders group reports having escalated this several times at Amex only to be told that they are aware and working on fixing the problem, offering to eventually credit him with the proper amount of points (though anyone who got caught up with lagging referral bonuses last year probably has little faith in that happening any time soon).
Why is this a big deal?
While Greg concluded that this isn’t a huge deal since the Citi Prestige will be awarding 5x at restaurants worldwide starting in January, it obviously doesn’t sit well with those expecting the 4x payout Amex is offering. At least one reader reported a 4-figure restaurant bill on which he did not receive 4x. That’s really frustrating. While I don’t often pay for 4-figure restaurant bills, I imagine that isn’t unheard of for some families at the holidays.
And in fact, I just went out to a family dinner with a party of 12 a week ago and paid using my card (that restaurant didn’t take Amex, but it goes to my point that large restaurant bills happen). When I go out to a group dinner with friends or family, I often offer to pay and have everyone pay me back. But if I’m dining at a restaurant and I don’t know for sure that it codes at 4x, I’d have a really hard time justifying the risk of only earning 1x Membership Rewards points when I could earn a nearly guaranteed 3x on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (or 4% cash back on an Uber Visa or Capital One Savor card). Talk about opportunity cost! That’s a steep gamble on an expensive meal. This totally neuters the benefit except on cheap purchases where you might not care since it’s not so many points anyway
If I owned a small company and paid a couple grand for the holiday party on my Amex Gold card expecting 4x only to get 1x, I’d be livid.
Furthermore, for many people, the Prestige isn’t worth its coming $495 fee. With Amex adding Avianca LifeMiles as a transfer partner, I’m less convinced that earning 5x restaurants is valuable enough to make ThankYou points a more compelling choice than 4x Membership Rewards with the Gold card. If you were planning to keep the Prestige card for 5x restaurants, I’m just not sure they have enough exclusive partners that make 5x worth the $495 fee compared to earning 4x Membership Rewards points (on US restaurants, anyway).
Of course, that’s assuming the Gold actually coded at 4x. Since it doesn’t reliably, maybe that’s an argument for the Prestige, but that’s a pretty big whammy for Gold cardholders / those locked out of Citi or without Citi ThankYou cards.
What does work?
On the bright side, many restaurants did pay out at 4x for me. In fact, most of the restaurants I’ve visited have coded at 4x as expected.
All of my US supermarket spend has coded at 4x as expected, even purchases paid for with Samsung Pay. I was initially curious as to how that would work out since the purchases say “SamPayKroger” (for instance). I wondered if Samsung Pay would add a barrier like Square sometimes does. On the other hand, I was surprised that a Samsung Pay charge at Starbucks did not code 4x.
Interestingly, I noticed that a purchase at the cafe inside Barnes & Noble (with the physical card, didn’t try Samsung Pay) awarded me 4x. That prompted me to see if I could pay for merchandise at the cafe. You can, but it turns out you don’t have to. I also made purchases at the main store register at Barnes & Noble stores in two different states last month and all of my B&N purchases earned 4x. Those into reading & education take note.
I was mostly happy to see that the US restaurants and US Supermarkets I frequent the most are coding correctly. Whatever glitch it is that causes some restaurants not to code properly won’t have a big effect on me day to day.
Bottom line
The failure of some restaurants to code at 4x on the Amex Gold card is a problem. I just think it’s a massive issue for Amex to sort out. How can you advertise a card that earns 4x at restaurants and then print on the statement that it’s a restaurant and not give 4x? I feel like that’s a CFPB complaint ripe for the making.
My biggest personal issue with it is that I no longer have enough faith in Amex coding a restaurant properly to choose the Amex Gold over another card when paying for a really expensive meal. I’m less likely to use the Amex Gold for large restaurant charges simply because I don’t want to forgo 3x Ultimate Rewards points or 4% cash back in favor of only 1x Membership Rewards points. It’s an unfortunate surprise. While any new launch will have both good surprises and bad, I hope Amex is able to get restaurants straightened out…while leaving good surprises alone.
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So frustrating. I have numerous charges that appear as “Groceries” on my bill but they refuse to give me the 4x for them. Same with restaurants. Makes the card almost worthless.
I opened up a complaint through the CFPB, and got a response today from Amex as to why I’m not receiving 4x for several restaurant charges:
“You referenced several restaurants which were not receiving 4X points for your purchases. During our review of your account, we confirmed your purchases made at La Farine Bakery, Bartavelle Coffee & Wine Bar and Waystone do not qualify for additional points as these merchants submitted the charges using a wireless card reader.”
“We explain at americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info that in most cases, a purchase made through a third-party payment account or an online marketplace will not qualify for additional points. Also, purchases may not qualify for additional points if the merchant submits the purchase using a mobile or wireless card reader.”
First, that URL doesn’t work (404). Second, nowhere in their terms and conditions does it say anything about mobile or wireless card readers.
It often seems like reps make up excuses for why things don’t work rather than just admitting that they’re imperfect. I bet this is an example of that. Have you tried simply calling or online chatting with customer support to see if they’ll credit you the extra points for those purchases?
[…] to whether 5 ThankYou points per dollar is better than 4 Membership Rewards points per dollar, the lack of certainty in how restaurants will code on the Amex Gold will keep my Prestige on top for […]
Thank you for drawing plenty of attention to this issue, because that’s what it’s going to take to get this fixed. I’m hopeful that the issue with Amex Gold will be easier to fix than the issue with Chase Sapphire, because at least the Amex transactions are coding as restaurants.
Until the issue is fixed, whether Amex Gold or Chase Sapphire codes properly for bonus points at restaurants will depend on where you use the card.
For example, an Italian restaurant near me does not code as a restaurant for Chase Visa. Even though this place unquestionably is a restaurant, and the name of the place leaves no doubt that it’s a restaurant, a phone call to Chase to request the bonus points proved fruitless. Next time we ate there, I used my Amex Gold card. The place did not code as a restaurant for Amex either, but it did code as a supermarket(!), and thus I still earned the same bonus points as a restaurant. The place is definitely not a supermarket.
A Popeyes chicken restaurant near us refuses to accept Amex, and it too does not code as a restaurant on Chase Sapphire. I recently switched from an HTC to a Samsung phone however, and now I can use Samsung Pay at this Popeyes which, when combined with Chase Pay, allows me to get 5x Chase points through the quarterly Chase Freedom bonus category.
We shouldn’t have to devote this degree of vigilance to ensure that we are getting what these card issuers have promised, but if you are paying attention, you might remember to try the other card or try something else that might work. But saying that one of these two cards is always better than the other for restaurants, in my experience, simply is not the case.
[…] Yes, Greg, Amex 4X failure is a big deal […]
It is a big deal
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve battled them via chat for the point they owe us. Amex better fix it quick.
The whole business of getting points with retail categories and retailers is all too often a gamble. A couple of months ago I found myself lunching in a Starbucks adjacent to a Hyatt. There was an Amex offer on my SPG Business card for Starbucks spend; there’s a bonus for spending on my Hyatt card at a Hyatt; and it might count as a restaurant for the category bonus on Amex Gold. As it happens, I should have gone for the Hyatt card. But there was no way of knowing at the time.
Folks,
Dont use Chat. Call and the phone rep can lodge a complaint, meanwhile make some amend, like a choice of statement credit or courtesy MR points.
The phone rep I got was based in Salt Lake City. If you get an overseas one such as India or Philippines, ask to be transferred to US based and a supervisor.
The Chat reps mostly are India-based and they have very little power to fix issues.
I agree why Chase system or Visa system can correctly recognize merchants and AMEX cannot – that is a very lame excuse that the bonus is up to how the merchant identifies itself when Visa and MC work fine.
AMEX KNOWS the issue with Square but chooses NOT to fix it.
The Gold card at first looks like a CSR killer but at the end our household would keep the CSR and cancel the Gold – the CSR offers far more benefits over the Gold (travel protection and primary domestic car rental for example) and we easily recoup the net $150 fee via the PP and makes it a 0 fee card with the travel protection needed. It is much harder for us to recoup the $150 net fee due to 1) Grubhub does not work here, 2) Cheesecake factory remains the only option and it is not close by nor we like to eat there.
It takes a lot of bonus spend to just breakeven (offsetting the net $150) before the additional 1% / 2% start making any sense.
My card is from the targeted first year fee waived PRG, I will not keep the card once the anniversary / AF hits.
I am sure there would be targeted offers in the future as this current one is my 3rd PRG thru targeted offer in 5 years. No reason it would stop based on I got yet another targeted offer in Nov while I am holding this current card. LOL.
I chatted amex about it on couple legit restaurants with square transactions, there’s not much they could do and refuse offer me compensation, and told me they will escalate to their investigate team and takes about 6-8 weeks….WTF i know is not much but this is getting beyond ridiculous!
This have been long time that Amex didn’t code restaurants correctly. I experienced this when I was using Blue for Business with 10x restaurant promo, or Hilton Aspire. I warned Greg about this, just before the Gold card was upgraded. Here is another interesting example. At my work, at cafeteria Amex codes as follows:
Additional Information: XXXXX
RESTAURANT
Reference: XXXXX
Category: Business Services – Other Services
and of course, I don’t get additional points, but CSR codes as EATING PLACES, RESTAURANTS, and gives me 3x.
Same thing at my friend’s workplace cafeteria.
And what’s amusing is that there are reports where the 4x bonus is earned on vending machine purchases!
At my other workplace vending machine didin’t code with Amex properly, but it did with Chase again.
I just had an extended chat with Amex, and the representative said that when you view each transaction “category” in your activity – that is simply the “Label” that amex applies to the transaction, but it is not necessarily the actual Category that the merchant is coded as. Apparently each merchant chooses how it is categorized, which is how amex determines whether or not bonus points are awarded. So even though Amex knows that this is indeed a restaurant, the merchant may not choose to have its transactions categorized in this way (perhaps this will impact the fees they are charged? I do not know), and you will not earn the bonus. I also think it is ridiculous.
I guess I am in a minority. I do not think its a big deal. I charge 4-5k a month in 4x categories now. I do see 1 or 2 items not coded correctly maybe missing out on 100 points max. They make it so easy to check, that I love it. Easier to check than chase cards. I do go through all activity, even chase miscodes once in a while. If I had a large meal expense and it did not code I would call amex. Chase is more annoying, I have had phone charges code at 5x and 1x constantly switching over the years. No ryme or reason. Amex will remin my go to dining and supermarket card. I already know merchants that do not code as 5x, they are onlt 2 reguakrs that I use and I remember to use a different card. I only keep the sapphire right now because my local watering hole also triggers the 7% uber credit plus the 3x chase miles (plus the 5x Advantage dining credit). I do need to cut back how much I spend there.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I’ve been saying this very thing from the beginning. Every other points site and reddit largely disregarded the complaints of those who weren’t receiving the bonus points. It’s bad enough that bars, cafes, restaurants inside of stadiums and hotels don’t qualify, but for Amex to promote small businesses but disqualify rewards bonuses for the same small businesses that often use Square is insulting.
And its equally ridiculous that I have to go to a particular restaurant here to do a “test run” to see how it codes before I host a 4-figure holiday dinner next month. Smh. After I’ve completed the MSR on the gold card, I’m going back to using my no-hassle, works everywhere, Chase Sapphire Reserve. I will reward Chase’s flexibility with my spend. Will use the gold card for groceries only.
Thanks again for an excellent article!
I just logged on to my Amex Gold Recent Activity (from 11/17 – 11/25) and none of the 20+ charges are showing 4x bonus, nothing for Groceries or Restaurants, If I go to my previous Billing period, those show up. Are they changing the system now to show the category bonus much later? Anyone else seeing that?
You have to change the time period to see the 4X indicators. Try Year to Date and scroll to the bottom. Only the most recent past 3 days should be missing the indicators
Nick, I’m wondering why you wouldn’t just contact Amex upper ups and ask them what’s going on. You simply say “I’m Nick who writes for a blog that often discusses about ways to use Amex cards, and having a restaurant not code as a restaurant is totally not right, especially when the word restaurant is written in the charge “… While a CFPB might get you the points you deserve, it won’t change things otherwise.