0.5 pts/$ incorrectly credited

[cmon0005]

Hi all,

Wonder if anyone else has had this same issue before?

I made a payment for my Solar Panels and install fee to the company who I bought it off using my AMEX charge card.

I was expecting 1pt per dollar, but was surprised when only 0.5pts per dollar came through.

Sent AMEX an email and they said that the Merchant is classified as a Utility hence 0.5 pts per dollar, now to me a Utility is a company that supplies to you either Water, Gas, Electricity or Phoneline...
The way I see it is I am buying a piece of electrical equipment and getting it installed, this company I am purchasing through doesn't sell electricity.

AMEX are now investigating as a dispute so hopefully I get the extra 0.5 pts per dollar that I should be getting.

 

[Joshua]

Sounds like an exception to the spirit of the rule but understandable if the merchant is categorised as a utility that it happened. Hopefully they'll be equally forthcoming and provide an exception for you and manually credit the points, let us know how it goes. Definitely worth chasing up for what I imagine is a few thousand MRs, always valuable!

Only similar experience is a supermarket being wrongly categorised but it was out of the way for me and a small amount so didn't bother pursuing it.

 

[nicky286]

as far as i know

Utility is 0.5 point/ dollar

 

[cmon0005]

as far as i know

Utility is 0.5 point/ dollar

Correct, but the issue here is I have made a purchase through someone that is definitely not a Utility however it is classified by AMEX as a Utility.

 

[lovestotravel]

Correct, but the issue here is I have made a purchase through someone that is definitely not a Utility however it is classified by AMEX as a Utility.

Well what is the merchant name? No doubt it's a Utility company, so therefore it's a utility and attracts 0.5 points per $1

 

[cmon0005]

Well what is the merchant name? No doubt it's a Utility company, so therefore it's a utility and attracts 0.5 points per $1

The merchant is: True Value Solar Australia's Largest - Solar Panels - True Value Solar

AMEX's definition from their own T+C's "You will earn 0.5 Membership Rewards point per $1 spend at participating merchants classified as; "utilities" including gas, water and electricity providers;"

Now True Value Solar do not supply any of those things, they are just a sales company, who sell solar panels and install them.

It's not the first time a merchant has been incorrectly categorised by AMEX, I purchased a Qantas flight from a Qantas office outside Australia and it came through as groceries, rather than travel services.
Also paid a hotel bill recently at an Accor hotel ibis on checkout, it was categorised as Online shopping or something similar.

 

[lovestotravel]

In that case it should be a purchase at 1 point per $1

Correct that True Value do not supply electricity so are therefore not a utility

 

[cmon0005]

AMEX finally got back to me, their response was basically 'We've checked our merchant database and they are listed with us as a utility, therefore the points credited stand. We value you as a customer. blah blah'

So obvious there wasn't any real investigation other than someone checking their merchant database and confirming what everybody already knew, that is that they as classified in their system as utility, well derrr AMEX.

Anyway I've gone back to them saying that I don't really care what their database says, they are breaching their own T+C's and that I will be raising a case with the FoS first, then if that fails threatened to cancel my card with them.

Pays (literally) to check your points statement for each and every points transaction to make sure they've given you the correct points.

 

[wxxnxs]

AMEX finally got back to me, their response was basically 'We've checked our merchant database and they are listed with us as a utility, therefore the points credited stand. We value you as a customer. blah blah'

So obvious there wasn't any real investigation other than someone checking their merchant database and confirming what everybody already knew, that is that they as classified in their system as utility, well derrr AMEX.

Anyway I've gone back to them saying that I don't really care what their database says, they are breaching their own T+C's and that I will be raising a case with the FoS first, then if that fails threatened to cancel my card with them.

Pays (literally) to check your points statement for each and every points transaction to make sure they've given you the correct points.

I think each merchant will provide a unique code to AMEX when they decide to take the payment method, and AMEX will allocate points based on the merchant code, if that code falls into one of the 0.5 category, then AMEX will only give you 0.5, no matter what name that merchant calls.

 

[cmon0005]

After threatening to goto FoS and prospect of cancelling my card, they escalated it to someone in AMEX Australia office.
On the same day they got back to me and have credited me the extra points. However they did say if I purchased from this merchant again it will still come through at 0.5pts, as they don't have authority to change the the merchants classification, without the merchant signing a new agreement apparently.

Anyway I'll be replying today to suggest they change their T+C's to say any merchant that is classified as a Utility on AMEX's merchant database will receive 0.5pts per $1, rather than specify electricity, gas, water suppliers.