10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[js]

I'll be interested to see if they consider this unusual - if not, I'm going to be donating a lot more to Movember!

Seeing that 13 in one day made me feel nervous - remember I am one of the (few) recipients of the abuse nasty-gram from AMEX.

FWIW my "most suspicious" (in my opinion) set of transactions were for 13 or so from one merchant on one day, recurring monthly (automatic) payments, average value around $100.

I do have quite a lot of spend activity generally apart from this (200+ tx per month) so this may not have been the only trigger, but I'm confident it would have been one of the indicators of "abuse" (in AMEX's eyes).

My suggestion would be to just be very sure you can justify said transactions (to AMEX, and, in turn to FSO or someone else further along the food chain) and why you paid for them.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Seeing that 13 in one day made me feel nervous - remember I am one of the (few) recipients of the abuse nasty-gram from AMEX.

FWIW my "most suspicious" (in my opinion) set of transactions were for 13 or so from one merchant on one day, recurring monthly (automatic) payments, average value around $100.

.

Yes...one of the few things in the T&C is...(and yes I appreciate that if they may be to different people....)

is For example, splitting a bill that would normally be paid as one transaction into dozens of smaller transactions.


So I personally would not be tempting fate in that way...ie 13 transactions to one account in one day.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I'll be interested to see if they consider this unusual - if not, I'm going to be donating a lot more to Movember!

Thing is you might have to wait 10 weeks from today to find out.....whether it is ok...or whether it is deemed against the spirit....

So as per the Dirty Harry Movies...are you feeling lucky?

 

[Mal]

The special thing about Movember is that you are sponsoring a person (or team), and that there is no way to pay once for many donations.

So regardless of what Amex threatens, you still have the perfect reasoning - I want to support all of my friends/acquaintances, but the Mo site didn't allow me to pay for all donations together so I had to pay them separately.

 

[simongr]

Yes...one of the few things in the T&C is...(and yes I appreciate that if they may be to different people....)

is For example, splitting a bill that would normally be paid as one transaction into dozens of smaller transactions.

So I personally would not be tempting fate in that way...ie 13 transactions to one account in one day.

How is paying 13 people separate donations?

It is not a bill and it has not been split. Under no definition is this a dodgy technique.

Just imagine the media coverage "Amex refuses to give bonus points to customers contributing to charity" - yeah that will look good...

My advice - if you want to donate to Movember or any other charity in any amount do not let scaremongering put you off from contributing to good causes.

 

[Mal]

It is not a bill and it has not been split. Under no definition is this a dodgy technique.

And further backed up by the FAQ's of the Mo site:

Movember FAQ's

How do I donate to more than one person?
If you would like to donate to a team then follow these steps:

Click on Donate.

Click on Donate to a Team.

Search by entering the Team Name or Captain's details.

Click on Donate next to the search results and follow the rest of the steps to complete your donation

If you would like to donate to multiple individuals who are not on the one team, or only want to donate to a few people from the team then you will need to complete the standard donation process for each person.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

How is paying 13 people separate donations?

It is not a bill and it has not been split. Under no definition is this a dodgy technique.

Just imagine the media coverage "Amex refuses to give bonus points to customers contributing to charity" - yeah that will look good...

My advice - if you want to donate to Movember or any other charity in any amount do not let scaremongering put you off from contributing to good causes.

I think you have taken my post the wrong way....and I did not say it was dodgey.....and I do not view it as scaremongering.

A poster has indicated that he had 13 seperate bills paid on the one day. They were genuine seperate bills...but he believes that they have had him suspended from the program.

Now he may well get re-instated....but is going to have to go through a lot of angst....

With the Movember listing on one's statement...or at least mine it just states:

26 Nov MOVEMBER FOUNDATION
There is no addition indicating it is to a particular momember.
I donated three times on that day to 3 seperate people...but they all look the same...even though I have receipts to different people.

But yes one will have the individual receipt indicating it is. So one can prove it is seperate. But if you have a lot in one day it may set a flag off causinga suspension with some effort to get re-instated.

So my advice is if you have 13 or 26 people that you want to donate to...spread them over a bit of time rather than all in one day.
That way you still make the donations...get your tx....but will have less worry.

If you view that as scaremongering ..so be it. I just view it as common sense.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

But yes one will have the individual receipt indicating it is. So one can prove it is separate. But if you have a lot in one day it may set a flag off.

.

Actually correction: I just looked at my receipts and they are generic They just are to Movember and do not mention the individual person I donated to.

So the receipt is useless in itself...and one will need to rely on the website. Hopefully they leave the details online for a bit.

 

[NM]

When making a donation under the Movember program, you are not donating to the member. You are making a donation to The Movember Foundation. Each donation to the Movember Foundation can be attributd to a member or a team for the purposes of tracking how much fund raising each person or team has achieved.

So while there are very good reasons to making multiple donations via multiple members or teams, each of the transactions is the same as any other in that it is a donation to The Movember Foundation.

Its quite possible that multiple donations showing consecutively on your Amex account may appear as bill splitting. However, I would expect it will not be difficult for anyone to justify the multiple transactions if questioned.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Its quite possible that multiple donations showing consecutively on your Amex account may appear as bill splitting. However, I would expect it will not be difficult for anyone to justify the multiple transactions if questioned.

Indeed.

Though if Amexes approach is to suspend and then have you justify it....you may be up fora bit of paperwork.

 

[NM]

Indeed.

Though if Amexes approach is to suspend and then have you justify it....you may be up fora bit of paperwork.

Yup. Guilty until proven innocent :evil:

 

[Andym]

Apologies for the uproar that I may have caused with my actions - As people here have mentioned, they were all legitimate transactions. We held a BBQ for the Movember month today at work and I had several people ask if I would like to use my CC in order for them to make a donation.

Personally, in my eyes, I would see how it would look like abusing the program. I guess in some ways it is - or if you look at the other side of the coin, it is maximising my transactions by contributing to a worthy cause. I know 13 is probably excessive, but if AMEX come knocking on my door, then I will be able to produce tax receipts with different names on each donation. All substantial ammounts to averaging around $15 per donation.

I usually have around 80 transactions per month, and since the scheme started, this has risen to about 95ish, so nothing for AMEX to suddenly think I am abusing the system - evidence of receiving points consistently for November proves this... So far I have made over 30 movember transactions this month and continued to receive points.. (25K in total)

Once again I'll say, I can see the other side of the coin, but my side of the coin looks to me to be legitimate according to the terms and conditions - I didn't split a bill, which in my eyes is what AMEX are really trying to crack down on...

Cheers guys

 

[vet]

Amex might say the bonuses are for your everyday spending like petrol, groceries or coffee, not for your friends using your card to pay their donations. It all comes back to the represenations of what transactions are

 

[oz_mark]

Amex might say the bonuses are for your everyday spending like petrol, groceries or coffee, not for your friends using your card to pay their donations. It all comes back to the represenations of what transactions are

Although I would not think there is anything untoward in making a bunch of donations to your own friends that are going through the mo growing. Making donations to charity is, for some people, part and parcel of everyday life.

 

[simongr]

On that logic they should not pay bonuses on my spending to buy a pram and cot as they are not every day expenses for me...

 

[NM]

On that logic they should not pay bonuses on my spending to buy a pram and cot as they are not every day expenses for me...

You never know ... it may become more common than you expect

 

[QF WP]

Well I'm sure eveybody is working out just how many transactions they can get over the weekend to round off their November bonus points .

Month      Transactions      Points Credited      Points Owed 
September^      23                5,000               5,000
October         70                    0              35,000
November#       92                    0              45,000

^ from date of registration (18/9)
# up to and including 27/11, with at least 3 transactions to post from yesterday/today (plus any from my wife). Goal is 100, so I'm on track for my revised target

Roll on 4 December when (for most of us) our first bonus points should start to post again *hooray*.

 

[serfty]

Exactly 80 Eligible transactions this month - Exactly 40K in Bonii

I guess it's much easier to keep going when I can see the appropriate Bonii post every few days.

I'm actually giving this a rest for a day or so; don't want to have any purchases 'orphaned' before December rolls along ...

 

[vet]

The csr says I'm registered for the bonus promo but there'll be no bonuses for '6 to 10 weeks' ie after Velocity's 30th November promo ends. :evil:

25% on October's bonuses would be a flight to Los Angeles on Vaustralia.

 

[nlagalle]

Exactly 80 Eligible transactions this month - Exactly 40K in Bonii

I guess it's much easier to keep going when I can see the appropriate Bonii post every few days.

I'm actually giving this a rest for a day or so; don't want to have any purchases 'orphaned' before December rolls along ...

I'm close to 140 for the month, had a few Movember donations today and more shopping on the weekend.. I'm hoping to crack 160, but I'm still in dispute with the promo i should be on. I've still had no call back from them.