@wasCB14 wrote:
Safeway.
U.S. Gas Stations
To earn additional rewards on gas purchases, the gas station where you purchase gasoline must be located in the U.S.
A gas station is defined as a merchant that is in the primary business of selling gasoline to consumers. Gas stations may sell other convenience items, but its primary business must be selling gasoline to consumers.
(Superstores, supermarkets, and warehouse clubs that sell gasoline are NOT considered gas stations)
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info/retail.html
That's helpful, thank you. He did look into it and said I was correct and should have gotten 6X - maybe he doesn't know the above? I pointed out one specific charge, he looked and then asked me to tell him all the instances. (I was not rude, I promise) He said he would take care of it.
The safeway station I visit is not in the same location as the grocery store nearby. (It's a good couple blocks away) I get it, that's not important to how it's coded. It's also not something I'd known going in, just a random thought regarding gas and grocery stores. Weird though as my other cards credit it correctly. (It's the nearest station and I've used lots of cards there) X1 for example triggers their gas multiplier at the station in question.
A couple points:
- Statement lists it as "SEATTLE FUEL STATION" (SAFEWAY FUEL) not as the Safeway grocery store.
- Viewing by year and choosing "Category / Transportation", all of the gas charges are there, listed as 3X
Again, I would have been completely fine being told I'm wrong and told what you said above. That's not why I posted this. I have no problem going to another station if this one codes wrong, that's fine.
My best guess here is that "SAFEWAY" as a keyword is excluded from the 6X reward. I suppose we'll see what happens. Either way, I'll use a different station moving forward. This one is a bit more than the others anyway and I went there purely out of convience. Oh well.
@wasCB14 wrote:Have you considered a different business CC? Maybe I'm just a HHater after my tiny point balance expired due to inactivity, but I'd take 3% cash back over 6x.
There's a couple reasons I was using HH. Mainly because I'd just finished up my SUB and was lazy... (lol) But really, I prefer points to CB and hadn't had a chance to really consider my options. I may just switch gas stations, it's not hugely difficult, it's just the closest, most convient one for me. (Usually not too busy too, which is nice)
I've heard something about combining the Walmart+ gas discount with another card as a good option. I might look into that, or just buying a gas GC from a grocery store to trigger the 4X grocery points. Honestly, there's a lot of options out there, I just have to figure out what would work best.
@AlanGJP wrote:
@NoMoreDebt wrote:Sometimes its all perception or at least that's what I tell myself when i am thinking someone may be coming off short or irritated. That stuff is definitely hard to decipher over a chat message as well.
So I'm a software developer and maybe 10 or so years ago I did my own customer service for a product I'd developed. So yes, I suppose I have some perception as to how a CSR should act. That said, I COMPLETELY understand the pressure these guys are under. It wasn't any one thing, it was the overall feeling this guy was giving me. Just rubbed me the wrong way, and repeatedly.
Let me also say... I didn't once say anything rude, I was polite and almost every query was followed by the answer and a thanks back. At the end of the convo, I did not rate him poorly either, I merely closed the window.
I could be completely wrong, yes. It just felt off and rude. I think it's primarily because he was being short with me, asking me for all the dates that weren't credited, and then after saying "I'm on it, 5-10 minutes", less than a minute later he says he escalated it and says bye.
Given the response this thread is getting, clearly others aren't feeling this way, and that's fine. I probably got someone that was having a bad day. But please DO NOT assume I expect some preferential treatment. I was just surprised by how the conversation went, mainly right at the end when he says he's going to take care of it (his words) then nearly immediately lets me go. No explanation beyond "I've escalated it". I guess I expected something like...
"I'm sorry, I'm unable to resolve this for you. I've gone ahead and escalated it to someone that can. This should be taken care of without issue. Unfortunately it might take a little longer than expected." Or something to that effect. *shrug*
Not everyone thinks you are wrong. I'm on your side. I don't know that it means American Express's normally ok customer service is going downhill, but I do think a CSR should make you feel like you are valued.
@lonnyphillips wrote:I really do not see how someone can be rude over chat, short answers are expected on chat, they can't write out a book! I mean was he saying rude things to you because so far that is not what I'm seeing
Sigh... I get it. You don't know me. I must be jumping to conclusions, or overreacting. I totally get it, I really do. Thing is, I used to sell my own software (I'm a developer) and I did my own CS. So I try to be overly nice, plenty of times I couldn't spend evenings with my family because I was fielding support issues. I get it, and I understand how stress can get to you.
However... there's only been a handfull of times I've contacted Amex support about anything. And in those times, they've ALWAYS been overally nice (not expected! Honestly I find it fake and somewhat odd) to a fault. But when you haven't requested support in nearly a year and you're asking for something minor, I felt like I was pulling teeth. Someone above mentioned maybe I was upset and took it out on them. Seriously, I wasn't. I went in totally OK with being told "unfortunately that station does not qualify for the 6X". I would have been ABSOLUTELY OK with that, really. But that's not how it went.
At this point, I've decided it was someone -- one person -- just having a bad day, and I'm ok with that. I was merely surprised by how he acted and made the post here to see if others had similar experiences. To be completely honest, my concern is Amex is overworking their CSR's and I wanted to see if others were seeing the same thing.
Clearly that's not the case. That's wonderful and I'm good to move on. 
Yes, I had a similar experience today. My card has been in-transit for two and a half weeks and I asked for an expedited replacement. The agent I spoke with was not a native speaker, but spoke well enough that it didn't matter. What did matter was the tone; it was clear he didn't want to be dealing with my problem. And he didn't apologize; and it did feel like pulling teeth.
My litmus test is comparing with Schwab. Schwab's customer service people are friendly, competent, and efficient. And they will apologize for any error or inconvenience. Their customer service alone is why I've stayed with them for so long and recommend them to friends & family.
@lonnyphillips wrote:I really do not see how someone can be rude over chat, short answers are expected on chat, they can't write out a book! I mean was he saying rude things to you because so far that is not what I'm seeing
"So far that's not what I'm seeing"
So far? I didn't post the chat. I posted his last response after dozens. I was ready to just let this go, but wow. I'm not attacking Amex, I'm saying the CSR I spoke to is rude. Why is that an impossible suggestion? I was merely asking if this was more common now than in prior years as I'd heard their support might be going downhill. If you read my other responses in this thread, you'll see that's the case.