Reward Point Calculations - Platinum Charge Card

[knagelli]

Hi AFFers , Looking for some suggestions and experiences on the reward point calculations. I have been reviewing the points awarded on my Platinum charge card transactions. Alarmingly there were many charges that were not posted with correct points ( calculated at the rate of 2.25 , yes they are non-government body transactions ) . Also the rounding algorithm used by Amex is flawed as per my observation. For example , there are two transactions ( 123.98 and 29.98 ) .
As my understanding , the points for the above transactions were to be 278.96 and 67.46 ( @2.25 per 1 AUD ) assuming there is no rounding off to nearest whole number. The points posted are 277 and 67 which is not correct. All amex customer care says is that the calculation is correct and not by rounding off but my silly brain is not able to understand how they came up with that numbers.

Is anyone able to shed some light and is it worth raising this as a complaint ?

Thanks for your time.

 

[pauly]

It's 2.25 points per dollar, I don't believe cents figure into the calculation. In your example, the only numbers that amex would consider relevant are 123 and 29

 

[andye]

I have been caught out by agencies such as Australia Post being considered as government.

Amex calculated points as a multiple of the whole dollar amount as said. This has been the same for at least last 8 years
I will sometimes use a giftcard or non-amex to pay the cent amount in supermarket self-service but only because it seems a waste rather than because its significant

 

[knagelli]

It's 2.25 points per dollar, I don't believe cents figure into the calculation. In your example, the only numbers that amex would consider relevant are 123 and 29

I might agree to that point however there is no document or logic that Amex was able to provide to confirm that they disregarding the cents instead of rounding off to nearest value. It might be a small amount of points being lost but I want Amex to give me in writing the calculation logic for points else I might as well raise a complaint with AFCA to get that investigated.

I told Amex that I was happy to rest my case if they could give me some logic in writing , as simple as you have pointed that they were just considering the whole number and not the decimals.

Will post here once I receive any response for my email sent to them.

 

[andye]

I must say that the investment in your time will be diproportionate to any benefit.
My feeling is its Amex's game-I'd prefer it if they didn't take their ball away over a quibble
I'd suggest spending the time reviewing some of the AFF fora (e.g gift cards at supermarkets); I'm sure you'd end up with 100x as many points as you are currently concerned about

 

[twiningb]

I've done the maths on this before, and it's consistent across Membership Rewards on Australian accounts.

Basically, it's:

[whole dollars] (truncated, not rounded to nearest) x [points per dollar], with the result rounded to the nearest dollar.

For Plat, standard spend:

$123.98: 123 * 2.25 (to nearest dollar)
= 276.75 to nearest dollar
= 277

During the current double-everything-on-Plat promo, it's the result as above, doubled. But it actually does it that way, rather than multiplying by 4.50.

Edge works the same way (round down to whole dollars, then multiply by rate) except the rate is 3 for supermarket/fuel or 1 for others.

 

[knagelli]

Update - Someone from the executive customer care called me today regarding the points issue and tried to explain me that the calculation is correct as the value is being rounded ( he used the word rounded and not truncated ). I asked him to show me some written statement in offer conditions where it says the dollar value is rounded off to the nearest value. I got him here and showed him a sample spread sheet , he had to give in and mentioned that he will again do research on this end and send me a mailer this evening. Also he wanted to know what is the resolution.

I think I will ask for a written mailer saying calculations are wrong and that I need my annual fee waived off. I know this time is not worth the 100X points they offer but I am not going to settle for some paltry amount of points.

Is it a fair thing to ask for correct calculation or compensate me by refunding my card fee as their system is not calculating correctly.

 

[samh004]

Is it a fair thing to ask for correct calculation or compensate me by refunding my card fee as their system is not calculating correctly.

Seems like an unnecessary rocking of the boat for not much to gain and possibly a lot to lose. Don't AMEX close accounts as they see fit... might end up losing the annual fee and a stack of unspent points, for something that has been clearly spelled out by other members based on a track record approaching (if not over) a decade.

While it would certainly be appropriate for them to have this in writing – like everything is these days – you have now been informed of how it is calculated and they have been consistent in this calculation since you took out the card.

 

[oz_mark]

Membership Rewards Terms and Conditions, 4.2 seems to cover it

 

[samh004]

Well that's finally open and shut.