Amex cashback scam!!

td_007

I have just noticed the way in which Amex calculate cashback. Cashback is calculated per individual transaction and is rounded off to the lower value of the decimal.

Thus, a spend of £29.9 @ 1% cashback is £0.29 [Not £0.299 which is £0.30 - a loss of 1 p]

By not adding up all transaction for the month first, before calculating cashback in the above manner, Amex are virtually skimming a proportion of money that is due to the customer.

For e.g. if there were 5 transactions in a month of £29.9, 50.65, 2.01, 245.80, 1.76 and
If the tranasction amounts were first added and proper rounding off rules were used then the cashback on £330.12 @1% should be £3.30

According to Amex calculation the cashback @1% is £3.27 (.29+.5+.02+2.45+0.01) - a LOSS of approx 0.92% (ofcourse this will vary depending on the total tranaction amounts)

Needless to say with Amex skimming off a bit from each transaction from each customer it is making a tidy profit - what a scam!:mad:

billion25

Tesco does the same thing for its clubcard -- you only gets points for each full £ in spend. Seems pretty standard in the industry.

negg

I don't know of a cashback scheme that doesn't work that way.

beer_tins

It's in their terms and conditions. Hardly a scam! Like others have said, this is fairly typical for cashback/bonus schemes. It's still something for nothing and follows their T&Cs so not really an issue in my opinion.

Tozer

I cannot believe this is an issue.

It is not a "scam". If you don't like it, close the account and find a better cashback card. Oh, there aren't any!

mrmajika

I made £320 last year thanks to this AMEX scam card.

IWantToBeFree_2

negg wrote: »

I don't know of a cashback scheme that doesn't work that way.

Egg Money. Mine is simply 1% of my spend at the statement date, nothing to do with individual transactions.

maninthestreet

If they were to round them up, the costs to AMEX of their cashback scheme would increase signficantly, and they would probably deem it not financially viable anymore.

williham

They shouldn't round them up, but do what the OP says - give cashback on the total spent (that CAN be rounded down) but you will only lose 1p and not 1p for every transaction.

withnell

IWantToBeFree wrote: »

Egg Money. Mine is simply 1% of my spend at the statement date, nothing to do with individual transactions.

Also Shell mastercard - again 1% of total spend or 3% of total spend at shell

97trophy

td_007 wrote: »

I a LOSS of approx 0.92% (ofcourse this will vary depending on the total tranaction amounts)
- what a scam!:mad:

Wow, I am really amazed at what some people call a scam.