When the American Express Platinum card added the $15/mo Uber credit, hobbyists immediately realized that UberEATS purchases are triggering the credit as well, making the credit useful for a wider audience. It was usually considered a ‘hack’, something Amex might potentially remove at some point.
Now that most people aren’t using the Uber benefit, American Express is sending out an email touting that you can “Use your $15 Uber Cash benefit with Uber Eats”. This is somewhat interesting, and it makes the UberEATS ‘hack’ an official part of the benefit.
You can use UberEATS for ‘pickup’ orders as well if you want to save yourself the delivery fee and tip.
Hat tip to I_reddit_like_this
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For those who have PapaMurphy's by them, pickup a thin crust original vegetarian pizza for $15.50, with no tax or other fees, as far as I can tell. It was $14.99 in store so its a good use for the Amex credit.
Although to be fair they have lots of other coupons, so I suppose most people aren't really paying $15 for that pie, they gave me a bunch of $3 or 25% off coupons with the order. Pickup was fast/easy and the pizza was actually darn good.
Thanks Amex and UberEats
Uber Eats purchase applied against my non-expiring Uber Credit while leaving my soon expiring Amex Benefit in tact. 8 message to customer service and still there. They claim lots of nonsense. Uber Platinum customer and never had problems with how the credits applied against rides. It appears Uber is more willing to lose a long-standing active customer than fix the issue.
Did you ever get this resolved? It happened to me recently with a small amount on ubereats and I'm wondering if there's a way to avoid it
$14.97 order.....$3 "Small purchase fee" --- reasoning "Less than $15". So I need to pay $3 since it's 3 cents under? How's about just charging me the 3 cents....and they wonder why people complain
I have never used UberEATS since I live in a rural area. I’m sure I’m missing something obvious, but how do you use it for pickup orders?
You order via the app, select pickup, go to the restaurant
That always worked. Maybe allow the credit to roll over for those of us who actually want to use Uber?
This remains useless for us who don’t have ubereats and are still stuck at home.
I'm sure this a preview of the coming Platinum "enhancements."
Even for pickup, it seems like almost all my local restaurants charge a mark-up for Uber Eats orders. Usually about 15 to 20% Is this common? If so, how and why does this business exist? Who would pay a premium for pickup or delivery if you could simply order from the merchant direct for less? In addition, the merchants also have "specials" that are unavailable on Uber Eats. It sure makes my $15 AMEX Platinum credit pretty worthless.
The cut for the carriers (UE) is very high, like 30% of your order total. This is like 6 times of restaurant's typical margin in case you don't know.
Restaurants just taking a loss hoping that you'll be a return customer and (better yet) notice that it will be cheaper for you to order directly. They are also under the unfortunate influence of FOMO.
You are trying to use your $15 credit.
UE is pocketing 30% on top of the 'fee's and tips.
Why doesn't this business exist?
Some restaurants are smart about putting menus/stickers/coupons in with the order so that customers can pay less and perhaps get better service the next time around. Not all do of course, but the ones with owner/operators are more likely than the big chain places.
Yeah, but how many people have free money like from a Platinum card? And I assume AMEX is "buying" this money at some sort of discount? This still seems like a terrible business to me. BTW, I've also noticed that many of my more successful local restaurants now have websites where you can order direct without the mark-up -- and get the in-store promotions, too.
The reason is because the restaurant has to pay a percentage to Uber. Many small mom & pop places probably can't swallow it, and larger places don't necessarily have thick profit margins either.
So not only does Uber collect a service fee from the customer, but also from the restaurant.
Menu pricing is set by the restaurant, and the markup presumably is there to help offset platform fees charged by the ubereats and other middlemen.
You can think of it like a convenience fee for using their app instead of calling.
I noticed this too with DD and GH. I assume it’s the mark up for being listed in Uber Eats. I call the restaurant directly and order take out save a few dollars.
Beats me, my uber eats experience was usually terrible. I would never use it if it weren't free. I'm glad my platinum days are over now
It’s always been an official benefit to use it on UberEats. Didn’t say it in most advertising, but the terms and conditions specifically list ubereats orders as eligible
RAT might turn it off once the virus sh*tstorm blows over.
But either ways, Plat in a much better shape than CSR right now.
Interesting, I had always assumed it was unintended.
don't fool yourself into thinking that AMEX won't still try to claw back ubereats credits issued prior to their official announcement, lol. they are so petty haha