Thursday, January 31, 2019

BoA Cash Rewards 5.25%

Bank of America recently changed the Cash Rewards credit card to allow the user to choose their own 3% category every month.  One of the categories is online shopping. Coupled with the platinum honors bonus, this becomes a 5.25% cash back card. What constitutes online shopping?

This is my experience:

YES
Apple.com
Staples.com (bought non-Staples gift cards)
Kidztopros.com
Costco.com
Reservecalifornia.com (for CA state park camping)
eBay (payment through PayPal)
Neiman Marcus
Amazon.com
Uber (ride + tip in app)
Amazon Go store
Turbotax (for state e-file)
Nike
Tea Collection
Baskin Robbins (ordered cake online for in store pickup)
Gilroy Gardens (for parking)
FastTrak (for replenishing credit)
Kiehl's
Groupon
Chipotle (online order)
Lyft
Lady M
CONFERENCE CONCEPTS, IN
Amazon Prime (membership)
AAA (membership renewal)
Graco
Kiwico
Petco.com
Vendini.com
Straw Hat Pizza
skirose.com (Mt. Rose Ski lesson and pass)
subway.com (in-app purchase)
chargepoint
yamimeal (purchase in app)
safeway.com (grocery delivery)
bluebottle coffee


SOMETIMES
PayPal (not sure how it determines eligibility. These were not eBay purchases.)

NO
PGE.com
TMobile.com (post-paid account)
Comcast (internet bill)
AAA insurance (pay online)
Birkenstock Express
recreation.gov
reservecalifornia.com (worked previously, but not Jan 2020)
subway.com (bought gift card in app)

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Buying a Mattress From overstock.com

I bought a mattress from overstock.com a couple months ago. Initially I had ordered through the  mattress firm website, but I cancelled my order after finding a better price through overstock.

The tracking number provided by overstock listed homedirectusa as the carrier. I was horrified to see the terrible reviews for this company on Yelp. There seemed to be no way to track the delivery. After some searching, I found the tracking number worked on www.mxdgroup.com/track-delivery . Soon the shipping company followed up with an automated call and I was able to setup a day and delivery window.

On the day of the delivery, they were right on time (I believe I was the second one of the day). The mattress was well packaged and I have no qualms about purchasing a mattress again from overstock.com.