Send to Device Template not working

I'm using Calibre to manage e-books. When I send a book to my Nexus 9, I want the entry to go in a folder by author and look like:

Author Name
Title
Series then the Series Index with the whole index number (nn.nn)
book size

It doesn't have to be EXACTLY like this, but this is pretty much what comes up right now..... EXCEPT that the series index doesn't work.

SO, I add a book:
Author: Brian Freeman
Title: The Burial Place
Series: Jonathan Stride
Series Index: 5

and ANOTHER book from the same author, in the same series, with a different title and a different series index (this one is a short story, so it gets added as something in between fer-real series entries):
Author: Brian Freeman
Title: Spitting Devil
Series: Jonathan Stride
Series Index: 5.50

My template for the Device is
{author_sort}/{series:|| #}{series_index:05.2f|| - }{title}

My template in the Calibre preferences for Send to Devices is EXACTLY the same... Copied one from the other:
{author_sort}/{series:|| #}{series_index:05.2f|| - }{title}

What I GET on the device is a FOLDER with Freeman, Brian (GOOD) and an entry for
Freeman, Brian (again, good)
The Burial Place (in bold. again, good)
#5 Jonathon Stride (OK in THIS case since the index is "5")
236K epub (also good)

So, this entry is OK...

BUT, my OTHER entry is
Freeman, Brian (still good)
Spitting Devil (in bold - still good)
#5 Jonathon Stride (NOT OK since the index is 5.50 and now I can't tell which of these two books is FIRST in the series I want to read)...
591K epub (also good)

I THOUGHT I had the template set up right, and SOMETIMES IT DOES PUT IN THE WHOLE INDEX. But NOT ALL the time.

I tried leaving the template for the device empty, but Calibre put in some tags that weren't what I wanted. How do I get the template to be empty? Or DO I WANT THAT ONE EMPTY? Do, I want the one in preferences to be empty? WHAT do I need to set the two templates to so I CONSISTENTLY get my entries with the proper, complete index?