10,000 bonus points per 20 transactions

[lovetravellingoz]

Tales of the Point Runner:

Dang...another business of my "tx" list as of lunchtime today.

Since the promo started the one and only restaurant near my office that makes GOOD coffee and accepted Amex for just a coffee has seen me buy a coffee per day at lunchtime on most workdays.

Nice friendly staff...and a nice place....and superb coffee.

However unfortunately today the owner was staffing the till.....who refused my proffered Amex Card.

Worse news was that there was now a $15 mininum.

Compared to the staff he was rude and obnoxius.

He demanded another form of payment.

I: Sorry says I Amex is all I have.

Owner: You can get cash from the ATM down the street.

I: Not possible I don't have an ATM card on me.

Owner: You can go and get it.

I: No I am not doing that for a coffee as I have driven here (my office is a few minutes by car and so I drive down here as I can buy lunch, a coffee & vist a copule of other stores on my lunch break)and there is no way way I am wasting that much time for just a coffee.

Owner: But you must pay.

I: I am willing to pay with my Amex.

Owner: We do not accept Amex for less that $15.

I: Well if you have changed your policy then you should have advised me of that on accepting my order.

Owner: we have always hada $15 minimum.

I: Well I have bought a coffee on Amex here most days for the last few months.

Owner: The staff were wrong to accept.

I: Well that may be, but the fact remains that I have been paying by Amex for months for a coffee each day and your business has accepted.
Indeed before my first coffee purchase I asked if I could pay fora coffee on Amex and was told yes.

Therefore my expectation is that you would accept it today.
Would you like payment?

Owner: No we would make a loss on Amex.

I: I can understand that you have now instituted a $15 minimum and that I will know this in future, but you needed to have advised me of this when I ordered. I only have Amex, would you like payment?

Owner: I will make your coffee free.

I: Thank you.

So one free coffee but no tx!!! and more importantly a loss of another 15 odd potential tx for Dec

 

[lovestotravel]

Had a similar problem in 7/11 a few weeks back, in an effort to not support Coles/Wollies as much I thought I would buy my daily coffee from 7/11 instead.

The girl working most mornings go to know me and was very friendly.

A male served me one day and as soon as he saw the card, made a big scene about it. We don't accept AMEX for small transactions, the minimum is $10 blah blah blah. I told him that I had been coming here for about a month with no problems. He went off his head, and asked if I was buying my coffee only each time, I said yes, knowing what his reaction would be.

He ranted and raved that every coffee I have purchased with my card he has lost money on, and the girl shouldn't have accepted it etc etc. I tried to reason with him, said you must be the owner etc etc, he didn't really care, he demanded another form of payment. As I didn't have any rolleyes I said I have already made the coffee so you can either accept the card or I will leave it on the counter and go to Coles down the road.

He mumbled "yeh pay with card" but last time unless you spend over $10..

Haven't gone back to that one since, and have found another 7/11 that I can use for the next month, until the owner meets me that is....

 

[beardoc]

Owner: No we would make a loss on Amex.

I: I can understand that you have now instituted a $15 minimum and that I will know this in future, but you needed to have advised me of this when I ordered. I only have Amex, would you like payment?

Owner: I will make your coffee free.

Maybe you could try again when the owner isn't around again.

Although unless the Amex merchant charge is more than the cost of the coffee, I fail to see how giving you the coffee free somehow meant he was better off than if he charged you for the coffee.

 

[simongr]

even BFSO may not help the cutoff for QFF transfers next year :-|

What cut off? The various programs that are restricting "independent" transfers to QF stop at the end of march possibly.

Please remember that this is an Amex promo so the restrictions of other companies are irrelevant.

This has been mentioned multiple times and people insist on ignoring it sadly. It is a sad reflection of the economy that they have time to debate erroneous facts and not add to facts.

 

[lovestotravel]

Maybe you could try again when the owner isn't around again.

Although unless the Amex merchant charge is more than the cost of the coffee, I fail to see how giving you the coffee free somehow meant he was better off than if he charged you for the coffee.

My thoughts exactly!

Lets assume a 25 cent call and a 3% merchant fee on $3
34 cents in merchant fees leaving $2.66

So either take $2.66 or $0.........

 

[oz_mark]

Although unless the Amex merchant charge is more than the cost of the coffee, I fail to see how giving you the coffee free somehow meant he was better off than if he charged you for the coffee.

Most small business owners I know have got a pretty good handle on their costs, but while he may lose out taking an Amex, I would also have thought he would lose more giving the coffee away.

Staff working for their wage care less about it. I notice this more as they are somewhat less likely to add surcharges than owners are!

 

[NSWhere]

In my case I need to add about a week.

Reason being was that I was awarded points for tx till Sep23 for all 3 promos. Therefore I was "overpaid" by 100% as my postacard and confirmed rate is 5K/5....and so I will be in "credit" for about a week after Dec 4.

After that I will be owed bonus points.

You owe Amex nothing and are not in credit. American Express makes many offers on an almost constant basis. You were fortunate enough to take advantage of three promotions which had very high synergies. After deciding that the promotions were not successful, Amex cancelled one of them and took you off another. Until the date that you were made aware that you were no longer registered in 2 of the 3 I believe you are entitled to all three. Amex has, of course, claimed that they were one promotion and that you had "multiple enrollments", the legitimacy of this is up to the BFSO to decide should you elect to walk that path.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Maybe you could try again when the owner isn't around again. .

No I would not do that to the staff who are very friendly and give good service.

Several of them heard the exchange...and I actually thought the guy a real pr**k to belittle them them the way he did when they could obviously hear.

He could have made his points in a lot more friendly and professional way.

I don't have a problem if a business wants to havea minimum...but if he was professional then he was just have left it at we will take it this time, but stick to the minumum of $15 in future.

Although unless the Amex merchant charge is more than the cost of the coffee, I fail to see how giving you the coffee free somehow meant he was better off than if he charged you for the coffee.

I think it was more his ego at play.

Having been quite rude about refusing and and having made such a song and dance in front of his staff and customers about definately not taking it I think he backed himself intoa corner.

I actually had no cash or any other way of paying besides Amex.....and the Latte was also safely inside my stomach.

 

[QF WP]

Interesting to hear some of the stories abour places not accepting Amex for small transactions. Can/Should they be reported to Amex? I can understand that they may now want to implement a minimum (so long as they give advance warning).

I hope that my local cafe (who is now getting 2-3 transactions a day from me) stays the course. Then again, I haven't seen anyone who loos like the owner, just the 3 Kiwi girls who serve me.

Had a bumper day today on the transaction front...it's lovely to go to lunch with my wife (and we each pay for our lunch on our separate Amex cards - both linked to my account).

 

[straitman]

My AMEX (and most other transactions) have ground to a halt :!:

We have just bought a house and until we sell our current house and some land not many transaction of any sort will occur. :evil:

 

[Mal]

Interesting to hear some of the stories abour places not accepting Amex for small transactions. Can/Should they be reported to Amex?

They can. Should they be reported? I'm of mixed minds. Really, I think Amex needs to implement schemes like they have in America where small purchases on Amex are considered normal. On the other hand, I think that showing the sign is implying acceptance of the card for any amount (unless signed clearly before purchase).

Reporting tool is here: https://www152.americanexpress.com/eforms/un/en_AU/eformsPage.do?face=en_AU&prod=Rapid&todo=view

Will Amex do anything from your report? Unknown. I'm sure JB Hi-Fi has been reported numerous times, yet still charges a surcharge.

 

[lovestotravel]

They can. Should they be reported? I'm of mixed minds. Really, I think Amex needs to implement schemes like they have in America where small purchases on Amex are considered normal. On the other hand, I think that showing the sign is implying acceptance of the card for any amount (unless signed clearly before purchase).

Reporting tool is here: https://www152.americanexpress.com/eforms/un/en_AU/eformsPage.do?face=en_AU&prod=Rapid&todo=view

Will Amex do anything from your report? Unknown. I'm sure JB Hi-Fi has been reported numerous times, yet still charges a surcharge.

Mixed minds here as well! As a business owner I prefer that customers pay with cards, it saves the hassle of banking the cash, the possibility of theft etc etc etc. Yeh I miss out on 1.9% with AMEX and around 1% with Visa/MC but all it takes is one staff member to take some $$...

I have reported well over 100 stores/companies now, and yet to find any that have actually changed to accept AMEX. I get the standard email saying thanks, and it seems roughly each month or so I get the same email again. HOWEVER, I have noticed that for two places that I have reported, in the third email I have received back the email subject says "IN PROGRESS". Perhaps that means that the establishements are about to accept AMEX

As for the surcharge at JB, I don't expect them to ever change that, I am happy enough to pay the 1.9% with the promotion that's for sure, but normally when shopping there I will skip using AMEX.

I live in a newly developing area with lots of "mums and dads", it seems that alot of business owners around here don't think they should accept AMEX because of this. On a rough count in my local shopping centre around 40% of the stores do not accept AMEX. Comparison to another shopping centre around 250/390 stores accept amex so closer to 65%.

My main frustration with franchisee stores is the inconsistent requirements of each store, I went into detail with this a few pages back, but Nandos, Subway, Coffee Club, Pizza Hut and even Dominos are culprits.

Nandos - Most accept AMEX but not all
Subway - Some cash only, some VISA/MC, and some even take AMEX
Coffee Club - Rare of them to accept AMEX
Pizza Hut - My local one doesn't accept it
KFC - My local three do not accept it
Dominos - My local one doesn't accept it, but when I order online they do.

Hard to support the local chicken shop, butcher, fruit shop when they don't take it. I end up going to Coles or similar

 

[anat0l]

A summary of Amex acceptance on at AFF Gather #2 ADL:

• The Tap Inn
  They accepted Amex; we later found out that there was a minimum of sorts. One of our own tried to purchase a single beer on Amex and was told that wasn't enough to be put on the card. The solution? Buy two beers!
  This was a transaction bonanza. Every time we polished off a round, it was back for another transaction! (And they never asked us to start a tab. Great host and bar staff - and no not just because they happily accepted our Amex cards...)
• McLaren Vale Estates (Various)
  Only a handful accepted Amex. I bought wines from Pirramimma, Coriole (2), Samuels Gorge and Settlement Wines (3). Only Pirramimma and Coriole accepted Amex. We had lunch at Settlement Wines, so it was a shame they didn't accept Amex.
• Mapo Korean
  They accepted Amex (had the Amex sign on front door), but they levy a 3% surcharge to do so. The bill was paid with Amex anyway; an additional $10 was added on top.
• The coffee shop I went to after Saturday dinner didn't accept Amex, but they have awesome chocolates.
• Chianti
  Accepted Amex.
• Woolworths
  Tried to find some bubble wrap here without much success: got only one small roll. But they took Amex for the one item.
• The Reject Shop
  Bought my bubble wrap here. EFTPOS is a $10 minimum. No Amex - only Visa and MC.
• Hilton Adelaide Hotel
  Can you imagine them not accepting Amex? (Of course they did...)
• All taxi rides were paid with Amex. As per usual for any non-cash means of payment, taxis levy 10% surcharge on top of the fare, plus 10% GST on the surcharge; total levy 11%.
• Of course, my air tickets with QF were paid using Amex.

 

[vet]

Regarding varying levels of acceptability of Amex and why some Amex-merchants impose minimum spend criteria, Amex offers different commission rates to similar businesses in similar locations.

Amex also offers to lower rates from a (standard?) 2.55% in exchange for a 5 year agreement where the merchant drops the surcharge.

At function thrown for new recruits, I asked the attendees what they were paying, and the rates were .089%, .99%, 1.25% and 1,99% That's a pretty big gap especially if, like Lovestotravel, Amex gets double the commission over visa and m/card.

Drive a harder bargain, Lovestotravel. See clause 6 of your contract in case it says you can terminate it on 30 days notice (unless they lower your 1.99% rate to .99%).

 

[vet]

My +1 received a new card application form with a vague letter regarding Ascent Points not being usable on Qantas after 31st March. Are there any transitional clauses saying these 5k/5t bonuses, if allocated after 31st March due to 'operational delays', will be transferred across to the new card? We're not interested in using bonuses for anything except flights.

The cynic in me thinks 'new card = new contract', 'cancelled old card = no card to allocate 5k bonuses too'.

And I'm not impressed by a clause that say 'I will comply with (new) MR t&cs that (amex) will (later, sight unseen) send me'

 

[LordGarlic]

still no bonus points being posted as of this stage despite the 10 weeks period being today....

 

[lovestotravel]

still no bonus points being posted as of this stage despite the 10 weeks period being today....

No surprise there, you probably have said this before, but have you received any points thus far ?

Vet - Yes I know I could drive a harder bargain but we don't put much through on AMEX anyways.

 

[vet]

No surprise there, you probably have said this before, but have you received any points thus far ?

Vet - Yes I know I could drive a harder bargain but we don't put much through on AMEX anyways.

Regarding your bully-boy shopkeeper, dob him in. I suspect his terms, like the ones lots of places are looking at, might put him back on 2.55% on every transaction if he refuses Amex. Maybe you should go back an order a tic tac (and put the video on myspace).:mrgreen:

If lots of small places don't get a lower rate to match (or better) visa and m/card, then shopkeepers will continue with min spend requirements and/or surcharging and/or refusing Amex and/or harassing staff for taking Amex . In turn, that defeats the objective of encouraging usage of Amex by both customers and merchants.

 

[Zippy7]

Tales of the Point Runner:
...
So one free coffee but no tx!!! and more importantly a loss of another 15 odd potential tx for Dec

You've only lost 15 tx if you fail to find an alternative source for your coffee.

Looks like you found someone who watched too many reruns of Seinfeld!

 

[Zippy7]

You owe Amex nothing and are not in credit. American Express makes many offers on an almost constant basis. You were fortunate enough to take advantage of three promotions which had very high synergies. After deciding that the promotions were not successful, Amex cancelled one of them and took you off another. Until the date that you were made aware that you were no longer registered in 2 of the 3 I believe you are entitled to all three. Amex has, of course, claimed that they were one promotion and that you had "multiple enrollments", the legitimacy of this is up to the BFSO to decide should you elect to walk that path.

Hehehe - Nice interpretation of the scenario.
I am sure if the boot was on the other foot, they would interpret it to their own advantage or similar.