AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

3.5% is pretty steep - especially for a hotel where their competitors don't currently charge.

Personally I would boycott any business that imposed those type of surcharges.

I hope there are no plans for Hilton or IHG to introduce credit card surcharges....

 

[drron]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

That sounds like a scam to me. In my experience, POS terminals connect to the bank that provides the credit card processing facilities for that establishment. Then its the bank that routes the transaction to the specific card vendor. It would be very unusual for there to be an extended connection outage from a bank to a credit card merchant. Such an outage would be treated as a "severity 1" outage and reinstated very quickly or there would be severe service penalties to apply.

I would insist that they at least try my Diners Club card.

Yes it was an obvious scam.They tried so they said.30 seconds later the visa goes through.Another Vietnamese rip off-seems to be a cultural thing.

 

[auriga]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Strata fee payment, processed by DEFT payment systems.
Amex 3.3%
Diners 3.77%
Visa/Master 1.34%.

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Tonight I have found a first for my experience. A restaurant that both promotes and accepts Diners Club and does not accept Amex! Had to resort to using my Visa since I didn't have enough local currency in cash.

It was quite amusing. .. remember, note for the day: a diners logo does not imply AMEX acceptance

Dave

 

[beardoc]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

My sister told me State Transit Authority (NSW) and CityRail do not accept AmEx anymore. Anyone can confirm?

I wasn't aware that CityRail and STA actually ever accepted Amex - I've been asking them for years if they will accept it, and they told me "no" each time.

 

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I wasn't aware that CityRail and STA actually ever accepted Amex

Strange because Countrylink accepts Amex without a surcharge.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Angus and Robertson stroes are now surcharging Amex cards, but not Visa (think it was a 3% surcharge).

Harvey World Travel online bookings charge 2% for Visa/MC and 4% for Amx

 

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

When companies start to abuse surcharges then it is time to boycott that business. Easily done and once I have made up my mind there is no turning back.

Do not let them get away it. Do something today. There is nothing stronger than influence through sheer weight of numbers....

 

[ozstamps]

Virgin Blue are the classic gougers.

There is a fixed $ figure per ticket for card use. A few $ IIRC.

On a $60 cheapie that is a HUGE % and miles above their ACTUAL cost, which I thought was prohibited to charge?

Glen

 

[Chicken]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Angus and Robertson stroes are now surcharging Amex cards, but not Visa (think it was a 3% surcharge).

1: Angus & Robertson is broke, so they will have to try to keep their margin

2: 3% extra for AmEx is actually reasonable, because that is what most merchants pay.

 

[rhjames]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I won't use a card if there's a surcharge. What annoys me about Amex is that they send out fancy colour brochures of special deals that I have no interest in. I'd rather they kept is simple. The reality is that we don't get anything for free. Any perks they offer we pay for somewhere. I mainly use visa now as it's rare that there's a surcharge. I am swinging more and more to cash, and asking for a discount for cash payment in many places. It often works.

The other thing that bugs me is their offers of low interest rates on cards. I find it insulting. Who would ever pay interest on a credit card?:?:

 

[Kendall Roy]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I should report Melbourne Airport for their 2% surcharge on parking when using Amex !

Entered a parking station in Flinders Street the other night.

$28 for 1hr 10mins + 3% CC surcharge :shock:

 

[oz_mark]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Amex surcharges, and to a less extent Visa/MC, are spreading wildly these days.

 

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

The other thing that bugs me is their offers of low interest rates on cards. I find it insulting. Who would ever pay interest on a credit card?:?:

People like me. There are many reasons. How about gambling problems? How about being taken for a ride by someone? How about spending beyond ones means?

I pay interest and I pay a lot of interest. Some people would be happy to earn a salary eqyuivalent to the interest I am paying. Am I proud of it? No. Does it make me a bad person? I don't think so. I am actively doing something to try and sort it all out. I hope they continue with low interest rate offers as that helps me out. The current Amex balance transfer of 7.9% for the life of the balance is fantastic.

Oh and if it wasn't for people like me, who pay interest, believe me your fees and surcharges on credit card transactions would be a lot higher....

 

[roego]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Not unusual for some establishments to differentiate.However what I object to is the ones overseas who display a Visa sign, but will not accept foreign cards. It is in breach of their franchise.They display the sign they must accept.
Stathfield Car Radio have been charging for Diners and Amex for 2 years now.
Doesn't Qantas also charrge a $2 fee per leg of a booking.
And how about now ANZ increasing their overseas transaction fee to 3%?? Means the FF ponts become meaningless. Spend a 1000 pay 30 get a thousand points. On a Singapore fare worth about$20.
far better forget the points, take TT and forget the card.
Plus they also, Diners are terrible, rob you on the exchange rate.
Always the bottom end.Only Diners does at least give you popints on cash withdrawals and does not charge interest on tehm unless account overdue

 

[oz_mark]

Virgin Blue are the classic gougers.

There is a fixed $ figure per ticket for card use. A few $ IIRC.

On a $60 cheapie that is a HUGE % and miles above their ACTUAL cost, which I thought was prohibited to charge?

Glen

Tiger charge a 'convenience fee' of $5 per sector (for all electronic transactions), which is quite a percentage in some cases.

 

[rhjames]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

How about gambling problems? THow about spending beyond ones means? The current Amex balance transfer of 7.9% for the life of the balance is fantastic.

Oh and if it wasn't for people like me, who pay interest, believe me your fees and surcharges on credit card transactions would be a lot higher....

Gambling problems? Surely no-one gambles with more than they can afford to lose. Spending beyond one's means is not a good idea. Unfortunate things can happen, but generally thesr's much better sources of money that credit cards. If you can get 7.9% out of a card, it's as good as anywhere else.

As I've already suggested, I'm swinging more and more to cash because of these charges. What insults me is when they write to me offering a low interest rate of only about 16%. I can borrow at a bank at about half this rate - why would I even consider it? Visa is currently 19.74% - unthinkable. Citibank recently offered me a card with very low interest rates for a cash advance for 6 months. I rang them to tell them that I planned to apply, draw the full amount and invest it at a higher rate, then pay it back in full at the end of the term. It's interesting that, despite have zero debt, high income and millions in assets, they rejected my application. Sort of shows where their interests are. They made me a similar offer last week, and I told them where to put it.

 

[Alanslegal]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Purchased a few things at JB HiFi yesterday and they wanted an additional 1.1% if paying with Amex .... its free using Visa or Mastercard.

 

[rhjames]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Purchased a few things at JB HiFi yesterday and they wanted an additional 1.1% if paying with Amex .... its free using Visa or Mastercard.

I guess we're starting to go in circles. I haven't looked back to earlier posts at the start of this thread, but I recall we talked about all this. Some people thought Amex was worthwhile because of things like FF points etc. I like to keep it simple - keep the FF points, charge me less and I know where I stand. The same with Woolies and Coles petrol deals - the more complicated, the more overheads, and somewhere along the line I pay for it.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I guess we're starting to go in circles. I haven't looked back to earlier posts at the start of this thread, but I recall we talked about all this. Some people thought Amex was worthwhile because of things like FF points etc. I like to keep it simple - keep the FF points, charge me less and I know where I stand. The same with Woolies and Coles petrol deals - the more complicated, the more overheads, and somewhere along the line I pay for it.

I don't recall JB HiFi being mentioned before, but perhaps the thing that seems to have happened more this year is that the tendency to surcharge on Amex (mostly) and other credit cards (lesser) has grown. And as the point of this thread seems to have been about recording some of those places, it seems reasonable that when people find such a place they note it here.

Certainly, I tend not to use my Amex where I am charged a higher surcharge than other cards, as the extra points for doing so are countered by the surcharge. And cash is again appearing in more and more of my transactions.