AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[Dr Ralph]

I've recently returned from a RTW trip and in not one country (I visited 5: Singapore, Switzerland, UK, USA, New Zealand) was there an Amex surcharge, even for major hotels. Yet back in AUS, Amex surcharges are everywhere. Can someone pls explain why this is?

I can't explain it except to say that the merchant is being greedy.

I have experienced the same no surcharge in the US over the past 8 weeks. I will add that I have had around a 90% acceprance rate with AMEX.

 

[jbman]

https://www.guzmanygomez.com/

Went into their store, machines have the AMEX logo on the digital display. Tapped my AMEX card and an error came up saying please swipe. Did the swipe and another error came up.

The staff member said, oh it's AMEX we don't take AMEX. I then showed the image on the screen and said the machine says otherwise.

 

[cove]

Yes I have not been hit with any surcharges in the US ever so I have run up more than 200k of Kris Miles on my US credit card.
Back in Australia our merchant fee has dropped to 1.5%.

 

[OzEire]

Rydges still running 3.5% Amex surcharge whuch IS declared on the Rydges website IF you book direct... but not shown if you book through PGR or GHA site (say if browsing all group hotels). I objected to Rydges Melb as there is not even a sign at reception, but they had zero interest and wouldn't budge. Paid with Visa and told manager I would not return to his property until surcharge is dropped. He couldn't care less.

 

[bernardblack]

https://www.guzmanygomez.com/

Went into their store, machines have the AMEX logo on the digital display. Tapped my AMEX card and an error came up saying please swipe. Did the swipe and another error came up.

The staff member said, oh it's AMEX we don't take AMEX. I then showed the image on the screen and said the machine says otherwise.

My usual GYG location used to take Amex, and then stopped quite recently. However, their app lets you order ahead and use PayPal (and thus Amex), so that's what I do now. It does however mean I stopped being the Local Champion.

 

[albyd]

Rydges still running 3.5% Amex surcharge whuch IS declared on the Rydges website IF you book direct... but not shown if you book through PGR or GHA site (say if browsing all group hotels). I objected to Rydges Melb as there is not even a sign at reception, but they had zero interest and wouldn't budge. Paid with Visa and told manager I would not return to his property until surcharge is dropped. He couldn't care less.

I'm constantly dismayed at how high the surcharges are at major hotel chains. I understand they do it in Australia because they can but seriously, a large merchant should be able to negotiate a better rate for Amex acceptance than 3.5% unless there's a particular aspect of the merchant category's risk profile in missing.

 

[drross]

just back from Fiji - 3.5% surcharge on ALL cards , not just AMEX

 

[Pleb Status]

I've recently returned from a RTW trip and in not one country (I visited 5: Singapore, Switzerland, UK, USA, New Zealand) was there an Amex surcharge, even for major hotels. Yet back in AUS, Amex surcharges are everywhere. Can someone pls explain why this is?

I assume that payment surcharges are banned in those countries like it was in Australia until a few years ago.

With the reduction in interchange fees over the past year, I think it is only the RBA who think that the ban should not be reintroduced (on MC/Visa at least).

 

[whatmeworry]

My usual GYG location used to take Amex, and then stopped quite recently. However, their app lets you order ahead and use PayPal (and thus Amex), so that's what I do now. It does however mean I stopped being the Local Champion.

In some cases Paypal costs more then AMEX to process.

I usually report businesses to AMEX. Sometimes works.

https://www316.americanexpress.com/...0&evtsrc=link&face=en_AU&prod=Rapid&todo=view

 

[TheRealTMA]

I'm constantly dismayed at how high the surcharges are at major hotel chains. I understand they do it in Australia because they can but seriously, a large merchant should be able to negotiate a better rate for Amex acceptance than 3.5% unless there's a particular aspect of the merchant category's risk profile in missing.

They are not paying anything like 3.5%, most likely 1.5 with another 2% greed on top. We are a small company which does not surcharge and we used to pay 2.5% but amex have just reduced this to 1.5 providing we don't charge extra for use of amex.

Personally I believe all cc surcharges should be outlawed. It's part of doing business.

Interesting that the EU have just announced a complete ban on cc surcharges from sometime next year as I remember. Our glorious RBA created the stupid mess we are in some years ago in some ideological policy to make credit cards more affordable for those who don't pay them off regularly. Technically in Australia these days I believe there are some laws that say a merchant can not charge more than their cost, but this does not seemed to have stopped them. One of Brisbane's biggest computer hardware dealers charge 6% for amex. I should report them if I could be bothered.

Ah, yes - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/19/charges-paying-card-banned-flights-tax-bills

 

[perthjay85]

They are not paying anything like 3.5%, most likely 1.5 with another 2% greed on top. We are a small company which does not surcharge and we used to pay 2.5% but amex have just reduced this to 1.5 providing we don't charge extra for use of amex.

Personally I believe all cc surcharges should be outlawed. It's part of doing business.

Interesting that the EU have just announced a complete ban on cc surcharges from sometime next year as I remember. Our glorious RBA created the stupid mess we are in some years ago in some ideological policy to make credit cards more affordable for those who don't pay them off regularly. Technically in Australia these days I believe there are some laws that say a merchant can not charge more than their cost, but this does not seemed to have stopped them. One of Brisbane's biggest computer hardware dealers charge 6% for amex. I should report them if I could be bothered.

Ah, yes - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/19/charges-paying-card-banned-flights-tax-bills

Mind if I ask how you went about getting Amex to lower your rate?

I have tried several times and they won't budge below 1.95% or even consider dropping it.

Really quite annoying because we don't charge a surcharge for Amex anymore.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Mind if I ask how you went about getting Amex to lower your rate?

I have tried several times and they won't budge below 1.95% or even consider dropping it.

Really quite annoying because we don't charge a surcharge for Amex anymore.

Nothing actually! They wrote to us around early June and said if we convert to online statements and agree to continue to support amex without extra charge, they would drop our rate to 1.5 at end of July. I admit I was a little surprised. These days our sales are approximately 55% PayPal and 45% CC.

 

[cove]

I think Amex figured just how much our business does each year with Visa and MasterCard. The drop to 1.5% came in the mail and we had not specifically asked for it in recent times. We asked for a lower rate on our Visa and MasterCard and that worked.

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

I'm constantly dismayed at how high the surcharges are at major hotel chains. I understand they do it in Australia because they can but seriously, a large merchant should be able to negotiate a better rate for Amex acceptance than 3.5% unless there's a particular aspect of the merchant category's risk profile in missing.

Has anyone ever insisted on refusing to pay the CC surcharge and then had it waived?

 

[whatmeworry]

They are not paying anything like 3.5%, most likely 1.5 with another 2% greed on top. We are a small company which does not surcharge and we used to pay 2.5% but amex have just reduced this to 1.5 providing we don't charge extra for use of amex.

Personally I believe all cc surcharges should be outlawed. It's part of doing business.

Interesting that the EU have just announced a complete ban on cc surcharges from sometime next year as I remember. Our glorious RBA created the stupid mess we are in some years ago in some ideological policy to make credit cards more affordable for those who don't pay them off regularly. Technically in Australia these days I believe there are some laws that say a merchant can not charge more than their cost, but this does not seemed to have stopped them. One of Brisbane's biggest computer hardware dealers charge 6% for amex. I should report them if I could be bothered.

Ah, yes - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/19/charges-paying-card-banned-flights-tax-bills

Centrecom IIRC, had a 3-6% surcharge on VISA/MC and still don't accept AMEX. I did a dummy purchase on their website and they still charge 1% for VISA/MC and paypal.

 

[perthjay85]

Nothing actually! They wrote to us around early June and said if we convert to online statements and agree to continue to support amex without extra charge, they would drop our rate to 1.5 at end of July. I admit I was a little surprised. These days our sales are approximately 55% PayPal and 45% CC.

Fair enough.

I won't bother trying anymore. But I think I might warn them that we'll be adding a 1% surcharge if they don't play fair and see if that works.

 

[oz_mark]

Interesting that the EU have just announced a complete ban on cc surcharges from sometime next year as I remember. Our glorious RBA created the stupid mess we are in some years ago in some ideological policy to make credit cards more affordable for those who don't pay them off regularly. Technically in Australia these days I believe there are some laws that say a merchant can not charge more than their cost, but this does not seemed to have stopped them. One of Brisbane's biggest computer hardware dealers charge 6% for amex. I should report them if I could be bothered.

Couple of points

The RBA changes around surcharging were not related to whether people paid their bills off or not.

The surcharge regulations only affect large businesses at this point. Small business are restricted from 1 Sep this year. Whether the hardware dealer is in breach of the regulations depends on whether they are a large business or small business.

 

[wxxnxs]

I've recently returned from a RTW trip and in not one country (I visited 5: Singapore, Switzerland, UK, USA, New Zealand) was there an Amex surcharge, even for major hotels. Yet back in AUS, Amex surcharges are everywhere. Can someone pls explain why this is?

Because RBA allows it, the law makes it completely legal.

 

[kyle]

Rydges still running 3.5% Amex surcharge whuch IS declared on the Rydges website IF you book direct... but not shown if you book through PGR or GHA site (say if browsing all group hotels). I objected to Rydges Melb as there is not even a sign at reception, but they had zero interest and wouldn't budge. Paid with Visa and told manager I would not return to his property until surcharge is dropped. He couldn't care less.

Write that in a Tripadvisor review too.

 

[Cynicor]

And report to the relevant agency. Someone else here will know who that it!