AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[cove]

Mrscove does like Rosetta in Melbourne and it is a short walk from where we live when we are in Melbourne.
We may have both of our sons come back and stay at our place or a little while. They are no longer teenagers.
I don’t like Amex surcharges at all and most places would be paying about 1.5 % fee to process your card. I think that fee should be built into the dining price.

 

[Legoman]

2% surcharge on Amex which doesn't appear till you're about to enter your pin.

Yes, this is highly annoying isn't it? Seems to be happening more + more too at all kinds of establishments. They go out of their way to make disclosing the surcharge as hidden as legally possible to make it as embarrassing and inconvenient as possible for the customer to refuse or kick up a fuss about it.

At some unfamiliar locations, I go so far as to have ready in my hand an Amex, Visa + debit card just in case, so I can very quickly switch from one to another when the issue arises. But it really shouldn't be this hard. Cards were supposed to make things easier & more convenient. It's almost gotten so bad now that cash is starting to look like the easy option!

 

[Mr_Orange]

2% surcharge on Amex which doesn't appear till you're about to enter your pin.

This is dodgy because the surcharge has not been declared in advance of obtaining the goods, in this case a meal. Restaurants are the difficult ones because you cannot choose to not buy the goods, having already consumed them, like you can in a retail store.

I would still have refused to pay the surcharge or if it was impossible for them to remove it because it is programmed into the terminal, I would have demanded a refund of the surcharge in cash.

 

[lilkid28]

Family dinner at Rosetta this evening for son #3's 20th birthday (no more teenagers in the house!). 2% surcharge on Amex which doesn't appear till you're about to enter your pin. "But sir, you will get the 4 QFF points per dollar on the surcharge as well". Grrr....

Mrscove does like Rosetta in Melbourne and it is a short walk from where we live when we are in Melbourne.
We may have both of our sons come back and stay at our place or a little while. They are no longer teenagers.
I don’t like Amex surcharges at all and most places would be paying about 1.5 % fee to process your card. I think that fee should be built into the dining price.

Stock up some Crown Gift Cards, they often go on sale $500 for $400, once or twice a year, also there are Amex offers once or twice a year. If none on the day of dining, you can try purchasing from the Crown Gifts store or there is a Givv ATM near Crown Metropol, both options allow you to buy a gift card using Amex without surcharge.

 

[andye]

This is dodgy because the surcharge has not been declared in advance of obtaining the goods, in this case a meal. Restaurants are the difficult ones because you cannot choose to not buy the goods, having already consumed them, like you can in a retail store.

I would still have refused to pay the surcharge or if it was impossible for them to remove it because it is programmed into the terminal, I would have demanded a refund of the surcharge in cash.

I ended up having to walk to an ATM the other night as the machine was broken. Irritating as overpriced and I was at least hoping for a chunk of points

 

[Legoman]

This is dodgy

Dodgy it no doubt is, but the same thing happens when you're overseas with the DCC ripoff too. The declaration that you're accepting DCC by signing the receipt is in microscopic text right at the bottom where you're not looking and often in another language you don't understand. The simple fact is, the deceit is so minor an offence in the greater scheme of things, they know damn well they're never going to be actually prosecuted for it because the cost of doing so would far exceed the penalty loss, so they know they'll get away with it.

Even if by some crazy miracle somebody with an axe to grind does actually press for a prosecution, there's always the 'we're terribly sorry, we'd like to offer you xyz as a token of goodwill' defence or just plain good old ignorance. "We didn't know we were doing anythng wrong". In both examples, the case gets dropped and they get off, and they know it.

 

[easypoints]

For a bit of a change of pace - I made a purchase at 'Australian Made' at Adelaide Airport and was told there would be a 1% surcharge for VISA.
I said I would be paying by Amex, and was informed there was no surcharge!

 

[Stef]

Mrscove does like Rosetta in Melbourne and it is a short walk from where we live when we are in Melbourne.
We may have both of our sons come back and stay at our place or a little while. They are no longer teenagers.
I don’t like Amex surcharges at all and most places would be paying about 1.5 % fee to process your card. I think that fee should be built into the dining price.

Rosetta actually charge a surcharge for every bill - this is what I hate the most. They then offer to take the % off your bill (if you notice it) if you are paying cash, most of the time they dont even fix it.. So I just factor it into the tip. I don't think they differentiate between Amex to Visa/MC etc.

 

[Stef]

This is dodgy because the surcharge has not been declared in advance of obtaining the goods, in this case a meal. Restaurants are the difficult ones because you cannot choose to not buy the goods, having already consumed them, like you can in a retail store.

I would still have refused to pay the surcharge or if it was impossible for them to remove it because it is programmed into the terminal, I would have demanded a refund of the surcharge in cash.

This isn't entirely correct. The surcharge appears on your bill as you request it, not as you are entering it into the machine .

 

[Mr_Orange]

This isn't entirely correct. The surcharge appears on your bill as you request it, not as you are entering it into the machine .

Not true. Bills, IME, never have the surcharge on them. Some terminals are programmed to automatically add the surcharge when the card is inserted and after the initial amout has been entered into the terminal.

 

[Stef]

Not true. Bills, IME, never have the surcharge on them. Some terminals are programmed to automatically add the surcharge when the card is inserted and after the initial amout has been entered into the terminal.

That's interesting. Have eaten at the restaurant 20+ times and never failed to notice it (A pet peeve of mine there).

 

[Mr_Orange]

That's interesting. Have eaten at the restaurant 20+ times and never failed to notice it (A pet peeve of mine there).

It appears we may be talking slightly at cross purposes. I think you are referring to a specific restaurant, whereas I am talking more generally.

 

[Stef]

It appears we may be talking slightly at cross purposes. I think you are referring to a specific restaurant, whereas I am talking more generally.

Ahh! Sorry about that. I thought you were referring to the Crown Casino restaurants, Rosetta in particular.

 

[daft009]

if anyone is with iinet for their ISP (they charge 3% for amex).
I've written a quick macro (MrHyde from here showed me the light here) which allows you to keep your account in credit via the visa1 gift cards ($100 at a time).
Basically just enter the 16digit card number & the cvv, the macro does the rest and adds $100 credit to your account.

some clever cookie could also improve it further by hard coding in the first 8 digits and then doing an append but I don't have the time to learn

my average bill is $250-300/month so I add $300 credit once a month, saves a few minutes for an easy 900 points

happy to share if anyone interested?

 

[Mr_Orange]

if anyone is with iinet for their ISP (they charge 3% for amex).
I've written a quick macro (MrHyde from here showed me the light here) which allows you to keep your account in credit via the visa1 gift cards ($100 at a time).
Basically just enter the 16digit card number & the cvv, the macro does the rest and adds $100 credit to your account.

some clever cookie could also improve it further by hard coding in the first 8 digits and then doing an append but I don't have the time to learn

my average bill is $250-300/month so I add $300 credit once a month, saves a few minutes for an easy 900 points

happy to share if anyone interested?

$300 per month??? Holy 'expensive ISP' Batman!!!

 

[daft009]

It's for 3 properties and multiple phone lines at each

 

[Mr_Orange]

It's for 3 properties and multiple phone lines at each

OK. Not that it was any of my business, but that does make a lot more sense .

 

[docjames]

Same in Launceston airport back in october.

For a bit of a change of pace - I made a purchase at 'Australian Made' at Adelaide Airport and was told there would be a 1% surcharge for VISA.
I said I would be paying by Amex, and was informed there was no surcharge!

 

[daft009]

Just got the following in the mail... How very lovely.

Last quarter postbillpay started charging 1% for Amex so this is now great

 

[Dr Ralph]

Just got the following in the mail... How very lovely.

Last quarter postbillpay started charging 1% for Amex so this is now great

You haven't been using theperfectgiftcards purchased via discounted WISH cards to pay this bill all along? Even with AMEX at 1% theperfectgiftcard is still cheaper to use.