AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[Dave Noble]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

They don't. A retailers not forced to do anything. Just like I'm not forced to pay a cent extra just for wanting to pay with a piece of plastic of my choice. I don't give a toss what the retailer does, they can surcharge 30% as far as I'm concerned, all I'm saying is they won't see a cent of my business cause so many other businesses are happy to see me walk through their door and charge me the same price as everyone else, irrespective of payment method.

The retailer is forced to make its money somehow. Either they penalise everyone for the additional costs incurred or they limit the cost to those that incur it or they just don't accept american express

one day american express may get over its attitude that it is somehow something special and reduce its costs to that akin of other cards and the issue would pretty much go away

 

[Dave Noble]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Dave, clearly you are on the attack, so not really listening, just wanting to antagonise. I'm not debating the retailers need to make money, they can choose to do this however they please. And if their choice is to surcharge AMEX or not accept it, then all power to them. However, they'll then never make any money from me, nor my friends and family who feel the same way as I do - they're just pushing us in the direction of their competitors. So, if their business decision is to save 1.5% on a transaction fee by not accepting AMEX, and at the same time turn away $1000's of dollars of my business, then good for them, it's their choice!

Not agreeing is not the same as not reading

I see nothing wrong with those that wish to use a more expensive form of payment being the ones to fund it rather than all being penalised through overall higher prices.

Your restricting your choice of retailer is indeed your choice, though rather than complain about retailers , wouldn't it be better to push amex to lower its fees

 

[pointsjunkie]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Question to everyone... what I don't get is why everytime I go into a shopping centre, or look in the newspaper, or listen to the radio, shops are on sale, slashing everything by 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% to try and sell things. Yet they turn away potential customers who have an AMEX cause they don't want to pay 1.5% more than Visa/Mastercard. So they're willing to slash an item by 50% to try and get customers to walk in the door. But then they turn away customers who are prepared to pay full price for the sake of 1.5%???????

Just doesn't make sense to me! :?:

 

[RB]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I believe there are many industries/outlets where margins are very tight & you will never see the big discounts. These outlets are under big pressure to make money working long hours in low margin/high turnover situations. The 1.5% you quote is often a big slice of profit eg bus tickets as stand alone sale

 

[farstar]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

As I have said before my main problem is with hotels that make no mention of any surcharges on their websites when you book and use your AMEX to guarantee your booking but they then have a charge of 4% on AMEX when you go to check in. Usually when you check in you can not cancel as you will be charged for the night anyway. I had this happen to me at the Choice Hotel at Hobart Airport. The strange thing was they had not surcharge at all for VISA or MASTERCARD.

So I wont go there again and I told the manager but I wonder if I should complain to consumer affairs.

 

[cove]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

The Sofitel Brisbane is in a great location with the railway line from the airport but when you add up the overpriced smorgasbord dinner and then a surcharge on every credit card to pay on check out.......you can do better.

 

[Chicken]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

The Sofitel Brisbane ...... a surcharge on every credit card to pay on check out

I know someone who works at reservation of a Accor chain hotel. I was told that, they surcharge if you book with the hotel direct, or pay at front desk, but no surcharge if you book and pay online.

Don't know if this is across the chain or just one particular hotel, because I don't usually stay at Accor chain.

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Surcharges should be made clear BEFORE you have purchased the goods.

The government now makes car dealer not show prices on websites and add now unless they are all inclusive, the same with airfares.

Yet every company can happily surcharge whatever they want for taking whatever credit card they choose.

Amex ranges from no surcharge to 5%.

VERY annoying to buy something and then be hit with, Oh Amex is an extra 3%, then they try to work out how to add on 3% to your bill.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I know someone who works at reservation of a Accor chain hotel. I was told that, they surcharge if you book with the hotel direct, or pay at front desk, but no surcharge if you book and pay online.

Don't know if this is across the chain or just one particular hotel, because I don't usually stay at Accor chain.

IME, the surcharge at Accor is done at check-out. So if you make a prepaid booking on the web, the surcharge is side-stepped.

Even when you don't prepay, they still want your CC for a pre-auth and change payment methods at check-out. They make CC's and integral part of their risk management, and then charge you for using one!

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

On a recent road trip in Victoria to two smaller country towns Amex is not very welcome at all.

The supermarket - No Amex
The top restaurant in town - No Amex
Fees to enter one of the major tourist attractions - No Amex
The petrol station - Extra 1% fee

Out of about 20 places I visited I could only use Amex in two of those

Well done Amex, these two country towns couldn't speak any lower of you, or your attitude towards them.

Several owners I spoke to claim you refuse to lower the merchant fees for them because of them being in a smaller country town!

I used my visa for over $3000 worth of products, given how many transactions were going through and the value of these there would be many many thousands of $ in merchant fees you are missing out on every month.

 

[StevePER]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I see nothing wrong with those that wish to use a more expensive form of payment being the ones to fund it rather than all being penalised through overall higher prices.

Taking this a step further, should non-Amex holders be reluctant to shop at retailers that don't surcharge Amex on the grounds that they are subsiding the more expensive payment methods of others?

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Taking this a step further, should non-Amex holders be reluctant to shop at retailers that don't surcharge Amex on the grounds that they are subsiding the more expensive payment methods of others?

Well that would just be stupid! You'd have to avoid every major supermarket, department store, most hotels and petrol stations, many utilities, restaurants, tourist spots, fashion stores - all for no reason in particular! Lol

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Taking this a step further, should non-Amex holders be reluctant to shop at retailers that don't surcharge Amex on the grounds that they are subsiding the more expensive payment methods of others?

Taking it a step further people who pay with cash for everything then should be reluctant to shop at retailers that don't surcharge any credit card on the grounds that they are subsiding the more expensive payment methods of others?

 

[NYCguy]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Taking it a step further people who pay with cash for everything then should be reluctant to shop at retailers that don't surcharge any credit card on the grounds that they are subsiding the more expensive payment methods of others?

But then you have the situation where the costs associated with handling cash make it less attractive than paying credit-card fees! Not for smaller retailers, certainly, but once you have to start paying for armed guards to transport paper money around for you cash is not "cheap" at all.

 

[bambbbam2]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

The one that really irritates me is the sign 'eftpos machine broken' - my local Subway has had a broken eftpos machine for 2 years now..

 

[Keith009]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

The one that really irritates me is the sign 'eftpos machine broken' - my local Subway has had a broken eftpos machine for 2 years now..

There's a place near me that I'd recently discovered in Brunswick that sells some hair product I use, and I thought great I wouldn't have to tram out all the way to my hairdresser's in Carlton which is where I usually get them. It has a large AMEX sign, but unfortunately for about 7 months now it has had a new eftpos terminal which has not had "the correct sofware loaded to take AMEX." :-|

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Yep the "broken EFTPOS" machine is always an interesting one.

I also like places where the "Sorry Cash Only" or "EFTPOS unavailable" signs come and go as required.

There is also a Subway near me that is "Cash Only"

I would have assumed part of their franchise agreement would be to accept EFTPOS.

I have made it clear to the owner that I will NEVER go there until they accept credit cards. He didn't care and said I was the only one to complain.

 

[auriga]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I would guess that people like us who are into cards/Amex/ points, are well and truly in the minority.

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I would guess that people like us who are into cards/Amex/ points, are well and truly in the minority.

Yep - We seem like we are the majority on here.... but that is to be expected.

I have had so many discussions with shop owners and they just cannot believe that I will base my shopping decisions largely on if they accept Amex.

They don't care in the slightest if I never shop there again as they think I am the only one, and to them one customer doesn't really matter when they would stand to lose 1-2% extra by accepting a different card.

They assume that everyone is happy to pay via cash or VI/MC, sadly that is correctly for 99.99% of people.

 

[zzyss]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

On a recent road trip in Victoria to two smaller country towns Amex is not very welcome at all.

LOL, I had the exact opposite experience this last weekend in Berry, NSW. Every shop I went into accepted Amex, from the cafes, to the homewares stores, the coffee shop, everything. I can only guess that as a tourist attraction they'd have to take it, as a significant number of visitors from America would be toting Amex cards.