AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[lovestotravel]

Was playing around with the Amex Business directory and seeing if any of my old coffee shops/restaurants (that I no longer visit due to non-acceptance of Amex) had been added to the list.

I found that my local coffee shop was, so I headed down there for lunch.

Order my lunch and pull out the Amex, and they tell me they don't accept Amex. I asked them to check with the owner as he was in the kitchen and I know him as I have been introduced to him before.

He indicated that Amex had been in contact with him about taking the card and they had sent him some details but didn't act on it so far.

I reminded him that I would come back twice a week every week if he started accepting Amex, along with the fact that many Commonwealth bank VI/MC users now also have an Amex and would like to use it to earn more points. He said "I'll look at what they are offering me again"

Not sure why the coffee shop appeared on the business directory though... I was all excited for around 10 minutes (the drive down there, til they declined my card)

I have noticed a HUGE advertising push in shopping centres with huge banners, and adverts everywhere reminding people that lots of places accept Amex!

I also spoke to a struggling fruit shop owner today, who is being pushed out of the centre by Woolworths undercutting him on price constantly and beating any specials that he puts out. He has handwritten signs at the front of his store saying "Family owned and run, support the locals". Again he doesn't accept Amex and still refuses to. Again I informed him that for this fact alone he is losing about $40 per week from me alone as I will shop at Woolworths so that I can use Amex. He grumbled about the higher fees and delayed payments etc etc and that he won't accept Amex.

I wished him the best and said good luck competing with Woolies, and left it at that.

I really would have thought that someone who is desperate for new customers would do anything to attract them. Oh well his problem really.

 

[Mal]

I have noticed a HUGE advertising push in shopping centres with huge banners, and adverts everywhere reminding people that lots of places accept Amex!

They're doing the same in London ... busses etc have ads similar to:
"It's not just for posh nosh ... it's accepted for pizza too"
"It's not just for champagne... it's for groceries too"
etc etc - trying to get people to see that Amex is accepted everywhere (not that it is...).

 

[sparoy]

I haven't heard anything about an Amex surcharge with NRMA and I can't verify my recent transactions (documentation is at home), but I do know that if you use their phone bill payment system, it will give you dire warnings about only accepting Visa and Mastercard, but it won't complain if you put in an Amex number, even going so far as to say "You are paying by American Express" in the confirmation message.

I have tried to pay my NRMA car insurance yesterday with Amex thru the phone and was knocked back.
They said they no longer accept Amex not even with a surcharge, only Visa/MC.
I asked to be transferred to the supervisor who told me the same thing. She told me that NRMA stopped accepting Amex as of 1 Dec.

This is a really bad development and I expessed my dissatisfaction with their decision and I told them I will take my business elsewhere.
They suggested I wrote to them and I think the more people complain, the more chances they will reverse the decision.

Now, anybody knows which other insurance companies still take Amex now?

 

[oz_mark]

Now, anybody knows which other insurance companies still take Amex now?

My insurance is organised through Westpac, and they have been ok to charge my Amex (no surcharge either), so maybe you can consider an offering from a bank.

 

[sparoy]

My insurance is organised through Westpac, and they have been ok to charge my Amex (no surcharge either), so maybe you can consider an offering from a bank.

Thanks oz_mark, I remember now that a few years ago when I took a Wealth Package from CBA, they offered me insurance but at that time they didn't Amex.

CBA has just offered Amex, so hopefully they will accept Amex now.

 

[StevePER]

RAC WA accept Amex, even though their website says they only take Mastercard and Visa for insurance.

 

[wxxnxs]

Was playing around with the Amex Business directory and seeing if any of my old coffee shops/restaurants (that I no longer visit due to non-acceptance of Amex) had been added to the list.

I found that my local coffee shop was, so I headed down there for lunch.

Order my lunch and pull out the Amex, and they tell me they don't accept Amex. I asked them to check with the owner as he was in the kitchen and I know him as I have been introduced to him before.

He indicated that Amex had been in contact with him about taking the card and they had sent him some details but didn't act on it so far.

I reminded him that I would come back twice a week every week if he started accepting Amex, along with the fact that many Commonwealth bank VI/MC users now also have an Amex and would like to use it to earn more points. He said "I'll look at what they are offering me again"

Not sure why the coffee shop appeared on the business directory though... I was all excited for around 10 minutes (the drive down there, til they declined my card)

I have noticed a HUGE advertising push in shopping centres with huge banners, and adverts everywhere reminding people that lots of places accept Amex!

I also spoke to a struggling fruit shop owner today, who is being pushed out of the centre by Woolworths undercutting him on price constantly and beating any specials that he puts out. He has handwritten signs at the front of his store saying "Family owned and run, support the locals". Again he doesn't accept Amex and still refuses to. Again I informed him that for this fact alone he is losing about $40 per week from me alone as I will shop at Woolworths so that I can use Amex. He grumbled about the higher fees and delayed payments etc etc and that he won't accept Amex.

I wished him the best and said good luck competing with Woolies, and left it at that.

I really would have thought that someone who is desperate for new customers would do anything to attract them. Oh well his problem really.

Hello, Love to travel, I think there must be some reasons that your lcoal coffee and fruit shops still don't want to accept AMEX. The company I am working for-an international hotel chain now starts charging 1.5% on AMEX since 1st DEC 2009. This decision has been made thoroughly through the management even get authorized by head office in Singapore. The main reason I got from my financial controller is because AMEX increases exaggerating merchant fee from 3.45% to 6.15% almost double of the charge, which causes our company can not afford those fees anymore.

I think we want more shops to accept AMEX, it should low their merchant fees at first, at least change to acceptable level, especially for those low margin industries.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Now, anybody knows which other insurance companies still take Amex now?

Suncorp takes it - no surcharge... and when you go to pay online, the card type defaults to Amex

 

[lovestotravel]

The main reason I got from my financial controller is because AMEX increases exaggerating merchant fee from 3.45% to 6.15% almost double of the charge, which causes our company can not afford those fees anymore.

I would have to say that no company would be slugged 6.15% for accepting Amex.

You can easily get the rate down to about 1.5%, which funnily enough is the amount that your hotel is going to charge customers

 

[wxxnxs]

I would have to say that no company would be slugged 6.15% for accepting Amex.

You can easily get the rate down to about 1.5%, which funnily enough is the amount that your hotel is going to charge customers

Not that easy, Amex treats different business as different rates, I even get shocked after I heard that rate we are going to be charged, I even suggest we'd better dump Amex straight way but the point is some times you can not simply blame some merchants do not accept that card, that's just too much for them to pay. I admit I do feel disappointed when I get refused to use Amex, however I also feel pathetic for Amex because they know exactly why they get refused but still keep doing the same thing.

 

[oz_mark]

The company I am working for-an international hotel chain now starts charging 1.5% on AMEX since 1st DEC 2009.

Hmm, trying to work out who this is.

Been a bit of a task this year keeping up with which chains are adding surcharges.....

 

[lovestotravel]

Not that easy, Amex treats different business as different rates, I even get shocked after I heard that rate we are going to be charged, I even suggest we'd better dump Amex straight way but the point is some times you can not simply blame some merchants do not accept that card, that's just too much for them to pay. I admit I do feel disappointed when I get refused to use Amex, however I also feel pathetic for Amex because they know exactly why they get refused but still keep doing the same thing.

I am yet to hear of any Merchant in Australia that pays anywhere near 6% to accept Amex.

 

[NM]

Suncorp takes it - no surcharge... and when you go to pay online, the card type defaults to Amex

Indeed. I just paid my home and contents insurance on-line and no surcharge for Amex.

 

[Mal]

I also feel pathetic for Amex because they know exactly why they get refused but still keep doing the same thing.

Someone has to pay for the thousands of points people earn per year. Amex have decided it should be the merchants.

 

[NM]

Someone has to pay for the thousands of points people earn per year. Amex have decided it should be the merchants.

And many of the merchants have decided it should be the card users.

 

[wxxnxs]

I am yet to hear of any Merchant in Australia that pays anywhere near 6% to accept Amex.

Then how do you think why Amex is so generous to give you so many points:?:. The points you get from Amex, you still pay parts of them from your own pocket, I used to work in one newsagent, that shop does accept Amex due to the customer complaint but the boss just simply add 5% on every item in the shop in order to make no surcharge on cards. So you do earn points for using your Amex card but you have to pay extra 5% on the product.

 

[lovestotravel]

I am still yet to know of any Business that is paying the 6.15% that you have quoted, and still waiting for ANYONE else to say they are aware of charges this high.

Just because a business adds 5% to cover Amex doesn't mean they are paying 5% in merchant fees.

I am happy to pay up to 3% to pay via Amex as that is the maximum that they would be paying in merchant fees.

Generally Amex is around 1.1-3.5% surcharge. Now for some more facts, which I think are lacking on your behalf. http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_aug05/bu_0805_2.pdf This is from a few years ago but 2.4% is the average. Since they time they have come down even further.

As for Amex being so generous with points, you do realise they have ALOT of credit cards out there now with people paying interest ? They do not need to rely on merchant fees only now to pay for points.

 

[Chicken]

Generally Amex is around 1.1-3.5% surcharge. Now for some more facts, which I think are lacking on your behalf. http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Bulletin/bu_aug05/bu_0805_2.pdf This is from a few years ago but 2.4% is the average. Since they time they have come down even further.

http://www.rba.gov.au/Statistics/Bulletin/C03hist.xls

 

[Mal]

As for Amex being so generous with points, you do realise they have ALOT of credit cards out there now with people paying interest ? They do not need to rely on merchant fees only now to pay for points.

Now that's just BS.

The average type of person who earns 100,000+ points per year is not a revolver. They pay off their card every month, then laugh at Amex when they count their points they earned that month...

 

[wxxnxs]

Now that's just BS.

The average type of person who earns 100,000+ points per year is not a revolver. They pay off their card every month, then laugh at Amex when they count their points they earned that month...

I absolutely agree with you.