Diners-ropey start

[andye]

.... Westpac altitude black has similar points earn to Diners and a similarly high annual fee. Only main restriction at this stage is points for ATO.....

Have you managed to get points from ATO with the Diners MC-the Diners Rewards T&Cs seemed to suggest it would not? (Would be great if it did)

 

[albyd]

I've made a couple of small payments & it's worked so far. I'm mindful who the issuer is a the T&Cs are pretty clear.

I'd keep the following in mind:
* Depending on your fiscal burden, good idea not to put it all on here to avoid disappointment for when they enforce the rules and to stay off the radar to keep it working;
* Payments to this merchant need to be made in advance by BPay and payment needs to have cleared first;
* All payments to this merchant need to be authorized first (even though you've prepaid);
* Use the card for some of your other spending so this merchant isn't your only DC activity. I've shifted some of my Prestige spend to DC - works for me as I'm primarily interested in Velocity & SPG. Velocity earn is 2ppd (1.33 on Prestige) and has SPG (Prestige doesn't) so works for me.

I've only been with DC for a couple of months. Other longer standing members may have other insights.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

I was considering the DC/MC combo about 6 months ago but have held off so far because of what some people said about difficulties with points posting and the customer service (which seems to bear out in this thread) but I didn't realise to pay our favourite friend you needed to do this:

...
* Payments to this merchant need to be made in advance by BPay and payment needs to have cleared first;
* All payments to this merchant need to be authorized first (even though you've prepaid);
...

How did this come up albyd?

 

[albyd]

DC is a charge card so unlike a "regular" credit card, you don't have a hard credit limit they are happy for you to spend up to. Individual charges are subject to approval (mostly electronic and approved on the spot). I remember this from my first Amex charge card.

As you build your spending and repayment history in assuming they'll relax and let larger charges through automatically if they fit your spend pattern. Anything outside your regular spend pattern, just need to call to get it approved.

Re prepayment of some charges - they called me after I did my first one and said that for this merchant they want it prepaid regardless of the amount. Said would block that merchant for me if I didn't prepay.

Reason for prepayment of this merchant - they don't fund business working capital. I mentioned it was personal to put the analyst at ease but the policy was the same and I politely agreed to prepay from then on which I have.

I think it's a matter of working within the system to keep them happy - including making other regular purchases so one merchant isn't 100% of spend. Requirements thus far are pretty reasonable.

 

[UP4014]

I dumped Diners a few years ago, had been with them for more than 15 years and while I never needed to contact them it was worked fine. The moment I needed to query something on the phone it was all over for me. I let the poor service from their call centre go on about 4 months and then cancelled it.

I was quiet satisfying to tell someone from their Melbourne office I was leaving because of their customer service centre, it didn't give them anywhere to go to try and keep me.

I think the Alfa Romeo comment is too kind, they lost their shiny exterior about 10 years ago.


Matt

 

[edcba]

Their customer service centre is in India.

 

[kooky]

* Payments to this merchant need to be made in advance by BPay and payment needs to have cleared first;
* All payments to this merchant need to be authorized first (even though you've prepaid);

DC told me when you pre-pay you don't earn rewards points!

Also what do you mean by needs to be authorised first? How does that work in the context of paying online?

 

[albyd]

Not in my experience. YMMV tho. It's easy to get lots of different answers from call center. Tried to avoid those conversations to avoid unintended consequences.

With prior authorization just need to call the authorization line 0282258963 & they should pre approve it before you put it through the payment site. Without pre approval purchase may get declined on the payment site.

 

[Keftetha]

Well after 5 weeks of waiting I've finally got my cards. I've had a quick look at the mydinersclub website and I'm wondering how you see your rewards points to redeem and transfer etc?
Oh, and how to set up Direct Debit? Thanks.

 

[albyd]

From memory, there is a Direct Debit form on the website that you can post or fax in.

Points post one month in arrears after you've paid your last statement and the new one issues, you get paid points for the previous statement. Bit backward now everyone posts live (even Citi - albeit without any itemization).

 

[Keftetha]

Ok great, thanks Albyd.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

I dumped Diners a few years ago, had been with them for more than 15 years and while I never needed to contact them it was worked fine. The moment I needed to query something on the phone it was all over for me. I let the poor service from their call centre go on about 4 months and then cancelled it.

I was quiet satisfying to tell someone from their Melbourne office I was leaving because of their customer service centre, it didn't give them anywhere to go to try and keep me.

I think the Alfa Romeo comment is too kind, they lost their shiny exterior about 10 years ago.


Matt

I was with them for a couple of years but cancelled a few months ago for a number of reasons:

- Diners Club acceptance is too limited and continues to shrink, limiting opportunities for higher rewards points
- the MC was good but compared to other cards, didn't justify the extra fee compared to the incremental points earned
- the lounge access program is hit and miss. Not fun turning up at DC lounges to be told that Australian Diners Club cards are excluded from entry.

I had a corporate Diners in the days when Ansett was still around and I think those were the "shiny exterior" days you were talking about, dedicated lounge in the Sydney CBD, huge acceptance. It does feel like a dying brand these days.

 

[albyd]

Not sure if this belongs in this thread. I did my first points redemption with DC to SPG 2 weeks ago. I know Diners quotes 28 days (but so does Citi and seems to get the points to airlines pretty quickly) but it's now been 2 weeks. I did an Amex redemption to SPG on the same day as DC and took 2 days.

I've seen some posters on these forums experience has been a week. Has anyone recently redeemed points from DC to SPG and how long did it take? (Wondering if maybe my details didn't match and will take forever to get my points back to try again).

 

[Hammando]

I did the same about 2 weeks ago and still waiting for the points to arrive.

My AMEX transfer also went through the next day.

Poor old diners. I'll wait another week before calling and asking what's going on. They usually arrive just before I'm sure they've sent them to someone else's account.

 

[albyd]

I called them yesterday afternoon and adamant it's 28 days. I called SPG and they said the same for DC.

Was interesting when is called SPG last time they were prepared to make a provisional booking good for 7 days even with insufficient points if they were coming from Amex or DC. Looks like you'd lose your booking waiting for DC.

Guess I'll just keep it in mind for next time.

 

[Hammando]

My SPG points still haven't arrived!

Have to chase Diners for them.

... this is going to be fun!

 

[albyd]

Mine haven't either today is the one month mark. Just hope they haven't been rejected due to incorrect details and we have to start again or I'll lose my booking

 

[drron]

Yes you have to get used to the Diners quirky IT systems.I went to transfer to SPG last night.Got through the various stages and when I hit submit it reverted to the first rewards page so I dont know if they have entered the system or not.
The major problem is actually getting into my DC account.Every time I hit the login button I get a message that my account has been locked for 24 hours.I always write down my new passwords but this makes no difference.So now I just hit the lost password button,enter a new password that gets me into the account,forget it and repeat the next time I want to log in.
If it wasn't a free card it would be gone.

 

[NM]

if there is a delay then its at Diners end. When I had a Diners CLub card (a few years ago now) it used to take about a week to get points through the SPG. Form Amex, its normally next day or 2 days at worst.

 

[blessed11]

I tried transferring to SPG online and got error, called and got representative to do it. However, this was 3 weeks ago. Still waiting. Once it hits '28 days' I'll call up and ask what is going on. They need a major system upgrade.