New Amex statement credits

exceladdict said:
Recommend hiding the line item if it says anything that looks like 'gift card'
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but with westfield as a merchant, you could only buy gift cards? or some sort of parking can be paid?
aren't they expecting you to buy gift cards from westfield?
 
kpc said:
I agree so I let +1 do the running around :)....did a lot of Opal topups on the last day (I drove her and waited in car) but we didn't quite complete all 10 transactions per card so I'm sort of glad it is only 5 this time :)
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Being In Vic, no opal top ups for me (though last time I did happen to be in Sydney at the time and so was able to get 2 x$20 spends for train tickets) which would be a great use for those that can.

In the main most places I can spend the $20 at in shop Small I can get the same goods markedly cheaper elsewhere making the saving less than $10. So with the extra effort in extra time taken achieve that spend becomes less worthwhile. From past promos, I do now know of some businesses and goods that I can utilise worth my time and saving though. But I will not max it out. i also know of some business (ie certain Chemists where their prices are such that it will not make up the $10 if I bough elsewhere).

Again last time I was in Sydney for a holiday weekend tacked onto a business trip and that meant that I was able to make more use of the $20 at pubs, restaurant cafes etc that I could if I was at home in Melb.
 
whatmeworry said:
Most smaller merchants I encountered, once explained shop small, loved the concept and some of the retail staff wanted to get into the action.
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Some do. Some do not

Last time I went into one place that had a Shop Small Amex sign on their window, but when I went to pay they said they do not take Amex :shock: When I pointed to their sign, they just said oh that was for last year and we no longer take amex.

My local bakery make nice family sized quiches and had a good special if you bought two (was $22). So I was buying these every 5 days or so. On the third time I was served by the owner rather than one the shop assistant's who informed me that they do not take Amex. Obviously the machine did, but he did not want to pay the higher fees.When he declined I just said well that is the only card I have and he still refused and so I just walked out. So he saved what 30-60cents, but lost say $15 in value add!

I went for a weekend cycle with the wife and was near Fed Square at lunchtime. Found a restaurant which on getting the menu said no split bills. So I said the waitress that we will only order if we can each pay our own accounts. She ask the boss who said no, and so we went elsewhere. It was not busy and so the extra labour to process two bills is low and so again I cannot fathom the logic of some small business owners who prefer to save cents over earning tens of dollars.
 
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lovetravellingoz said:
Some do. Some do not

Last time I went into one place that had a Shop Small Amex sign on their window, but when I went to pay they said they do not take Amex :shock: When I pointed to their sign, they just said oh that was for last year and we no longer take amex.

My local bakery make nice family sized quiches and had a good special if you bought two (was $22). So I was buying these every 5 days or so. On the third time I was served by the owner rather than one the shop assistant's who informed me that they do not take Amex. Obviously the machine did, but he did not want to pay the higher fees.When he declined I just said well that is the only card I have and he still refused and so I just waled out. so he saved what 30-60cents, but lost say $15 in value add!

I went for a weekend cycle with the wife and was near Fed Square at lunchtime. Found a restaurant which on getting the menu said no split bills. So I said the waitress that we will only order if we can each pay our own accounts. She ask the boss who said no, and so we went elsewhere. It was not busy and so the extra labour to process two bills is low and so again I cannot fathom the logic of some small business owners who prevent to save cents over earning tens of dollars.
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I really don't understand businesses who want to turn away customers for the sake of a couple cents.
 
I really hate restaurants that won't split bills....I just don't understand it as they end up with the same amount...
 
It's small minded mentality and poor business sense. Australia is a wonderful place but really lacks a service culture!
 
Clinique Online - spend 75 for 15 credit - seems to be on all cards.

Bottega Veneta - spend 500 for 5,000 points on one card. Hardly generous.

All credits from my Sunday Vogue Amex credit harvesting expedition have been received. Well done Amex!
 
kpc said:
I assume, as previously, the standard Westfield Gift Card ($2.95 fee) can be used at either Coles or Woolworths. Can any one confirm this is still the case? Ta
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To answer my own Q, the Westfield "red" gift card worked in a non Westfield Coles this evening but the checkout guy was both skeptical and suspicious when I tried to use it, repeatedly saying that they don't accept this card...he was a bit surprised when the transaction went through....I think next time, I may have to use the self checkout lane when using the Westfied card! ;)
 
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kpc said:
I really hate restaurants that won't split bills....I just don't understand it as they end up with the same amount...
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Agreed.

It's probably because it's too difficult for some of the staff. The standard of basic arithmetic these days is appalling based on our experience. Having said that, we do allow split bills because our customers are extremely important to us and our Square POS calculates the amounts.

Re AMEX, we've been accepting AMEX (no surcharges) a couple of years and they recently reduced their fee to 1.5% through our traditional eftpos terminal. Square on the other hand charge us a 1.9% flat rate for AMEX/VISA/MC. If it wasn't due to the fact that their POS was so well integrated with their card reader we'd be using the manual eftpos terminal and saving 0.4%

Can't win them all.
 
Dr Ralph said:
Hello fresh. Spend $50 get $20 back. Can be used 5 times per registered card.
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Seems a good deal getting 40% off. Is it worth you ordering just $50 from HF multiple times? or will delivery fees eat the amex savings?
 
kpc said:
I really hate restaurants that won't split bills....I just don't understand it as they end up with the same amount...
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Do you mean separating the items into who ate what (then each person paying separately), or paying for the whole bill using more than one card (typically in equal amounts). The former is what I would call split bill. I have never been denied the latter, even in a largish group.
 
Happy Dude said:
I have never been denied the latter, even in a largish group.
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I find it reasonably common. Typically the ones that will refuse for each person to pay their own consumption by credit card are smallish family run establishments.

Some are not so small though. The last place that I struck this at was The Mess Hall. The Mess Hall -Home- Melbourne which we went to as we were off to the theatre and it was nearby. They had emblazoned on their menus that they would not split bills (this was all bills, and not just if paying by card). They own 3 restaurants in busy locations and so would not be small in terms of turnover.
 
Pantsoff said:
Agreed.

It's probably because it's too difficult for some of the staff. The standard of basic arithmetic these days is appalling based on our experience. Having said that, we do allow split bills because our customers are extremely important to us and our Square POS calculates the amounts.

Re AMEX, we've been accepting AMEX (no surcharges) a couple of years and they recently reduced their fee to 1.5% through our traditional eftpos terminal. Square on the other hand charge us a 1.9% flat rate for AMEX/VISA/MC. If it wasn't due to the fact that their POS was so well integrated with their card reader we'd be using the manual eftpos terminal and saving 0.4%

Can't win them all.
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we've found it easy to split bills even where these i sign saying they won't - food on one bill and alcohol on the other ...i tell them the company will pay for food and i have to pay for the alcohol
 

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