£5 back shopping at local shops with AMEX

joe134

miketaff1408 wrote: »

The map store finder is seriously flawed.

It is showing multiple retailers for Chichester Road, Portsmouth, which are unfamiliar to me...looking on streetview I could see no trace - Turns out after a google search of the business names they are in Chichester Road, BOGNOR REGIS!!!! About 20 miles or so away!!! And another business listed on map as Stubbington Road, Portsmouth is actually in the town/village of Stubbington iteslf, about 6-7 miles outside of Portsmouth!

Musn't grumble though! Money for nothing!

Hi, I,ve 4 amex cards, 2 platinum, 1 for me,1 for wife, same A/c.also MBNA,but, card numbers are same, so registered mine.
That makes 3 in total. Tried my local garden centre, 3 bags compost, as a tester.£5.50 each. they knew nowt about it. Got home, 3 e-mails saying ok.
Today both platinum refunded £5 each,still awaiting MBNA,(always behind).
Coppied several lists of shops ,supposed to participate, trying them tomorrow.All in leeds area.LS")20.19.18, and all other postcodes.
My hairdressers take it, charge(which I will pay)
I will ask before I purchase anything. got about 30 shops on hit list for tomorrow,within a 5 mile radius, and I never shop, her indoors does it all, but won,t do this;;;
nothing ventured, nothing gained. It,s the Butchers;;Bakers;;;I will leave the candlestick makers till later.
notice a couple of shop dots are blue, mostly purple, presume it,s postcode boundry ???

sfax

The map just makes it more of a challenge! 30 in one day is hardcore! There are a lot of things that you will buy eventually and never go out of date so you can buy in bulk across stores if you have the time and the will.

I've used it for things like nappies, razor blades, stamps, groceries, also take away curries, lunches at work and beers (including at the O2 American Sports bar on Saturday after watching Federer - surprised that place was on there).

Wife's card has a different number so we can double up to £10 at each place if convenient.

joe134

sfax wrote: »

The map just makes it more of a challenge! 30 in one day is hardcore! There are a lot of things that you will buy eventually and never go out of date so you can buy in bulk across stores if you have the time and the will.

I've used it for things like nappies, razor blades, stamps, groceries, also take away curries, lunches at work and beers (including at the O2 American Sports bar on Saturday after watching Federer - surprised that place was on there).

Wife's card has a different number so we can double up to £10 at each place if convenient.

packed in drinking a couple of years ago, and 4 of my locals are on the list. but off licences galore here.wine shops etc.
I expect to get knocked back at some, but as long as they take amex, don,t see why.even if it means more than one visit.
Butchers x 2 = £30 worth of meat, but has to be 6 transactions.
May mean a few visits, but, tell him upfront, he wants to sell, I,ll pay his 3.5% on top even, so he / they cannot lose.
obviously, if it means travelling too far, too often, then no.

sfax

joe134 wrote: »

packed in drinking a couple of years ago, and 4 of my locals are on the list. but off licences galore here.wine shops etc.
I expect to get knocked back at some, but as long as they take amex, don,t see why.even if it means more than one visit.
Butchers x 2 = £30 worth of meat, but has to be 6 transactions.
May mean a few visits, but, tell him upfront, he wants to sell, I,ll pay his 3.5% on top even, so he / they cannot lose.
obviously, if it means travelling too far, too often, then no.

It's a good idea being up front with the retailer and offering to pay the charge and paying with multiple cards. They're not paying the cashback so they should be OK with it.

I need to plan some more purchases....

joe134

sfax wrote: »

It's a good idea being up front with the retailer and offering to pay the charge and paying with multiple cards. They're not paying the cashback so they should be OK with it.

I need to plan some more purchases....

I use postcode, it shows perhaps 4-5 shops, and map, then screengrab them, scrolling down until the list is used, then just repeat with different postcode. got about 7 sheets of a4 of shops + maps.and print off.
commission is only 52p on £15, @ 3.5%. that,s on 3 cards=3 transactions.could even give £1 and still be quids in

miketaff1408

Is the offer applicable to each store on the list, regardless of whether they are in the same company? It's just that there is a small local pharmacy chain on the list, of which each of the branches are listed, about 5 in total. Me and the wife have used each of our cards in one branch which were successful, and I was wondering if we visited the other four shops in the chain that we could get another 8 x £5 on toiletries?

miketaff1408

another tip is NOT to ask if the shop takes Amex if there is no obvious window sticker or till sticker stating that Amex is accepted. The pharmacy we got the 2 x £5 had a young lad on last week when I went in, and I made the mistake of asking if they took Amex, to which he replied "errr....no, sorry!". It was obvious to me later that he had no idea what American Express was. So on a repeat trip today, I just shoved the card in the machine, and hey presto it was accepted!

So dont ask, just put it in the machine as many workers in these shops may have never taken an Amex card before, even if they do accept it.

joe134

miketaff1408 wrote: »

another tip is NOT to ask if the shop takes Amex if there is no obvious window sticker or till sticker stating that Amex is accepted. The pharmacy we got the 2 x £5 had a young lad on last week when I went in, and I made the mistake of asking if they took Amex, to which he replied "errr....no, sorry!". It was obvious to me later that he had no idea what American Express was. So on a repeat trip today, I just shoved the card in the machine, and hey presto it was accepted!

So dont ask, just put it in the machine as many workers in these shops may have never taken an Amex card before, even if they do accept it.

Hi Mike, I hope so, I will let you know tomorrow, because I am going to a butchers, who has 2 shops on the list, so presume they are different, but the same firm.
Regarding not mentioning amex, that,s ok if stuff can be put back on shelf, but if you order, food, meat, takeaway, you can hardly expect them to put it back, after wrapping it,etc.
I will stick to asking.
Don,t want to buy stuff I don,t require, because the person behind the counter doesn,t know.if amex is ok.
When I bought my 3 bags of compost, she knew nothing about the scheme,she said I couldn,t have 2 for £10, instead, I paid £5.50 each, when I explained , she understood.They had no stickers, but I knew they took amex, but asked again , just in case. I,ve used them before, but, those on my list for tomorrow, will be the first time I,ve used them, so expect a few funny looks.
The word "Location" is disconcerting, I take it as shop.? May be wrong.
No one is compelled to sell us goods, even if they take amex.but, that,s down to amex , not the shop, for the refund. I also have to decide on takeaway, or eat in, as one is a fish and chip emporium, but it says resteuraunt on list.prefer, takeaway.?
Let you know tomorrow, ok.

poozle

While searching around I found this page
am exshops mall.co.uk/
Seems to be a list of all merchants by postcode, but not using the map. I've not verified its the same list but it appears that it should be, although my local council is mentioned on it which seems a bit strange.

Sorry for the broken up link, it wouldn't let me post it otherwise, just take out the spaces.
EDIT: Just noticed that link is mentioned on he map page now so should be good to use.

joe134

miketaff1408 wrote: »

Is the offer applicable to each store on the list, regardless of whether they are in the same company? It's just that there is a small local pharmacy chain on the list, of which each of the branches are listed, about 5 in total. Me and the wife have used each of our cards in one branch which were successful, and I was wondering if we visited the other four shops in the chain that we could get another 8 x £5 on toiletries?

Hi Mike, been out doing the hit list, some successes, some, not, Regarding the same chain, I,ve just been to 2 butchers, brothers, £21 in each one, beef/pork joints for xmas, both ok, e-mail here when I returned, 1 hour after transactions.so £42 of meat for £12, not a bad days shopping, several others are still awaiting Amex to be till adapted, weekend, another butchers, garden centre, wine shop.
Take aways later today.
Hope this helps, but, try a tester on 1 card at 1 of the other chemists, on something you need. you will know within hour, if accepted, then m, if it,s ok, they will all be ok.I assume;;;most shops are independantly registered at Amex, same as my 2 butchers.good luck:j