What is the point of American Express cards?

reclusive46

lisyloo wrote: »

Personally I have found I couldn't use Amex in lots of places.
Some people seem suprised by this but it's true for me and my pattern of shopping.
One example is my motorbike Insurer Carole Nash. They are a major insurer and not an obscure company.
Lots of on-line places where I've bought my Xmas presents don't take Amex - these were diving, cookery, photography, motorbike shops. Not all of them tiny.
I think it depends on your pattern of shopping because it's more of an issues for some people than others.

Oh definitely depends on shopping habits. Personally I can't really remember the last time I couldn't pay by Amex but I generally shop at chains and the independent and restaurants shops around where I live all take Amex. I'm surprised about all the online places though, you can at least usually pay by Paypal which lets you pay by Amex even if they don't take amex directly.

lisyloo

you can at least usually pay by Paypal

Well some places don't accept payapl either, so an example of a decent sized company that doesn't accept Amex or paypal would be Carole Nash.

Also I've found that even with places that take paypal sometimes they still won't let you use Amex as a payment card.
There might be a way round this as a guest - I'm not sure whether that always works.
Personally I'd prefer to have my transactions under my login so I can find them if I ever need to make a claim.

It's not a big deal, I would always carry 2 cards anyway - you never know when 1 might not work.

It's jsut annoying when some people (not you) who probably live in London deny that this happens when I know for a fact it does (and have proved it by example).

Whether it happens a tiny amount or a lot clearly is going to depend on where you shop.

Maestro.

I've already said in this thread that basically no independents in my town take it, the looks I get are actually worse than when I used a vanquis card, I think on production of the card some didn't even want my business!

It's unfortunate too because the date the statement cuts and payment date are literally ideal for me.

System

I have a corporate Amex and had a Platinum cashback one.

The corporate one is great for booking flights, hotels etc...

The personal one worked in about 75% of the places I visited and that meant I either had to carry another credit card (or rely on my debit card). I eventually admitted defeat and replaced it with a MasterCard which 99% of places (such as Aldi accept).

lisyloo wrote: »

W
It's not a big deal, I would always carry 2 cards anyway - you never know when 1 might not work.

It's jsut annoying when some people (not you) who probably live in London deny that this happens when I know for a fact it does (and have proved it by example).

Whether it happens a tiny amount or a lot clearly is going to depend on where you shop.

toffifee

I have a BA Amex card, no annual fee. As long as use it at least once every two years (usually something from the internet) I earn a BA air mile (or whever they're called now) or two and that keeps my air miles account alive. Otherwise it would be closed through inactivity and I'd lose all the miles that I earned pre-children and am looking forward to spending in a few years.

callum9999

Maestro. wrote: »

I've already said in this thread that basically no independents in my town take it, the looks I get are actually worse than when I used a vanquis card, I think on production of the card some didn't even want my business!

It's unfortunate too because the date the statement cuts and payment date are literally ideal for me.

If they make you feel bad just for owning the "wrong" credit card then they shouldn't be getting your business anyway!

lisyloo

If they make you feel bad just for owning the "wrong" credit card then they shouldn't be getting your business anyway!

Why?
I know some very nice small business owners who can't afford to take Amex.

I guess it's up to the consumer where they want to shop.

Let's face it some of us are trying to have our cake and eat it here.
We want rock bottom prices from retailers but we want all the perks from an expensive card. There's nothing wrong with that but logically you can't have both.

Nothing wrong with taking advantage of it, but if you shop at back street garages and restaurants and websites that offer great value then you shouldn't be suprised if you get the odd "look of digust" when trying to use really expensive methods of payments which don't fit in with your retailers culture of value.

I personally think not liking the way they look at you is a very poor reason to walk away from somewhere offering great value - but we all have choices.
If you want posh shop fronts, glossy brochures and high prices so you can flash your Amex card in peace then do that instead :-)

JasX

I get between 1% and 1.6% cashback from my mastercards and prefer to use something that doesn't hammer the margins of shops I spend my cash in (if everyone used AMEX prices would be higher).

I agree American Express seems to be lacking much of a point except 1) to those easily wooed by fleeting 'first 3 month' offers, 2)corporate users who can manage staff expenses centrally quite well and 3) anyone who would make good use of the BA companion voucher

lisyloo

to those easily wooed by fleeting 'first 3 month' offers

Personally I think £100 is well worth the small effort involved.

iAMaLONDONER

lisyloo wrote: »

It's jsut annoying when some people (not you) who probably live in London deny that this happens when I know for a fact it does (and have proved it by example).

It's true that it happens much less in London than in the wilderness (i.e anywhere outside the M25 !) :rotfl: