What is the point of American Express cards?

Maestro.

lisyloo wrote: »

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 :-)

You can decline a method of payment without being an @rse about it

I am not bothered if places won't take X method of payment so long as thee isn't a bad attitude. Customer's always right...

iAMaLONDONER

Maestro. wrote: »

Customer's always right...

Lol if you work in Customer service then you'll know that that presumption isn't always veritable!

Maestro.

I do, and I know. Still there is no need for a bad attitude when a customer tenders a payment method you do not wish to take. A simple, "sorry we don't take..." Is enough.

qetu1357

SpacemanSpiff wrote: »

American Express cards. They're not accepted in that many places and yet they still exist, still have heavy promotion, and people are clearly still getting them.

Why?

OK. So they have rewards but then so do a lot of cards.

Why do people go for American Express rather than a bank and Mastercard/VISA? A lot of American Express cards also seem to want to charge a fee!!

Am I missing something? Are there any advantages to Amex that you don't get with other cards?

Just took one out.

Got £10.10 cashback which will convert to £41 in Pizza Express vouchers (via tesco clubcard) + a free eurostar return from Avios when I spend £1000.

Jasonh2015

The advantage of having an Amex i find is the service, the £450 fee for having it i find it worth it giving i recently got a £50 credit for a top London restaurant, i get the small shops credit yearly when they run the promotion.

The CS is good with Amex, I was on the phone closing my Gold, and they gave me a £5.00 credit for being on the phone for 10 mins.

They are based in Brighton, and everyone understands what you ask for. I had Barclaycard, called to cancel, and they wanted to try and increase my credit. When he finally understood what I wanted, he transferred me to someone in the UK to cancel?

If a retailer is not happy with your method of payment, it's them with the problem. Since i live in London most places apart from one i use take it.

lisyloo

Still there is no need for a bad attitude when a customer tenders a payment method you do not wish to take

If they are fed up of people presenting AMEX then the best solution for shop/restaurant owners is a big sign saying "WE DON'T TAKE AMEX".

If they have a big sign then they'll get fewer people asking and wasting their time. A bit like signposting the toilets at a restaurant. If you do it then people won't need to ask. That saves everyone time and embarrassement.
I agree there is no need for a bad attitude but I guess that if you got asked 30 times in one day you might show a little frustration now and then if you're human.
Why expect people that work on a till to be the Angel Gabriel, they are just human.

lisyloo

Since i live in London most places apart from one i use take it.

A lot of talk of London/not London.
I do most of my shopping on line and had most of my issues with Amex being accepted on line.
My main example would be Carole Nash who are a fairly big insurer and don't take paypal either (just checked today).

Unfortunately we do not accept American Express, Diner's Club or Paypal payments.

I have no axe to grind about whether anyone wants it or doesn't want it.
I think the benefits can be great to those who qualify.
I also don't understand why those who don't want it would pick holes. If it's not appropriate for you then move on.

Personally I just tart for the points when there's an introductory offer but for me (I don't fly or travel much) the hassle of using it outweighs the normal benefits, so my main cards are mastercard cashback cards (like luma 4%).
If other get great benefits from Amex like upgrades then that's fantastic.

pacontracting

zerog wrote: »

Free breakfast at every Hilton, entry to oneworld lounge on any oneworld flight may make it worthwhile

There is a lot of myths about Platinum AMEX. You no longer get Hilton Gold so no free breakfast (sorry). And Cathay Pacific card (One World) was stopped end of March for new registrants so only Priority Pass for lounges.

As the extras are getting smaller, it's getting harder to justify the £450 / year.

Hilton now do their own VISA (via Barclays) and if you spend more than £10,000, you get Hilton Gold (free breakfasts, upgrades etc). No annual fee. Only worth it if you pay off in full every month and travel to Hilton's.

I don't know of any cards that now offer airline status. A lot of them give you Avios / Virgin miles etc, but no status (so no access to lounges, higher class checkin etc).

pvt

Interesting experience recently in a well known branded coffee shop:

I paid for my coffees and stickies with my AmEx card, no problem whatsoever. The customer following me, being served by a different assistant, offered her AmEx card for a similar value transaction and was told with a sneer that AmEx is not accepted. I was still standing there with my AmEx card and receipt in my hand, as this other customer could see. She politely queried whether the assistant could check if he was correct and was admonished by the assistant asking her "do you seriously expect to be able to pay for something like coffee with an American Express card?"

At this point the assistant that had served me corrected her colleague, and told him the chain does indeed accept AmEx. An acrimonious argument then ensued between the two assistants, finally resolved by the lady's AmEx payment being taken by the assistant that had served me.

It was clear that the second assistant had some kind of mental block about AmEx cards not being acceptable for small transactions in high street shops, even though the one he worked in had an AmEx sticker on the back of the till he was using! He scuttled away without offering her any apology.

reclusive46

pvt wrote: »

Interesting experience recently in a well known branded coffee shop:

I paid for my coffees and stickies with my AmEx card, no problem whatsoever. The customer following me, being served by a different assistant, offered her AmEx card for a similar value transaction and was told with a sneer that AmEx is not accepted. I was still standing there with my AmEx card and receipt in my hand, as this other customer could see. She politely queried whether the assistant could check if he was correct and was admonished by the assistant asking her "do you seriously expect to be able to pay for something like coffee with an American Express card?"

At this point the assistant that had served me corrected her colleague, and told him the chain does indeed accept AmEx. An acrimonious argument then ensued between the two assistants, finally resolved by the lady's AmEx payment being taken by the assistant that had served me.

It was clear that the second assistant had some kind of mental block about AmEx cards not being acceptable for small transactions in high street shops, even though the one he worked in had an AmEx sticker on the back of the till he was using! He scuttled away without offering her any apology.

Poor training can be an issue. I was recently at one of my local independent garden centres that takes Amex, I proceeded to pay and was told Amex was not accepted ( Bare in mind I'd literally been there the day before) and told him it was, he asked his colleague and then came back apologising and he mentioned that he told loads of people they didn't take it!

I love it when shop staff try to tell you its not accepted when they have the logo up. I was in a restaurant in Canada once, they served the bill in a sever which said "Thank you for using the American Express card", the waiter then told me they didn't accept it and the bill holder must be old, it turned out after speaking to the manager that they'd started taking Amex about 6 months earlier!