American Express card refused in Spar ??

stylus360

Hi All

Since Capital One has stopped their cashback, i applied and was accepted for the 0% fee American Express card as advised on here.

Had card/pin and activated it online, tested the PIN in a local cashpoint to see if i could withdraw money and it would allow me (i never withdrew anything).

I have just been to my local Spar shop and tried it on a purchase, entered pin and it accepted it, then it asked for it to be swiped ? So i did that, then the machine just went haywire and locked up ?

I had to have all items rescanned on another till and use a differing card.

The woman stated that it is probably not accepted in their stores !!!

Surely that can not be correct....Pointless having the bloody thing if true.

Anyone got experience with Amex cards ?

Thanks

stylus360

Think i found my answer, pretty useless card for me then as i use Spar/local shops a lot.

ALDI - NO
LIDL - NO
TESCO - YES



http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/amex-acceptance

stylus360

PAYPAL-NO !!!!!

Not worth applying for !!!!

Anyone else recommend another cashback card that is VISA/MASTERCRAD based.

Thanks

Hodderauthor

Yes, American Express is not as widely accepted as Visa/Mcard, but most large businesses take it.

I do have my AmEx card set up as my card on my Paypal account, so it's possible to use AmEx with Paypal.

reclusive46

stylus360 wrote: »

PAYPAL-NO !!!!!

Not worth applying for !!!!

Anyone else recommend another cashback card that is VISA/MASTERCRAD based.

Thanks

Paypal take Amex.

Spar is a franchise, its up to the particular spar if they take it or not. All the ones around me do.

If it got the stage of asking for the PIN, they do take it.

nidO

stylus360 wrote: »

PAYPAL-NO !!!!!

Paypal accept payments via Amex and have done for many many years.

nidO

reclusive46 wrote: »

If it got the stage of asking for the PIN, they do take it.

I'm not entirely sure about that - I've had a similar experience to the OP in a Range store with my amex, I put the card in, the machine asked for the pin, I gave it, then the machine came up with transaction declined or similar, the cashier noticed, and told me they don't take amex and that's what their machines do if an amex card is tried.
(and for avoidance of doubt i've no reason to believe that they do take amex and that amex refused the transaction at their end, as the card has continued working fine ever since)

stylus360

Cheers guys, I've applied for the Santander 123 card.

Strange how Paypal is not on the list of Amex as acceptance.

Not sure whether to set up my Amex or Santander card for paypal.

jonesMUFCforever

My local SPAR don't take AMEX either so it must be a national thing - so I use Barclaycard visa which gives me 0.5% cashback - better than nothing.

stylus360

Think i will use AMEX for paypal as Santander does not offer cashback.

jbuchanangb

Barclays cashback account issues two cards, one Amex with 1% casback and one Visa with 0.5%. Goodbye Capital One!