AMEX not accepted or surcharge

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Home insurance with NRMA is now due, cannot pay with Amex.:evil:

When did this change? Back in February I paid the green slip, comprehensive insurance and roadside with Amex.

As far as I am aware if you speak to the call centre NRMA accepts Amex where as if you use their automated phone payment system only Visa/Mastercard are accepted.

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Once again Amex not accepted

This time at the new Costco about to open at the Docklands in Melbourne

"What types of payment does Costco accept?
You may pay by cash, EFTPOS, Visa or Mastercard."


Well done Amex further and further behind each day.


You can send me letter which was a poor attempt of saying we have signed up all these new businesses from the head honcho at Amex. However, the fact remains that many businesses are ditching acceptance of your cards.


2 major shopping centres in Melbourne
Northland shopping centre
Epping Plaza shopping centre


Both recently redeveloped their fresh food areas with about 10 new shops such as butchers, fruit and veg etc etc.


Not one of the small business shops in either of them accept Amex!

Well done once again!

 

[auriga]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

When did this change? Back in February I paid the green slip, comprehensive insurance and roadside with Amex.

As far as I am aware if you speak to the call centre NRMA accepts Amex where as if you use their automated phone payment system only Visa/Mastercard are accepted.

Oh no, does this mean I have missed out!? I paid online.

 

[JohnK]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Oh no, does this mean I have missed out!? I paid online.

Possibly. One way to find out is call NRMA and see if they accept Amex. :-|

 

[dimgai]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Possibly. One way to find out is call NRMA and see if they accept Amex. :-|

I just paid my CTP last Friday over the phone with Amex on NRMA, like others have said, their automated system don't do Amex, call centre and branch still do.

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Well, I was recently in Sydney, and was quite surprised at just how many places actually accepted Amex (surcharge-free)... We were there for a week, and I only had to use my MasterCard twice for low-value purchases, and less than $100 in cash.

Having said that, while I was away I discovered that Retail Apparel Group (the company that owns Tarocash, yd. and Connor clothing stores) have introduced a 2% Amex/Diners surcharge across all stores. Before choosing what I wanted in Tarocash, I asked the manager who was serving me if Amex was accepted, and she just replied "yes". Only at the register (once I had about 8 things ready to buy) was I informed of the surcharge. As she was not willing to remove it, I gave her everything back to put away, and left the store without purchase...

I've sent an email to their head office (to their CEO actually, as I found his email) informing them that unless the surcharge is removed, I'll be shopping elsewhere. I'll post again if I receive a reply.

But other than that, pretty much everywhere accepted the card, even for smaller purchases. Very happy

PS: I've noticed that Myer usually have quite a good Tarocash range priced the same as the actual Tarocash store, and don't surcharge. Guess who will be getting my business...

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I asked the manager who was serving me if Amex was accepted, and she just replied "yes". Only at the register (once I had about 8 things ready to buy) was I informed of the surcharge. As she was not willing to remove it, I gave her everything back to put away, and left the store without purchase...

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: Love your work!

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: Love your work!

Haha thanks. I just got a reply from their CEO, who said that they have a meeting scheduled with Amex, and if they lower their merchant fee, they will either remove the surcharge if they match Visa/MC, or surcharge the difference that they pay between the two...

Also, I've noticed that many McDonald's stores have recently started accepting Amex! While not every single store has signed up yet (as it's up to the manager of each store, and apparently not a company decision - according to McD's anyway), the vast majority have, and can now be found in the Amex directory Finally... lol

 

[alemdohorizonte]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Once again Amex not accepted

This time at the new Costco about to open at the Docklands in Melbourne

"What types of payment does Costco accept?
You may pay by cash, EFTPOS, Visa or Mastercard."
Well done Amex further and further behind each day.

this is very interesting.
in the usa, amex is the *only* credit card that costco (which is one of my favourite stores) accepts as payment for in store purchases. while their website accepts all cards for online purchases, if you try to pay for your purchases with mc or visa when you're in the store, you're out of luck.
amex usa even issues a costco branded amex card.

 

[Nutcase]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

this is very interesting.
in the usa, amex is the *only* credit card that costco (which is one of my favourite stores) accepts as payment for in store purchases. while their website accepts all cards for online purchases, if you try to pay for your purchases with mc or visa when you're in the store, you're out of luck.
amex usa even issues a costco branded amex card.

Thats why Costco only accept AMEX. They get a clip on the ticket on the way through and a clip on the revolving balances of the cards. Costco MAKE money on their AMEX transactions. I guess here it would be restriction of trade under the TPA. Happy to be corrected if Im wrong.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Thats why Costco only accept AMEX. They get a clip on the ticket on the way through and a clip on the revolving balances of the cards. Costco MAKE money on their AMEX transactions. I guess here it would be restriction of trade under the TPA. Happy to be corrected if Im wrong.

Why would it be different to the other co-brand cards here?

DJ Amex
Myer Visa

etc

 

[Nutcase]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Because they don't accept anything else -

 

[zzyss]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

There must be something about Amex Australia, 'coz there are so many "global" companies that normally accept Amex but the local version doesn't. I know of at least:

My employer (a global technology services company)
Paypal
Vistaprint
etc.

Although you could just as easily say that this is an America vs. rest of the world issue, which would be fair enough considering that the card is an American Express...

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

There must be something about Amex Australia, 'coz there are so many "global" companies that normally accept Amex but the local version doesn't. I know of at least:

My employer (a global technology services company)
Paypal
Vistaprint
etc.

Although you could just as easily say that this is an America vs. rest of the world issue, which would be fair enough considering that the card is an American Express...

You can use the card on Vistaprint, but have to change the .com.au to .co.uk, and works with an Australian delivery address. The only drawback is that the card is charged in Pounds, which is converted to $USD first, then to $AUD... (Just in case anyone *needs* to use their Amex Business or Corporate card for business cards)

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I was just thinking - perhaps the reason many global websites like PayPal and Vistaprint etc don't accept Amex on their Australian versions is because Amex has a restriction that only allows merchants to bill their cards in their native currency, or $USD. So if a company's merchant account is based in the UK, it can only charge it in $USD or £GBP, and if based in the US, only $USD (ie PayPal) which was the problem with Australian Amex cards through PayPal, before PayPal made a local version of PayPal for Australia and stopped accepting the card.

The same problem exists for the payment system I use when someone wants to pay me with Amex. As the company that runs the system is based in the UK, I can only charge customers' Amex cards in $USD or £GBP, yet I can charge Visa, MasterCard, Diners, JCB, China UnionPay, EPS, Carte Bleue, and CartaSi cards in any currency, including $AUD.

Perhaps if Amex got rid of this policy and updated their systems to allow for this, more global websites would start accepting them - particularly PayPal, who cited this very problem as the reason they don't accept Amex on their Australian site (I sent them an email asking why).

 

[Chicken]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

Also, I've noticed that many McDonald's stores have recently started accepting Amex!

Must be MY work!!!

Maccas used to accept AmEx, then stopped a few years ago, so I have been contacting AmEx once a while, to give annoying them. Seems to have worked.

 

[munitalP]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

I have just purchased 2 shirts and a new tie from my usual menswear - paid on AMEX...

Sorry Mr! - we will have to charge you a 5% surcharge...

Thats OK Loui, how about a discount then?

Sure Mr! - is 10% ok?

[SMILE] Sure Loui... thanks mate...


hehehe - true story, happened not more than 1 hour ago!


Mr!

 

[lovestotravel]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

So now if we pay by Amex we get a 5% DISCOUNT by the sounds of it :shock:

 

[munitalP]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

So now if we pay by Amex we get a 5% DISCOUNT by the sounds of it :shock:

If you ask nice - I'll tell you the name of my menswear

Mr!

:mrgreen:

 

[NM]

Re: AMEX not accepted or surchage

If you ask nice - I'll tell you the name of my menswear

That may be toooooooo much information