Recently ( 2 months ago) changed salons for my regular waxing, sign on front door says Amex welcome, tried to pay with card " sorry we got a new eftpos machine and it isn't set up for this yet " . This month same story, decided to have it out with them as male boss with bling behind counter. Pointed to sign on window, stated I had been told the same story last month. Male boss " I love your accent, I love Amex " , yeah right !!
They offered to telephone another branch which did take Amex to process the card, and there would be a 3% surcharge for using Amex, WTF !! Unlucky for them I was on the way to bank some change so proceeded to count out the lot.
Will Amex be interested in me reporting them? They are a large chain of salons in all the major malls in NSW.
My local Leonards accepts Amex - so it's not all of them.Now just need to find a chicken shop that accepts Amex... That is a big struggle as Leonards and all of them do not accept Amex.
Took the family to Melbourne on the weekend, and encountered an unusually high number of places not taking Amex or applying outrageous (including 5%) surcharges. Maybe I noticed more because I frequent places I know accept Amex at home.
Anyway, made a point of explaining to each of the cafes and restaurants that they missed out on my customary tip and that I hope the extra $1 or so surcharge was worth upsetting a customer. No one seemed to care
My local Leonards accepts Amex - so it's not all of them.
Unless you speak to the owner, they probably don't care!
Also if they have decided to not accept Amex and/or charge 3-5% they still probably don't care.
Easier to take business elsewhere.
I always look out for the blue Amex signs on the doors.
Sometimes I'l pop in and ask if they accept Amex before sitting down.
The Langham charged 1.5% at their smorgasbord so I paid Amex rather than Visa for the extra points.
Why don't they build it into their price?
Agreed, but I always like to remind the staff - it is their tip that is being taken away after all. It may be the only effective way to get the message raised with owners/remote managers who otherwise wont hear the complaints - when the staff themselves miss out they at least have some incentive to get word to the boss.
Apparently American Express are adding smart chip/pins to their cards in September. That should make them easier to use around asia at least.
Absolutely agree 100% - I do the sameI do the same... if I go to a cafe / restaurant and they do take AMEX but surcharge, I always make a point of not tipping but writing on the receipt that I would have tipped 10%,
so they get all of $2 out of me for the surcharge but could have got a lot more through a tip if they hadn't made me mad by surcharging me! It's a good way of making a point - well, makes me feel better anyway, even if they don't care!
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that being said, I don't understand a lot of peoples mentality both on this forum and from my customers, in when they get so offended if Amex is not accepted.