Diners-ropey start

[kooky]

Thanks kooky & digpomi for your updates on DC & improved reward redemption times.

Kooky, how much of your spend are you able to put through DC vs the MC?

I find that hard to answer in that context as it depends on what you spend most of your money on outside of basics and big corporations. Everyone's different. Thus as a whole I find it easier to say something like 80% of all the places that take Amex seem in my experience to take Diners. Put another way, for any given shop, it's more likely not to take Amex than taking Amex but not Diners.

I feel this makes sense because merchant fees for Diners are probably close to identical than those for Amex. So a place that takes Amex seems pretty stupid not to take Diners, in fact I actually find it absurd (particularly when you would think that Diners holders are probably pretty cashed-up, cluey people). I reckon it's often likely that they haven't been bothered getting a Diners merchant account set up because of lack of business acumen rather than anything to do with paying fees.

 

[albyd]

Thanks for that insight kooky. I understand - largely all depends on individual spend pattern.

When my bank issued Amex was my main card, approx 80% of spend went through it. So assuming will be a little less with DC but still the majority based on your experience.

I've been trying to switch everything I can to DC last few months. Still using my Prestige for everything else. Given the recent positive rewards enhancements on Prestige & particularly as most partners are 1:1 with some 1.33:1 I'm reluctant to move to 0.625:1 on the MC. Guess doesn't hurt to run 2 points warehouses DC for SPG & Prestige for the rest.

 

[andye]

Have just tried an small online DC to SPG transfer-will report back

 

[Johnstone]

Just a quick question: Say if I want to put a big amount through (let's say $100k?). As long as I prepay the full amount in advance, will they just let it through, or will I still need to get this "pre-authorised"?

 

[albyd]

In my experience will still need to get it pre authorized though should be pre authorized easily. They will ask what it's for but shouldn't be a major issue depending on what it is you're paying.

 

[Johnstone]

Thanks Albyd - finally got my card after one month of waiting!

 

[drron]

Best to get preauthorisation.Even that sometimes fail.
On one occasion I was making a large purchase in the USA.Obviously it was in US dollars.DC then changed that to the $A as of that day and declined the purchase as the $A had gone down on the day of purchase so it wasn't the amount they had pre authorised.The change was <1% of the total.

 

[albyd]

Thanks Albyd - finally got my card after one month of waiting!

Welcome to the world of DC Johnstone. By now, you will have figured out it can be a little fiddly at times but versatility of rewards points makes up for it.

 

[kooky]

I noticed there seemed a delay in posting payments to the account over Easter, for example on Tuesday there seemed to be no change and everything seemed only to update on the Wednesday. Little things like that you get used to over time. The mechanics though overall seem solid.

 

[Johnstone]

Welcome to the world of DC Johnstone. By now, you will have figured out it can be a little fiddly at times but versatility of rewards points makes up for it.

Thanks Albyd - I'm hoping the SPG points will be worth the hassle.

Say if I prepay a big amount (say $100k) and Diners does not let me pay an invoice with my card, then effectively is my $100k stuck in my Diners account? Is there anyway to transfer it back into my bank?

 

[albyd]

I've recently made a pre payment that I had authorized to make on MC but didn't work with merchant so used another card. Had a big credit.

They were confused as to whether would refund by "rejecting" my BPay back to source bank or a cheque. Ended up getting credit in my DD account within 2 weeks.

 

[Johnstone]

I've recently made a pre payment that I had authorized to make on MC but didn't work with merchant so used another card. Had a big credit.

They were confused as to whether would refund by "rejecting" my BPay back to source bank or a cheque. Ended up getting credit in my DD account within 2 weeks.

Do you mean Diners transferred the money back into your Bank account?

 

[albyd]

That's right - they transferred to the account they Direct Debit payments from.

 

[Johnstone]

Ah Cool thank Albyd - always giving good advice

 

[andye]

Have just tried an small online DC to SPG transfer-will report back

Arrived this afternoon so 15 days. I did call diners to chase up a couple of hours before they posted-they said up to 28 days
Am now reasonably confident enough to try a larger transfer online

 

[albyd]

I'm coming up to another Canberra payment. Given they can be touchy about large payments (even if prepaid) & risk of T&Cs being specific about this merchant, I've kept payments <20k at a time every few months & mixed in other spend. Usually put rest thru other cards.

I'm toying with the idea of putting a little more thru this time again splitting it with another card.

I'm interested in how much and how frequently other members on here have been paying this merchant.

 

[CWM]

They updated their rewards website but now I can't seem to find SPG? Was quite worried (have quite a lot of points built up and only transfer to SPG) so I called them and after a lot of back and forth finally they found SPG and I was able to transfer via phone. Hopefully it works OK.

Albyd - had an anonymous phone call from someone claiming to be with DC complaining about a $10k payment, said it had to be prepaid. But another (identified) DC phone operator previously told me there is no point earn if I prepay, so not going to do it. They get their transaction fee and it's a good one. I asked anonymous caller about this and they denied but then admitted "the points may take more time to post" so mass confusion.

 

[Johnstone]

They updated their rewards website but now I can't seem to find SPG? Was quite worried (have quite a lot of points built up and only transfer to SPG) so I called them and after a lot of back and forth finally they found SPG and I was able to transfer via phone. Hopefully it works OK.

Albyd - had an anonymous phone call from someone claiming to be with DC complaining about a $10k payment, said it had to be prepaid. But another (identified) DC phone operator previously told me there is no point earn if I prepay, so not going to do it. They get their transaction fee and it's a good one. I asked anonymous caller about this and they denied but then admitted "the points may take more time to post" so mass confusion.

Uh Oh - I prepaid $60k last week... I didn't know what I wouldn't get my points! Is there anything in the terms and conditions which says that wouldn't honour the points if we repay?

 

[CWM]

I wouldn't panic yet - the point is the message from DC is confused on this. I have a charge card and one sales member told me I wouldn't get reward points if I pre-paid, another said I would but they might post later. It would be great if you could let us know how you go Johnstone, hopefully it's all good.

 

[Johnstone]

I wouldn't panic yet - the point is the message from DC is confused on this. I have a charge card and one sales member told me I wouldn't get reward points if I pre-paid, another said I would but they might post later. It would be great if you could let us know how you go Johnstone, hopefully it's all good.

Ahh cool will let you guys know. Fingers crossed! I had to pay 1% surcharge, so if I just wasted $600, I'm going to be very annoyed