Amex not accepted

When I applied for the Amex Card (I did so because I will soon no longer be able to earn flying club miles with my Virgin Mastercard)I was told that contrary to my own belief that Amex was not widely accepted, it would be accepted by any major company or instutution in the uk. If I found somewhere that I wanted to shop at etc and they did not accept amex, to get in touch and their team would contact the company and would point out that amex charges for businesses were now much lower and try to get them signed up.

Low and behold I went to pay my university tutition fees today for Cardiff ( rather sizeable institution I'm sure you'll agree) they don't accept amex. I called up to let the team know and they thought I was bonkers! Said no such scheme as mentioned above existed and that there was nothing I could do. Now I can't pay my fees as this was my only method.

Virgin keep harping on about how quick it is to earn miles with amex - but I disagree as I can't seem to use it anywhere! can they sort this out and has anybody else been told the same as me...?

[Bazz]

Unfortunately you will still find, esp in the UK, that there are many companies and organisations where Amex 'will not do nicely'. Visa and Mastercard are still far more widely accepted and generally charge lower Merchant fees than Amex hence the problem.

Unfortunately I am now aware of that from experience - I'm annoyed that when I put that point to the person on the other end of the phone who was trying to convert me to the Amex card, they assured me that this was not the case and if I ever found it to be the case then they would be 'on it'. Now I can't pay me fees for uni which means I have to defer my MA for a year which screws up my plans.

[preiffer]

I'd say take them up on their offer. Call them up, and ask them to "get onto it" with the Uni...

[Neil]

Have you no longer got your Virgin Mastercard? If so why not use that, and then transfer the balance to your VS Amex card with 0% on bal transfers for 6months!

Neil

I did and they thought I was barmy! Saying no such thing existed and that's my problem!

[No longer have it Neil otherwise would have done that but thanks for the thought

I tried to pay my tuition fees on Amex, tried on every occassion and was rebuffed every year! On my second attempt in 2003 I did actually fill out an online form that I presumed got Amex to get in contact with said merchant to offer their services (for want of a better word). This was before the website got a makeover and now I can't find it.

Either way when I went to pay my final load of fees in 2004 I was still asked to hand over Visa/Mastercard. by this time I'd applied for the bmi Mastercard...

I've also had the reverse problem - when I tried to pay a bill at a garage where there were Amex stickers & leaflets all over the place. Offered an Amex card and the excuses started to come out about the machine not accepting Amex cards on a regular basis & my transaction was "likely to be declined". (Basically the guy was happy to take whatever financial inducement Amex had offered for displaying their logo / leaflets, but did not want to pay their merchant fees for a payment).

He took my card in the end when I pulled my mobile out and said I'd be onto Amex there & then if the transaction was declined as my account was fine. Oddly enough, the transaction went through with no problems - his card machine must of been having a good day.

[mcmbenjamin]

My school does not take AmEx. My United Visa offers double miles on school stuff (fees, books, tickets, food and the like).

oaktrees79
I'd apply for another visa/mastercard pronto (Cardiff Uni do their own incidentally)and if you're really desperate speak to your bank to see if they can offer a career development loan/something of that ilk to pay your fees.University of Wales will often split fee payments for people suffering "financial hardship" which may make things easier.I'd speak with the course tutor/head of department as they may be able to help too.I'd say deferring should be the final option you should consider - difficult to re-motivate after a year (I deferred my MSc last year with the intention of re-commencing this September- needless to say I'm not!!)

oaktrees79

Although you no longer have the card, the account number is still valid for 90 days from when you converted to Amex. Does the Uni accept payments by phone? If so then you just need the details rather than the physical card.

There is a scheme where you can advise Amex of somewhere you would like to use your card but I guess it had to be direct to Amex. Try 01273 69 69 33 or here

Appreciate all suggestions. Career Devel Loan is out as I won't be staying in the EU long enough - min 12 months and I have a life to live in Australia. Not sure I qualify for hardship though I have no other ways to pay other than cc. Still have the old a/c number though so that may be a winner and thanks for the amex number where I can advise them where I would like to use my card - at least some scheme such as this exists.... cheers guys!

We've just returned from a week in Cornwall and nowhere we visited accepted AMEX - except for petrol stations. I must admit I was surprised as here in the south-east most restaurants and shops accept it. I reckoned they'd take it in the Rick Stein Seafood Restaurant, but alas no [n]

can you use amex at john lewis

[Neil]

Originally posted by alexb
can you use amex at john lewis

Alex - you cannot use your Amex at John Lewis, here and here are some recent threads with some info on which stores do and do not accept Amex.

Neil:)

[HighFlyer]

Originally posted by alexb
can you use amex at john lewis

Not at John Lewis ... or at Ocado ... but Waitrose accepts it? Go figure!

Thanks,
Sarah

[RichardMannion]

Hi,

There is a team that does deal with this kind of issue, it is called the suppression and acceptance team. They are based at AmEx though - MBNA won't understand the concept as that is way beyond them. The card is built on the AmEx platform so you should direct it to AmEx direct.

Speedbird is right about a page on the website somewhere about this practice but I can't find it at the moment, but then the UK AMEx site is absolutely appalling for a financial instituion of their size.

Here is the spiel they give to merchants though to get them to try and take the card:
Tidied up URL

Suppression unit deal with the following:
- Places that display the AmEx logo but try and encourage you to use another card
- Places that take the card but charge a fee (above and beyond a like-for-like card) for taking AmEx. So if they charge £2 fee for VISA, but £5 for AmEx kind of thing...
- Places that don't take AmEx

All I will say is don't expect miracles - I very rarely hear back from the feedback Ihave given when encountering one of the above - they did dish out MR points for a while for each one they accepted but we're talking early 2000-01.

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by Attitude23
Have you no longer got your Virgin Mastercard? If so why not use that, and then transfer the balance to your VS Amex card with 0% on bal transfers for 6months!

Neil

Someone reads too much of Martin Lewis [}:)]

I boooked theatre tix yesterday - and guess what - they didn't accept Amex either. It wasn't part of a huge chain of theatres, but was, nonetheless, in a 'trendy' part of London. Only mention that, as you'd think that if it were accepted anywhere, it would be somewhere like that. But no....

I made this comment in another post I made a few days ago.

Had a letter from Amex saying that My old card number was being used for direct debits one of which was SKY digital and no they don't take amex either.

When I asked at sky the guy "I don't think many people accept that"

Regards

Paul

The list of places that I can't use AmEx is now getting annoying! I've got to the point where I am fed up looking for the little logo in shop windows or on the PoS machine....

G.

[Neil]

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by Attitude23
Have you no longer got your Virgin Mastercard? If so why not use that, and then transfer the balance to your VS Amex card with 0% on bal transfers for 6months!

Neil

Someone reads too much of Martin Lewis [}:)]

Guilty as charged [:I], you can pick up some quite useful tips though[y], every little saved means more money to spend on holidays and clothes;)

Originally posted by Attitude23

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by Attitude23
Have you no longer got your Virgin Mastercard? If so why not use that, and then transfer the balance to your VS Amex card with 0% on bal transfers for 6months!

Neil

Someone reads too much of Martin Lewis [}:)]

Guilty as charged [:I], you can pick up some quite useful tips though[y], every little saved means more money to spend on holidays and clothes;)

Absolutely!!!!! [y]

Guys looks likw Virgin have totally stiffed us with the switch to AmEx, sounds like non of us will earn any points with the Amex card so the whole switch to AmEx for double points was worthless. Perhaps we should start lobbying Virgin direct....