What Gives With American Express Card

[Wade Lippman]

On the consumer side they are fantastic. Any issue at all, they are on it, reversing charges until settled. A hotel in Italy decided to charge us for a room we canceled within the window - bang, AMEX fixed it. A question about car rental fees we didn't sign for, AMEX fixed it. The added warranty for things purchased by AMEX might be useful for some. They have a strong fraud alert system and called me once when they detected possible suspicious activity, already holding payment until resolved. Another time they called to ask if it really was me purchasing something by phone with an Australian company.

I've successfully stopped all three of my disputed charges with VISA over the years.
Last year they reimbursed me in full for a computer that failed on day 367 of my 1 year warranty.
They have found half a dozen fraudulent charges over the years.

AMEX might be good, but VISA is good also.

[dennis thompson]

Gave up my Amex several years ago, too many places wouldn't accept it. Now use a Visa which has never been turned down.

[Neil Gaskin]

I use Amex as my primary personal card and one my business cards. I’ve not noticed acceptance problems other than a few select places. I’ve found their customer service far better than most other cars.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I'm curious where you guys live (or where you shop) that Amex isn't commonly accepted. I use one for nearly everything, and as Neil said, my (rare) need for customer service is an exceptional experience.

[John K Jordan]

Does AMEX offer cash back for purchases like the Amazon Visa and several other cards? I get rebates totaling hundreds of dollars per year and I pay no fee. ... Paypal is a good medium of exchange but the former CEO of that business heavily supported political causes with which I don't agree so I gave them up.

Don't do cash-back cards. I get thousands of dollars worth of airline tickets through AMEX which My Lovely Bride very much appreciates.

I use banks, cards, accountants, and such for financial reasons. Their personal politics, gender orientation, age, sports affiliation, favorite color, musical taste, and most other things are not my concern.

[Jim Becker]

Why did you stop doing business with some because of no Amex but keep doing business with the other(s) that also stopped?

I somewhat misspoke...It was primarily one local equestrian business and they were really snarky and obnoxious about it...pretty much telling me to take a hike for even asking to use my AMEX. So I did...to the other local shop in the same business cheerfully accepts AMEX and are doing twice the business of the folks who basically told me they didn't need mine. And now I'm working on a plan with them to carry my own products in their line exclusively, too. As to Costco...they did "hear from me", but they are too much of an important part of our purchasing activities. Because of the level of our rebates, our Executive membership ends up being better than free, we save money on a number of things we use a lot of and they have the least expensive gasoline available in the area. Their decision to leave their exclusive arrangement with AMEX for VISA after many, many years was a little different situation than the small businesses who's clearing services cost more for AMEX, too. It's more about private labeling. And...they don't take MasterCard or Discover, either.

[Jim Becker]

Does AMEX offer cash back for purchases like the Amazon Visa and several other cards?

Yes, they have a cash-back card available.

[lowell holmes]

I suspect merchants will take American Express while services like veterinarian clinics will not.

[John K Jordan]

I suspect merchants will take American Express while services like veterinarian clinics will not.

May be different elsewhere, but all the veterinarians I've dealt with take Amex, both the farm/large animal vets and the cat&dog vets. In fact, it is kind of unusual to find a place that doesn't take it - as mentioned, it seem mostly small specialty merchants without much volume. I mentioned I carry a Visa card for those cases but I rarely have to use it, whether online, local, domestic, or abroad.

[Wade Lippman]

Don't do cash-back cards. I get thousands of dollars worth of airline tickets through AMEX which My Lovely Bride very much appreciates.

That's a curious attitude. What do you have against getting 2% back?

[Tony Pisano]

I've liked my visa card. I always pay balance off when I get the bill.

[Myk Rian]

Well, I have a new Visa card coming and I will retire the American Express.

We did that a few years ago when Costco dumped Amex for Visa.

[John K Jordan]

That's a curious attitude. What do you have against getting 2% back?

I have nothing against a cash-back card. I don't need one since I'm happy with the Amex, and even better, my wife is happy! (for example: she likes to learn genuine Italian cooking in Italy) The card comes with good benefits, especially for overseas travel.

I haven't checked but I'm guessing use the amex for 98% of our purchases. Carry another card for 2% of the other 2%?

[roger wiegand]

I've used an Amex cash back card as our primary card for many years now, including for extensive travel abroad. Never had a problem with getting it accepted anywhere in the US and Europe. It has also mostly been fine in the big cities in Asia and Africa. with some issues as you get out to the villages. More often than not paces that don't take Amex don't take any other credit card either.

I also have an airline miles card, but have given up on it as the rules and availability of frequent flyer flights have made the miles darn near impossible to use. The cashback used to purchase tickets offers a lot more flexibility and sometimes a better deal. Flying on American out of Boston for example, they will add "fees" of about $650 to your "free" ticket to London, while at the same time selling the same out of season ticket for $500 if you just pay cash. I check every trip to see whether I can use my airline miles to buy my ticket and almost always fail to find anything other than the 22 hour, three leg flight to get from Boston to Chicago. I'm to the point of strongly preferring cash.

Amex customer service is fantastic. I lost my card in San Francisco once and they made me a new one on the spot. When I needed a replacement in rural Germany it was there the next morning by overnight express. They are fantastic with disputes and fraudulent charges. Zero hassles, all handled in one call.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The Lowes business card is an Amex card.
Lowes gives a 5% discount on everything put on that card, offers a flat $20 delivery charge for any delivery, has email promotions and a couple other perks that escape me right now.

I/we on;y use that card at Lowes though.

Another really nice feature of that card is that when you check out at the register, they ask for a PO number. With 6 rental properties to take care of, that feature is very appreciated.