WORLDWIDE TRAVELER

Why you sign a slip where the tip is automaticly added?
It is not the fault of Diners Club and they are absolutely right in saying that you have signed the receipt.
Do you dont check your receipts before sign?
Here in Europe Diners Club is a superior Credit Card company with lots of services and beyond.

Markot.

Yup agree on that one.
DC in southeastern part of Europe is very very strong.

brosnan6

I'm not an idiot, I DID check the receipt before signing. But what do you do when you have no other choice? You have to sign otherwise presumably the restaurant would call the cops on you for stealing.

In the past when I've had issues that the store/restaurant didn't deal with on the spot, American Express has always been more than helpful with taking care of it after the fact. How would I know that other credit card companies do not look out for the customer? I had no idea that Diners had such customer-unfriendly policies.

tsastor

So what would you have done if dealing in cash? Paid?

brosnan6

If in cash I would have simply subtracted the "mandatory" gratuity.

tsastor

I'm not sure what you mean by saying you didn't have the option to ask that the bill be corrected on the spot.

mikimedic

I love diners.

For a single 50 EUR that I pay to DC in my home country, I get unlimited and free access to any of their lounges. Right now am in SVO and had to change to another lounge as the 1st one had such a ...... internet access. So two lounges in one day - on diners. Now they will probably tell me my two hours in this lounge is up, but no problem, I will just charge another visit to my DC.

Have to say that as my DC is issued in my home country (and in my home currency) and I live abroad, I barely make any other transactions with it, but paying mere 50 EUR membership fee.

Well done DC!

mia

It would be helpful if you were to mention the name of the country where your card is issued.

tsastor

mikimedic,

Sounds like you are not exactly a dream customer to Diners. I'm a little unsure about what you think you will achieve with your post.

neilyork

I'm not sure what strategy Diners has. Citi didn't do much with the brand when they had it, then sold off some of their franchises to franchisees who simply didn't have the capital to re-invent what was once a great card.

If you look at the various DC conferences and advertising of recent years, the slogan "believe" has been used a lot. But not much has been done to make the card appealing - £50 a year for lounge access must surely lose a lot of money, certainly for the UK franchise holder.

Then you see some franchises going bust, such as Slovenia, so retailers risk not being paid (in the case of Slovenia I understand Discover came to the rescue in the short term).

Then look at the rewards scheme - worth about half the amount of Amex Rewards.

And the ultimate nail? Well, when I was on holiday in Italy recently after a meal I would ask the waiter 'Do you take Diners Club?' and invariably the answer would be 'no, but we take Amex'. I find the same in the UK.

So yes, £50 a year for unlimited lounge access is great, and I do use it a lot. But, I'm acutely aware that Affiniture Cards who issue my card here in the UK cannot be making much money. So they may follow other Euro propositions and bring in minimum spends to get lounge access - which makes the card even less appealing.

Like other DC card holders, I really want to see the card prosper. But for all the reasons outlined, and speaking as a cardholder, it just isn't my perfect card at the moment.

Having said all of the above, my Diners card was welcomed everywhere in Norway!

mikimedic

Serbia.

And who is a 'dream customer' by your definition? Someone spending hefty on a card, and not visiting lounges at all?

Maybe in your opinion, but surely not shared by Diners (if it was, I suppose they would have never had provided lounge access as part of their package).

Why should they be any 'achievement' with postings in a public forum, rather than sharing an opinion?

What exactly are you 'achieving' by having responded to me?

Sohail Iqbal

So I thought I would update this, I have indeed moved over my spend from Amex to a couple of credit cards.

DC was supposed to be my main card for spending but I have been offered a much better rate per £ from Lloyds Tsb (1.5 avios per £1!).

DC has a lot of potential, the staff within the company are amazing. If anything I can't fault them but they are under immense pressure at times.

The blog posts etc higlighting the free lounge access resulted in a flood of applications and cancellations. I believe this is why the UK franchise has now bought in a £15 fee per visit. Plus many people held onto the card simply for lounge access and didn't charge much to the cards. It costs them £17 a lounge visit.

A shame.. a real shame that one of the key "selling" points has now gone. The insurance offered under the card is OK but not the best in the industry. It hasn't made me question the £50 price tag a year though, for diners has a rich history and does appeal to me. The fact that I know staff members on a first name basis helps ease out any bumps.

I have bumped into a lot of issues over the last couple of months, mainly payment collection, card delivery and card acceptance in the past months. The payment collection was simply the collection of an incorrect amount by direct debit, it took them 2 weeks to refund me. The card replacement was another nightmare in which they told me incorrect information and me having to ring up every day to reactivate my card and the card acceptance has been a totally different story in which big high street chains have refused the card or had problems getting authorization.

The staff members have taken on board my comments fully in my complaint and I have already seen massive changes implimented, which is awesome.

Overall? I'll stick to the card until my year comes to an end. If it doesn't improve I'm ditching it and going back to Amex. If things do improve (and I am hoping so) I will happily channel all my spend through the card.

I do think once the Barclay payment terminal acceptance is implimented and a possible rewards shake up is considered, I will stick to the card. Currently I have mixed emotions about the card. It's great when it works but then when they do mess up they don't really got the extra mile, which I am used to from every bank, I bank with.

Even amex ironed out the issues I had with them and we have all come to a respectable resolution, I had a letter of apology from the vice president!