Diners Club, Discover, and MasterCard
Dec 11, 2012, 7:24 am
#16
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There is no confusion for cards issued in Canada or USA. However, for cards issued elsewhere there is probably uncertainty in North America about whether Discover merchants will actually accept the card.
Dec 11, 2012, 11:35 pm
#17
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I remember there was a Mastercard logo on the back of the card before the changes. It was there, so the cardowners was able to use it in the USA, where Mastercard was accepted, it was not possible to use the card anywhere else in the world with a MC sign, only if the merchants accepted Diners.
Dec 12, 2012, 1:03 pm
#18
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That was it, in theory. In practice it didn't work at least in e.g. Radio Shack even though they tried to process it.
Dec 12, 2012, 1:37 pm
#19
Join Date: Jul 2004
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My experience has been that US merchants do accept Diners Club International cards as if they were Discover cards. However, many online US Web sites have not updated their software to recognise Diners Club cards on the Discover network. A notable exception is PayPal, which accepts Diners Club cards as Discover cards for US$ charges, even though PayPal does not accept American Express (at least in Australia).
Dec 15, 2012, 5:12 am
#20
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Dec 22, 2012, 3:56 pm
#21
Join Date: Jun 2011
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Maybe this will bring some more value sort of "justsaying"
Dec 24, 2012, 4:24 pm
#22
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Dec 24, 2012, 7:24 pm
#23
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Diners club ownership
Interesting discussion and I think clarified some things for people. However, I must note that Citicorp sold the US/Canada Diners club license about three years ago to BMO, the holding company for Bank of Montreal. US cards say Harris Bank as it is the principal US operation of BMO. They sent me my first Chip-and-Pin card last spring and I used it successfully in July when I was in Halifax for Tall Ships. Told the bartendress at the ritzy bar on the waterfront to "be gentle with me" because it was my first time, but everything sailed right through. Haven't yet used it in any third countries, but of course it works as a swipe card in the USA.
Dec 27, 2012, 6:57 pm
#24
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*In the days before my US-issued DC was a MasterCard, I found all too many cases of merchants who had a DC logo on the door but it turned out that they had stopped accepting DC years ago and had just never removed the logo. So I don't think you can trust the logo on the door to be 100% correct.
Dec 13, 2013, 4:08 am
#25
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Diners Club Deal Troubles Discover
Was an interesting story regarding Diners franchise becoming a big debt for Discover..
Diners Club Deal Troubles Discover
Discover expected it to expand their network when they bought international part of Diners. Now some of their franchise including Italian are in trouble..
Though not directly related,
I plan to keep US Diners (Master) but cancel international (Discover) one.
Diners Club Deal Troubles Discover
Discover expected it to expand their network when they bought international part of Diners. Now some of their franchise including Italian are in trouble..
Though not directly related,
I plan to keep US Diners (Master) but cancel international (Discover) one.
Dec 13, 2013, 5:34 pm
#26
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If you can't read the whole article using the link above because you're not a WSJ subscriber, go to Google News and search for that article title, and it'll come up with a version you can read.
Btw, what's the 1963 movie about Diners Club that they're talking about?
Dec 13, 2013, 6:37 pm
#27
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Dec 13, 2013, 9:43 pm
#28
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Interesting article. Yeah, it's been bumpy, but Rome wasn't built in a day. In the beginning, how many years did it take before Discover was profitable? The fact was that they needed an overseas network, and plugging into DC's was a heck of a lot faster and cheaper than spending years, if not decades, doing it from scratch.
When they bought DC, Discover made a decision, maybe or maybe not correct, to only take over the network, and not get into the DC card issuance.
It's a long term strategy, and it's costing more than they thought it would, but they are making fantastic strides in getting Discover acceptance up.
When they bought DC, Discover made a decision, maybe or maybe not correct, to only take over the network, and not get into the DC card issuance.
It's a long term strategy, and it's costing more than they thought it would, but they are making fantastic strides in getting Discover acceptance up.
Dec 14, 2013, 10:22 am
#29
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Discover did not have the option to issue Diners Club cards in established markets. The franchise model was established even before Citi acquired Diners in the early 1980's. This was obscured by the fact that Citi was both the network operator/franchisor -and- the franchisee in many markets, but Discover cannot (for example) issue Diners Club cards in Canada or the USA unless they buy back the franchise from BMO.