Originally Posted by
jamar
It doesn't work on every single machine, remember? I've had a few times where the machine errors out with "restricted card" or "C2- BIN restricted" so some acquirers seem to be blocking Discover specifically. This is why I don't want to let go of the ICBC card I do have.
Oh yeah, and the miles (or in my case, sometimes Marriott points- there's one Renaissance hotel in Shanghai I eat lunch at fairly often when I'm there and 5x points on the Marriott card+elite discount is hard to pass up).
Sometimes Discover's anti fraud kicks in, and the POSs would say things from "Stolen Card", "Locked Card" to "Expired Card" and other weird stuff. If you have Discover Mobile, just log in, and it will show "Fraud Alert", with that denied transaction listed. Like confirm that was done by you, and your card will be good in no time.
I am curious to your eating lunch in Renaissance in Shanghai and get CC bonus and elite discount stuff. I have the Chase Ritz Carlton CC, and when I go to Ritz Carlton Financial Street in Beijing, the restaurants use BoComm machines, which are different from there front desk BoC machine. With Chase, only the BoC machine with the merchant name of "Ritz Carlton Beijing Financial Street" is recognized for 5X points. The restaurants' ones have names totally in Pinyin.
Chase re-instated points for about five times, and the last time the rep explicitly told me this POS is not entitled to 5X points.
How is your situation at this Renaissance?
Also, if you are Platinum, you get dining discounts? Do you have to be checked in at the hotel to get the discount?
Originally Posted by
kebosabi
Discover has a decent points/miles/cashback program, no FTFs and no subject to VISA/MC rules regarding DCC, but it's not really marketed heavily as a card for international travelers.
Not withstanding, it can be a good card to use if one doesn't want to deal with the hassles of FTFs and DCCs.
Only if you put a home sticker of 银联 on the card, can you use Discover without hassle. People will treat it as a foreign card, and the irony is, even though it is used as UnionPay card inside UnionPay's system (issuer is "UnionPay International Business Platform"), people think they have to see the "Discover" or "Diner's Club" logo on their "accepted cards" board to accept it. In the end, it is really not accepted at so many places.