Originally Posted by
T8191
What a great first experience for contacting ZA ... NOT.
Oh young padawan, you have so much to learn about SA. I suggest a casual read through the various fora here for a true sense of what it could be like. This forum as well as the South African Airways forum might give you a sense of the term "T.I.A."
On a more serious note, you'll have a great time. For first time visitors, I often recommend Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. Hope you enjoy it.
Originally Posted by
T8191
1. After telling the Stellenbosch establishment to forget it [and we found somewhere more suitable nearby anyway!] they came back this morning to say they didn't need all that after all, and my passport number and card details would be fine. So they didn't need a signed authorisation, or scans of both sides of my Amex and my passport after all!! Anyway, too late - they lost ZAR 22k and someone else wins
I'm surprised that someone at this place cared enough after you reached out to them and said no thanks and that you were taking your business elsewhere. See, above.
Originally Posted by
T8191
2. However ... during a morning of hotel bookings on-line, at 1026 I received an Amex fraud alert for an unexpected transaction. It was the first hotel on our list, so that cleared easily. Then, at 1959, I received another fraud alert ... "Kate Spade" had tried to spend £1,427!!
Sorry about that. Perhaps during your call with Amex re: hotel in #1, you could try and get to the bottom of who may have provided your card details. That might guide you to not patronize one of the three hotels you ultimately did book or perhaps the source of the card info leak was something else - merchant-wise.
Originally Posted by
T8191
So now I have had to contact all 3 hotels [who won't be able to get their deposits] and eventually register the new card with people like Amazon and PayPal.
Keep in mind that this will likely confuse matters. "Now, you want to give us a different card? Eish!" And, you are likely to have to transmit that new information via email rather than simply going online to a reservation system and simply logging in and using an add/change/cancel reservation online system. Good luck. Maybe AMEX can help with that. AMEX might (I'm totally speculating here) have back office people at AMEX who have back office/finance contacts at each of the three establishments whom AMEX can communicate with to update the card info. [EDIT Re-reading your quote, I see you've done it already. No bother but I thought I would leave these previous six or so sentences in. END EDIT]
Depending on your travel timelines, I'd STRONGLY suggest just a basic confirmation email to each establishment. "Ladies and Gentlemen. Reconfirming reservation XXX for [date] to [date] for party of Y for [such and such room type] at rate Z" Don't even mention the card info/issues. And, deal with it on arrival at the establishment of just presenting your current valid. Why? See first comment above.
Sorry to be so hit and miss. My experience is with SA (and mostly, Western Cape). You half get used to it, half expect it, half just know how to deal with it and half shrug it off and deal with the frustration (or drink). Yes, that's four halves. Sometimes, SA requires 200% of the effort.