I have ridiculously bad luck in getting anyone overseas to take my Amex. Particularly here. The few merchants who said they would then said that they needed to tack on a 5-10% (!) service charge in order to do so, as it was "company policy."

I of course asked to see a copy of this policy, and was told that there wasn't a copy around but that this was for sure the policy, no mistake. So then I would say, okay, if you can just get a manager to write this down on a piece of paper and then give me his card, that would be fine.

They'd ask why, and I would say, so I can send it to Amex and ask them why they allow this. And then they would refuse to give me the statement, of course. And in the end, I'd always pay with my Visa.

I love Amex. I hate that no one here takes it.