"Diners NOT welcomed here"
 

Just an amusing observation...I was at a Mobil gas station today and while pumping gas, looked over a sign above the pump that showed an impressive number of cards (including little pictures) that were accepted for payment. Someone at the station had gone to each pump and crossed a big black "X" through the DC logo. So....they accept the Mongolian Credit Bureau Card and the Sheepherders Union Card but no longer accept DC.

Any other places where you have observed this non-acceptance?

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In Canada there are a few places which have dumped the card including all Canadian Ralph Lauren stores!

I've been to more than one restaurant in the Seattle area where the DC sticker is on the door, the check arrives in a DC-logo'd bill presentment thing, but they refuse to accept DC.

You can use DC indirectly at any of the Mobil's that are set up to use SpeedPass. Just make your payment card be DC.

www.speedpass.com

The Diners Club website still lists both Mobil and Exxon as accepting Diners

http://www.dinersclubnorthamerica.co...equestid=14286

Quokka: The DC is rarely updated to reflect those merchants who have stopped accepting the card.

BearX220: I have even been to restaurants that uses the DC receipt tray only to find out that they do not accept DC anymore.

Ditto for US Polo stores!!

I too have received a restaurant bill thingie with the DC logo on it, slipped my DC inside, and then gotten it back from the waiter saying "we don't take those anymore."

Well, then go out and buy new bill thingies, you cheapskates!!

Acceptance is probably the main reason I'm not going to keep my DC. There's nothing more frustrating then to try and guess if someone takes DC. Here are some examples:

1. Store accepts DC but doesn't know how to process it. Always have to remember to tell them "process as a Discover"
2. Restaurant that I've eaten at regularly and used DC now doesn't take it. No notice on door or register about DC not being accepted.
3. Another regular restaurant that still has DC sticker on window and has always taken it, told by waiter after presenting card "we have new system, not accept DC anymore, senor"
4. Actually purchased small, cheap item to verify that DC would go through on store's system before making major purchase.
5. General rule of thumb: just because parent company accepts it, don't believe for a minute that all locations do. Applies to gas stations, restaurants, (fill-in-the-blank-yourself).
6. General disbelief expressed by most store clerks that what I'm holding is really a credit card with a $12-16K spending limit.
7. Online merchants who's website prominently features DC logo, payment options include DC on order form, but system mysteriously rejects order with "unable to authorize CC" message. Many phone calls/emails later, someone figures out they really don't take DC.
8. New business (usually a restaurant) accepts DC (or so I'm told) but cashier tells me that they haven't gotten set up with DC yet, will be a few weeks (or months).

It really ticks me off when I have to scramble to come up with another payment method like debit card or cash when I was expecting to use DC. There's been times when I spent more than I would have if I was using cash or other method because I knew DC would be 60 days out being paid. Like taking family to sushi house and spending $80+ thinking that I was smart enough to call and confirm that they take DC when they really didn't. $80 is still a lot when you had it earmarked for other purposes and didn't intent to spend it.

BTW, I ran $45K through DC last year so I'm definitely experienced with their acceptance.

When I tried to pay for dinner at a San Antonio with DC, the 50+ waitress told me, "Wow, we don't see many of those anymore."

With DC raising the annual fee, they are likely to see even fewer of the cards in the future.

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Middle_Seat

One problem I ran into once was that the online merchant's accounting department was set up to take DC, but that the web developer who worked on the credit card acceptance page made a blanket assumption that any card that starts with 3 must have 15 digits, and rejected the DC card number since it was only 14 digits long before it even got to the credit card processing software.

I don't know if this would work everywhere, but it would probably work in Texas (note, I'm not an attorney, so I'm not recommending this or even saying that it's correct):

Tell the cashier that you were planning on using DC, and that you'll have to mail them a check when you get home. Explain the situation to the manager, give them your correct name and address, and walk out (of course, you actually do have to send them the check!). I've seen this play out in person (not with DC, but with another credit card that for whatever reason wouldn't authorize). The store called the police, but the officer said that as long as the person made a genuine attempt to pay, no crime was committed in this situation and the store just has to live with it. Of course, you have to give your correct information, then actually pay later, or it's theft.

I don't think I'd have the nerve to do this myself, but it would no doubt create quite a scene, and probably teach the restaurant a lesson about displaying credit card stickers for cards that they don't actually accept.

What's most frustrating about these situations is that the merchant always seems to act as if it's the customer's problem and that the customer is acting unreasonably in trying to pay with a card they don't accept, even when they are displaying the acceptance sticker. It would be a lot less frustrating if they were apologetic.

I agree with Steve(even though I've pretty much bagged using Diners). If a restaurant had an item on the menu at $20 and then the bill came with it listed at $100 and their only excuse was "oops, we changed our policy, and we forgot to post it," no one would expect the consumer to just say "oh, okay, fine." Failing to take down the Diners sticker on the front door really amounts to the same thing.

A larger question of course is why so many merchants dump them.

I was told the other day by an Air Jamaica rep. that they have been instructed by the accounting department to not accept DC.

Steve M: The story about the customer not being able to pay at the resto using DC is ironic seeing that DC was started when the founder found himself in a restaurant without cash to setlle his bill.

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AMEX Platinum (Canada)

Where do you get the Sheepherders Union Card?

In Georgia, if you leave an establishment without paying, it's call "theft of services", a misdemeanor.

I agree, it really tells you how much a merchant cares about your business when you deal with situations like these. In ALL of the situations where they refused to accept my DC, I was treated like I had tried to pay with a gas credit card or my library card. Needless to say, they've all hit the bottom of my list. The one merchant who still gets my business put up signs by his entrance advising patrons that they wouldn't be taking DC at the end of the month. How a merchant treats you when you're attempting to pay is indicative of how he runs his business in general. Merchants who tried to accept my DC or find out why they couldn't get it to work and were nice about it continued to get my business. The ones who just blew me off, didn't.

In CA, leaving a restaurant without paying is called "defrauding an innkeeper " (love the title) and was a common ploy for derelicts and homeless mental patients in the winter to get "3 hots and a cot" in jail...


We had an experience with a resto in SFO that had Amex on their door and folio but when we went to pay the waitron came back and said they didn;t take it anymore. We put up a mild fuss and they took it...