Diners Club runs on Discover Network - so why isn't Discover accepted?
 

(this has nothing to do with the US "Diners Club" Mastercards as they do not run on the Discover Network)

Diners Club is supposed to run on the Discover Network. For example, Diners Club cards issued in Japan have the Discover and Pulse logos on the back. (another picture) (yet another picture, apparently for sale too)

You would assume that the Discover card would therefore be accepted where Diners Club is accepted (in Japan), but that doesn't seem to be the case. (I'm also left wondering why Discover needed to ink a deal with JCB since Diners Club is a major payment method in Japan - but it seems you're even less likely to get Discover accepted as a JCB card than as a Diners Club.)

I personally have never gotten Discover accepted as either JCB or Diners Club online. I've yet to get a straight answer from any company and want to know if anyone else has any experience, whether positive or negative.

What is the value of the Discover Network if Discover and Diners Club aren't interchangeable? Has anyone gotten a Diners Club merchant to accept Discover, either in-store or online?

The reverse problem also frequently occurs. Many US websites that accept Discover do not accept Diners Club International cards, because the webmasters haven't taken the effort to recognize the card numbers used by Diners Club.

I was able to use my Discover card in Japan this summer twice. Once in a restaurant at a hotel (they had the JCB Logo and Decal) and once at the airport at a gift shop. JCB is huge in Japan, its one of the major networks there.

Gonna bump this one.. I was able to get a Delta Gas Station in Panama City with the Diners Club sticker on their door to try and run my card, but their system couldn't process it. A for effort, F for result.

I just read this. It's bad, but I've read other stuff that was similar.

The whole reason for buying Diner's Club was to get international usability. If Discover cards are not accepted 100% of the time, absolutely 100%, at Diner's Club merchants, then people still need to carry Visa/MC, and that buy was a pretty big waste of money.

Someone at Discover needs to get their behind kicked.

Just posting to note what the companies currently say:

Discover currently says that in Asia, Discover is only accepted at Diners Club merchants in just 5 countries: Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand. (Mainland China is obviously excluded because of UnionPay, though the situation is not explicitly stated for Hong Kong and Macau.) They also say in Japan, Discover is accepted at "almost all locations you see the JCB acceptance mark", as well as at the merchants that display a dedicated Discover logo (personally seen several merchants that do so). Japan is excluded because of JCB, but more on that:

JCB has a page where it looks suggests:
- American Express card acceptance may be arranged through American Express International or JCB
- Diners Club International card acceptance may be arranged through Citi Cards Japan or JCB
- Discover card acceptance may be arranged through JCB only
- UnionPay card acceptance may be arranged through JCB only

So for Japan at least, it would seem the lack of Discover acceptance via Diners Club International can be attributed to Citi Cards Japan, and the inconsistent acceptance of Discover via JCB is due to merchants which do not wish to pay(?) to accept Discover.