ozstamps

On this tangent, here is something I always do and others here might benefit from.

MANY places charge 3-6% "penalty" to use Amex. This actually is a clear breach of Merchant rules. Visa and Mastercard here frankly do not care, but AMEX sure does.

If I am in some carpet Bazaar in Turkey or a travel agent in the Falkland Islands as I just was, (for many $1000s) and they demand the extra fee, I always agree as long as they itemise it, i.e. Travel $3000 + 5% card fee = $3150, I sign for it. When account from Amex comes in I post the receipt and ask the $150 be "rebated to me and take whatever action deemed appropriate against the merchant"

Then it is Amex's call. I doubt with a rug shop in Instanbul that they bother .. not my problem tho.



------------------
~ Glen ~

Ferrari

Shareholder.

My mistake, it was CP not AC.

I hope AC takes this up with Amex.

clanson

Excellent point about itemizing the card use fee. I've run into this from time to time and will most certainly follow your lead in the future.

Tute84

Merchants are allowed to advertise their general prices as "cash prices," in which they buyer can pay with cash or check. They are allowed to add a 3% or so charge to process the credit card. However, they are not allowed to impose an upper or lower charge limit.

MagMile

This is not correct as to Visa, MC, and probably the other major card brands. Merchants are not allowed to "surcharge." Some of the credit card systems allow merchants to offer a cash "discount" but require the posted price to be the one for credit card users. They can advertise a "cash price" but must post a credit price (possibly more prominently--I'm not sure).

johna

Two car-related stories:

About 8 years ago, my sister and I went to pick up her new Saturn, $17,000. As we went in, I noticed the VISA sign, and suggested we try that; they accepted - $6,000 on her card (near Christmas, so she wanted to keep some open credit) and $11,000 on mine. This was back when a free ticket was still 20,000 miles, so we were way ahead. Plus she was 1½ months ahead on interest, since she had taken a (tax deductible) line of credit on the house that she had planned to pay with, and our card payments weren't due for 1½ months.

A few months later, I got a notice from my card company that they were upping my limit "to make sure it keeps pace with my needs".

And a few years later, I went with her to have the car serviced and noticed a discreet sign that "charge cards accepted for parts and service only." Yes, I'm sure they lost money on us.

The other story is that when I had a "small" accident in '94 (to the tune of $5,000 damage, my car only), my insurance company sent me a check made out to me AND the body shop. Makes sense - a lot of people wouldn't be able to cash a $5,000 check. But I asked (nicely) and they re-issued the check to me alone; if my rates are going to go up that much (and they did for a few years), I at least wanted to get the miles by charging the repairs!

[This message has been edited by johna (edited 01-18-2001).]

ozstamps

Tute, I can't speak for the USA, but I have been a merchant for Amex, Diners, Visa and Mastercard for 25 years. The official party line is NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

Sure in Hong King etc, they do this everysecond of every day. Even on 49th Street in NYC on electronic goods they'll often try it on, in practice. But as a MERCHANT, they'd painfully castrate me here if I tried to do it. They simply cancel your merchant account - no contest. And as posted above as a CARDHOLDER I get Amex to rebate ME the 3-6% "surcharge" when they levy it.

"You don't ask, you don't get". Applies to Amex as much as to Airlines.

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~ Glen ~

bers

ozstamps, are minimum and maximums allowed then?

Frequently Australia shops display a minimum $X required for a credit card purchase. Is this okay?

Also, Australia has an added element in using the business related chargings Fringe Benefits Tax (hence the Global Rewards Visa ruling). I don't believe this has been affected by tax changes. Basically, frequent flyer points become a taxable fringe benefit in this situation and are taxed as though you earnt the dollar value of the benefit on top of other earnings.

CMW

I recently got the Delta Skymiles Platinum and got 15000 miles with the opportunity to earn another 15000 miles if I spend $15,000 in 6 months. I am looking to buy a new car that costs around $20,000. The problem is that AMEX would only give me a limit of $5400. (I guess because I have all these other FF affinity cards with high limits) In any case I don't think I can spend 15,000 in 6 months without charging at least 10,000 or 12,0000 as part of the purchase of the new car. Any advice on how to go about doing this to charge that much at the dealership? I already got them to up my credit limit and that's as high as AMEX would go.

bokich

Even if a dealer is willing to let you charge the entire purchase price of a car, I'd be somewhat leery of doing so, particularly if they agreed to take the credit card before you began negotiating.

My guess is that although you wouldn't see it, you'd still end up paying the credit card service fee, it would simply be hidden in the final price you pay for the car. You probably could have negotiated them down further - however they held firm if they knew they were on the hook for $xxxx in credit card service fees.

(This of course is not an issue for flat-rate pricing establishments such as Saturn, where there is no negotiating involved.)

[This message has been edited by bokich (edited 01-19-2001).]

0524

I have linked my corporate Amex (I own the company) to my personal Amex in the Membership Rewards program. Since I buy blocks of hotel rooms, cruise cabins, group meals, etc., in my job, the miles pile up by the gazillions. It's too good to be true. What's a guy to do?

wigstheone

Travel?

outoftown

As a former AMEX employee, let me clear up a few misconceptions...1. I recall there was a single charge for $2.5M to get the mileage, but I believe it was for hospital equipment, not a painting. 2. Two Ferraris was the biggest single transaction automobile purchase that I was aware of pre-1992 3. Vendors are not allowed to add additional surcharges for use of a card they advertise that they accept. However an informed purchaser may ask about a cash discount. Small volume vendors pay higher percentages and these are the ones most likely to offer cash discounts. 4. IMHO, anyone who uses plastic to buy a vehicle could have negotiated a better deal. If you don't know the difference between dealer invoice and factory invoice or what dealer holdback is, mileage bonuses achieved by using plastic to buy your vehicle may have been at too high a cost. The only plastic that should be used to buy a vehicle was the Ford Citibank Card (Citibank replaced this with the Driver's Edge card) and the current GM Rebate Card through Household Bank (if you should really want a GM)

AlexB

As recently as 1996, I was able to pay for a car in full with Visa, but just this past week I was making the rounds of Detroit area Cadillac dealers, and not a one would accept a credit card for even a partial payment. The explanation given was that GMAC recently issued a letter prohibiting credit card use for vehicle purchases. Why is GMAC involved? They finance dealers' inventory and apparently have a say in how it is paid for, even if you are paying in full for the car.

But all was not lost...carmiles.com got me 10000 Delta miles, and the dealer who offered carmiles turned out to have the best price anyway.

When Plan A fails, try Plan B!

sheetz

It was Billioniare art collector Eli Broad who used his AMEX to pay for a $2.5 million Roy Lichtenstein painting in 1994.

It is mentioned in the 2nd paragraph at
http://www.sunamerica.com/InFocus/re...eprint0997.htm