So I have a weird situation going on with my AmEx Gold card. It's a new card (technically my DH's, but I do most of the spending/shopping) and I've been having trouble paying for gas. I'm working toward the SUB right now, so I'm trying to put just about everything on this card. Anyway, I've tried getting gas twice in the past couple of days and it was declined. I used another card at the same pump and it worked fine. This was at 2 different gas stations as well. I chatted with AmEx last night and they said they aren't seeing any declined charges. My other card worked both times and the pump said "see cashier" (AKA your card was declined). Has anyone else had this experience? I've used the card for other purchases (tickets and dining) and it worked, so I'm just unsure what's going on.
Gas pumps can be finicky to begin with. My local one was having issues with my Discover card where the authorization request wasn't even making it to Discover but it was declining. I suspect it's something more to do with that particular station having issues with the Amex network if Amex isn't seeing an attempted purchase.
Have you ever tried using it at the inside counter?
Is the card reader at the pump a chip reader? It's not an AmEx card, but my debit card has issues with some of the chip readers at various places. It acts like the card has been declined, but the declined charge doesn't show up or give me a warning. But if I use a different card, it works fine. It could be an issue with the chip reader at those particular POS pumps.
I remember when I first got the Amex Blue Cash Preferred I attempted to get gas and my card was automatically declined. I tried again while at the station and same thing happened. When I got home I called Amex to see what was going on. Their fraud prevention department had blocked the 2 transactions. I explained it was me trying to make those purchases and they did something on their end to make this an accepted location. It's been nearly 2 years now and I never had another issue at that gas station. I'm hoping they can get this resolved for you.
Also worth noting, I'm not sure if you're using the card reader at the pump or not. I've heard people mention that certain gas pumps have trouble reading the Amex Gold and other metal cards because of how thick they are. That could also be what's is going on with your card. Some people have reported it often not working.
If Amex is not seeing declined charges, the issue is with the particular merchant(s) you attempted to make the purchase with. No charge was ever presented to Amex if they are not seeing it. Sounds like they were having issues with their payment network or their merchant account setup, or they don't accept American Express (rare, but that is the case at some independent stations).
@K-in-Boston wrote:If Amex is not seeing declined charges, the issue is with the particular merchant(s) you attempted to make the purchase with. No charge was ever presented to Amex if they are not seeing it. Sounds like they were having issues with their payment network or their merchant account setup, or they don't accept American Express (rare, but that is the case at some independent stations).
So let me throw this thread a bit of a curve ball. I used my Platinum card (also AmEx) right after at both of these places and it worked fine. The two gas stations were a Shell and a Valero (I'm in Texas). Because of this I am thinking I may have a damaged card or something. Or maybe I entered in my zip code wrong multiple times, which seems unlikely to me. But it's definitely something with the pump or the physical card...
@RehabbingANDBlabbing wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:If Amex is not seeing declined charges, the issue is with the particular merchant(s) you attempted to make the purchase with. No charge was ever presented to Amex if they are not seeing it. Sounds like they were having issues with their payment network or their merchant account setup, or they don't accept American Express (rare, but that is the case at some independent stations).
So let me throw this thread a bit of a curve ball. I used my Platinum card (also AmEx) right after at both of these places and it worked fine. The two gas stations were a Shell and a Valero (I'm in Texas). Because of this I am thinking I may have a damaged card or something. Or maybe I entered in my zip code wrong multiple times, which seems unlikely to me. But it's definitely something with the pump or the physical card...
Since you are not seeing authorizations that were taken away, it's unlikely it was an AVS issue so that wouldn't be user error. Given this additional info, it definitely sounds like a bad chip or mag stripe (or contactless transmitter) or at least just not working as expected with these particular pumps.