What's your "sorry we don't take Discover/Amex" story?

[Anonymous]

One of the knocks on Discover and American Express is that they aren't as widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard. Granted I've only had the Discover for 6 months, but only had one place not accept it, a bar in Minneapolis. It seems to me that them not being accepted is an overblown negative. Anyone else feel this way? 

[SBR249]

This is more of a problem overseas. Discover is supposed to be good for Asia though I believe they are still magstripe only on UnionPay in China and even then acceptance is spotty at best due to language barriers and lack of awareness.

When I lived in the UK Discover was basically nonexistent. I could count on one hand the number of merchants I saw that took Discover in the 2 years I traveled in Europe. Even UnionPay had more acceptance than Discover. Most Europeans have never even heard of the network. As for AmEx, they have a decent presence in the UK though the rest of the continent is a whole different story. But acceptance is still mediocre at best even in the UK. I had a UK-issued AmEx and aside from the big retailers like Tesco, Primark, and Amazon, I mostly couldn't use it which was extremely inconvenient as it was my only UK-based CC for a while. (And yes, I did have no FTF US-issued cards, but the lack of Chip & Pin or contactless made them also inconvenient though not impossible to use.)

[Moneyklutz]

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@Anonymous wrote:

... It seems to me that them not being accepted is an overblown negative. Anyone else feel this way? 

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Totally agree.

It causes no upset to me in pulling out my Amex BCP everytime I go into a grocery store vs using my Costco visa to buy gas or my QS to fill in all the leftovers. I don't fault the vendor for choosing which card to accept for payment, it's their choice in accepting a payment method and it's my choice to ultimately go there.

Shovels, hoes, rakes and sledge hammers all have their purpose. If I'm trying to accomplish something in the most effective manner possible, I'll simply find what works best and use it for the appropriate reason.

[CreditCuriosity]

Never really had a problem in the USA with any CC's including Discover/Amex.. I also live in a bigger city though where you kinda gotta take every CC though I assume Amex/Discover wouldn't be taken say in a smaller town or mom/pop type shop possibly.  In the US I think all the major 4 are taken at most places other than cash only type places.  Oversees obviously this varies greatly and cash is still king in some countries.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One of the knocks on Discover and American Express is that they aren't as widely accepted as Visa and Mastercard. Granted I've only had the Discover for 6 months, but only had one place not accept it, a bar in Minneapolis. It seems to me that them not being accepted is an overblown negative. Anyone else feel this way? 

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When I was a kid in the 80s my parents got a Discover Card. Dad never used it, not once. In fact I later found his original 1986 Discover Card and can tell it was never swiped. Anyway, I remember my mom always asking cashiers if they took the Discover Card LOL. Some of them early on looked at her like she had two heads when she asked. A bit of history, Discover was actually created by Sears when Sears was still relevant. A lot of other retailers hesitated accepting Discover at first because it was seen as helping their competitor-Sears. 

The cafeteria at work does not accept Discover which is a bummer since Discover offers the 5% restaurant quarter. The cafe takes Visa, MasterCard and Amex, but not Discover. When I asked once if they accepted Discover, my friend who is a bit of a snob rolled her eyes at me LOL. 

I think in the US, acceptance of all four networks is fairly universal except at smaller establishments. Overseas I would deffinitely not leave home without Sir Visa and Lady MasterCard in my wallet. 

[Anonymous]

I've had a few AMEX "Don't Accept" experiences that made it slightly frustrating when I wanted to use my card to pay for certain things.

Like I can't use it for my local movie theater, Neither Tak Shing or Taste of Thai, the Science Museum or almost anywhere I went in Europe (Italy,France and Spain) except for the PRG which I used a lot in London. I will note that I strictly used Chase, Capital1 QS and PRG while abroad so my experiences maybe skewed because I didnt use the PRG for everything so some places may still have accepted it and I just never tried. Its just the places I did try with the exception of London and one place in Rome it was like nope.

On another note my friend asked to borrow money so they could pay their electric bill. I told them I'd help but I'd just use my cc and pay it. Had them go on the site and lo and behold they didn't accept AMEX. I never even thought of not being able to use it for something like that.

Besides those places I've had no problems using my AMEX cards. I have BCE, ED and PRG. Sorry nothing for Discover, don't have one.

[K-in-Boston]

I used to be so loyal to Amex that I wouldn't even make repeat visits to a business if I found out they didn't accept Amex.  Things have changed so drastically in the past few years, though.  A merchant used to have to enter into a direct agreement with Amex and/or Discover.  The Discover Network started being added on automatically with Visa and MasterCard when a merchant signed up with a credit card processor.  The only merchants who take V/MC in the US but don't take Discover either have an old card processing deal that hasn't been revisited in years, or they have specifically opted out of taking Discover.  Fortunately, with OptBlue, Amex acceptance works the same way and that is becoming quite common.  There are still many merchants who will opt out of Amex because "everyone knows Amex has really high fees," which they don't necessarily have depending on what type of business it is.  I know in the company I work for, Amex rates for keyed transactions are cheaper than the other three card networks (debit cards are of course an exception due to the Durbin Amendment) and they are cheaper than many of the high-end rewards business or corporate cards on the V/MC networks.

[SBR249]

I think in Europe, the whole "AmEx has higher fees" thing may be more true than here in the US. I remember reading somewhere that when the EU capped debit and credit processing fees there was an exemption made for AmEx though that loophole is being gradually closed and may already be on its way out as well. I think as result, AmEx generally had some of the best rewards though the offerings are still quite meager compared to the US. 

[Anonymous]

I feel like issues with Amex/Discover not being accepted were more common 15-20 years ago, where today they are accepted just about everywhere that Visa/MC cards are.  Of course there are exceptions, but I find them personally to be few and far between and much less common than was the case 1-2 decades ago.

[AverageJoesCredit]

When i first got my Discover card i asked my local McDonalds at the drive through if they accept Discover......No......ok .....whipped out my Amex and all was right with the world