Why do so many places take Discover but act like they don't?

[dwz55]

There's so many places that take Discover but they don't have any signs up saying they do.  One furniture store I went actually had the Discover logo on their window but refused my card and asked me if I had a Visa or Mastercard. I asked them why do you have the Discover sign up if you won't take it? They said something about the "Discover machine" not working, I promptly left the store.

Anyone else have this issue with Discover and/or AMEX? Are the swipe fees that much greater for the two?

[gdale6]

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@dwz55 wrote:

There's so many places that take Discover but they don't have any signs up saying they do.  One furniture store I went actually had the Discover logo on their window but refused my card and asked me if I had a Visa or Mastercard. I asked them why do you have the Discover sign up if you won't take it? They said something about the "Discover machine" not working, I promptly left the store.

Anyone else have this issue with Discover and/or AMEX? Are the swipe fees that much greater for the two?

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Discover was actually lower than all of them when I took the card years ago. If they advertise they take it and they use some lame excuse like this I would simply report them to Discover.

[NRB525]

Maybe the Discover machine wasn't working at the time?

Do you have any other datapoints?

[longtime_lurker]

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@NRB525 wrote:

Maybe the Discover machine wasn't working at the time?

Do you have any other datapoints?

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If the "Discover machine" isn't working, neither is the "Visa/Mastercard Machine" 

...it's the same machine.

I'd report them too, OP. 

[Skye12329]

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@NRB525 wrote:

Maybe the Discover machine wasn't working at the time?

Do you have any other datapoints?

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Well if their Discover Machine isnt working, my Visas and MCs dont seem to be working either. 

[thelethargicage]

I used to take credit cards at a business I used to own and had no idea we could take Discover until someone showed up with one. Someone swiped it without looking at it (which probably helped) and it went through. According to my payment processor, we could only take Visa and MC

[navigatethis12]

The same thing happens with American Express. Discover and American Express cost more to process than Visa and Mastercard, so some businesses don't want people to use that. It's odd because usually you have to ask to process American Express. It's against American Express policy to accept the card and not advertise it or ask for another card, so it very well could be against Discover policy too. The merchant account I used to have was 2.65% for Visa/Mastercard, 2.95% for Discover, and 3.25% for American Express.

[Anonymous]

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@dwz55 wrote:

There's so many places that take Discover but they don't have any signs up saying they do.  One furniture store I went actually had the Discover logo on their window but refused my card and asked me if I had a Visa or Mastercard. I asked them why do you have the Discover sign up if you won't take it? They said something about the "Discover machine" not working, I promptly left the store.

Anyone else have this issue with Discover and/or AMEX? Are the swipe fees that much greater for the two?

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I'd just tell em.

"Is 1% worth losing the opportunity to do business with me"

[longtime_lurker]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

The same thing happens with American Express. Discover and American Express cost more to process than Visa and Mastercard, so some businesses don't want people to use that. It's odd because usually you have to ask to process American Express. It's against American Express policy to accept the card and not advertise it or ask for another card, so it very well could be against Discover policy too. The merchant account I used to have was 2.65% for Visa/Mastercard, 2.95% for Discover, and 3.25% for American Express.

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You have a bad payment processor to charge you extra for Discover.

[jsucool76]

Definitely file a merchant complaint. If a merchant displays any "Discover" logo saying they accept it, they're required by their merchant agreement to accept it. If they display a sign saying that they accept Discover, and don't actually accept it as a form of payment (their payment processor doesn't actually let them accept discover for instance) then they're still breaking the rules by displaying acceptance for a card that they cannot accept. 

Either way, Discover can fine them, or prohibit them from accepting discover cards (if they do accept them)