Abroad Dining Credit

[Andre182]

Hi all, I activated my amex platinum last week but will not be travelling for the remainder of the year. is there a way to make use of the dining abroad benefit somehow or should I kiss the potential £150 savings goodbye? For example, I have a friend travelling to Paris next week and was thinking of asking them to buy a voucher from a participating restaurant for me using the card, is this possible? Any other ideas are welcome. Thank you

[Rob]

You could give your card to your friend and let them have a free meal ….

[Matt]

If the restaurant abroad sells vouchers through the restaurant payment system then that would work, if you want to go to it within the voucher expiry period.

Rob’s suggestion is probably better, or you could offer to split the £150 with your friend, ie they pay you £75 for their meal

[Luca M]

As the other poster have mentioned, you need to ensure that the Voucher transaction is processed through the normal restaurant till, this is particularly a problem for those restaurant that have a webpage selling gift vouchers and/or are situated within an hotel, as they are set up to charge those transaction via a separate system.

I had contacted about 5 restaurant in Italy in my last solo trip in November and only two said it was possible to go in person, make a Pre-payment deposit for a future dinner (rater than a gift voucher that they would have handled as well as a separate transaction) and the one I ended up doing, basically sent me an email confirmation of the Prepayment deposit, which I need to spend within 6 month, and I will do when I return with the wife (2 Michelin stars restaurant) in the new year, when hopefully they will still be on the Amex list and I can therefore manage the tasting dinner menu for 2 fully paid (it is €170 euro per person, which is roughly £150)

[jj]

Bear in mind the T&C’s. If you manage to find a loophole, you will have to: 1) Deal with your conscience; and 2) Possibly deal with Amex.if they find out. Lending your card to someone and disclosing your PIN is almost certainly against the card T&C’s, too – I can’t be bothered to check, but I’d be fonsmacked if it weren’t.

“You’ll not receive a statement credit for the following charges or transactions: booking fees, deposits
paid towards your meal, any upfront charges made by the restaurant, non-sterling transaction fees,
cancellation fees, no-show charges made by the restaurant, purchases of gift cards, e-codes or
vouchers and any transactions that are cancelled or refunded before the statement credit is
awarded.”

[QFFlyer]

As above but in reverse – I’ll use the overseas part but not the UK part. I’ve asked my sister (who lives in the UK) if she wants to use it.

I wouldn’t give my card etc. to a friend or even most family members, but I’m happy to pay for my sister’s dinner!

[QFFlyer]

jj wrote:

Lending your card to someone and disclosing your PIN is almost certainly against the card T&C’s, too – I can’t be bothered to check, but I’d be fonsmacked if it weren’t.

Whatever they do say, you’d (OP/whoever did lend their card/PIN) be on the hook for 100% of any fraudulent transactions carried out.

[soneillirl]

Just had a very poor experience with this. Booked a reservation at Icebergs in Bondi (Sydney) through the link on the Amex dining credit webpage. No credit appeared on account. Contacted Amex to find out and they said they would not honour it as the address of the restaurant was was the same as that on their system (it IS the same place and it was booked though a link on their webpage).

Have to go back to the restaurant now and somehow try and prove it’s the same place. Amex not interested at all.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

[JDB]

soneillirl wrote:

Just had a very poor experience with this. Booked a reservation at Icebergs in Bondi (Sydney) through the link on the Amex dining credit webpage. No credit appeared on account. Contacted Amex to find out and they said they would not honour it as the address of the restaurant was was the same as that on their system (it IS the same place and it was booked though a link on their webpage).

Have to go back to the restaurant now and somehow try and prove it’s the same place. Amex not interested at all.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

You really shouldn’t need to travel anywhere to get Amex to honour this – it’s either the same place or it isn’t, so you just need to persevere with Amex. Luckily it doesn’t seem to happen that often, but it’s hardly the first time Amex has tried to deny these credits baselessly.

[dundj]

JDB wrote:

soneillirl wrote:

Just had a very poor experience with this. Booked a reservation at Icebergs in Bondi (Sydney) through the link on the Amex dining credit webpage. No credit appeared on account. Contacted Amex to find out and they said they would not honour it as the address of the restaurant was was the same as that on their system (it IS the same place and it was booked though a link on their webpage).

Have to go back to the restaurant now and somehow try and prove it’s the same place. Amex not interested at all.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

You really shouldn’t need to travel anywhere to get Amex to honour this – it’s either the same place or it isn’t, so you just need to persevere with Amex. Luckily it doesn’t seem to happen that often, but it’s hardly the first time Amex has tried to deny these credits baselessly.

Happened to me in Toronto as the card machine in the restaurant was registered to the company office address rather than the restaurant. I just said I’ll send a copy of the receipt online and the credit was applied.

Moral of the story, there are easier ways to deal with any issues arising with Amex.