Amex Platinum Dining Credit – Restaurant not accepting Amex

[JDB]

@memesweeper – a merchant doesn’t need to take any action to switch from Amex who will simply see there are no transactions going through their account which could be for a multitude of reasons other than not accepting Amex cards or taking them via a different payment provider. The merchant can just stop taking Amex at any time without contact.

[oxforddoc]

I thought I would provide an update. I had a phone call today with the Amex complaints handler in relation to my complaint. I’d asked for this prior to submitting to the ombudsman and prior to aiming to use the dining credit elsewhere..

I had asked them to amend their ‘understanding’ of my complaint (in their ‘final letter’) which stated I was aware that they didn’t take Amex upon arriving, which was incorrect (having only found this out upon being presented with the bill).

I also submitted emails sent to me by the restaurant after I had contacted them about this. The restaurant had contacted Amex to update them that they were no longer accepting Amex (initially around 6 business days prior to me going to the restaurant, with daily phone calls since then). It’s also worth noting that Amex took almost 2 weeks to remove the restaurant from the list after my initial complaint was raised with them.

Amex have now agreed to reimbursed me for the dining credit, along with a goodwill gesture of points.

I do remain slightly surprised at the fact that restaurants can leave this ‘curated’ list in this way. I had always presumed they being on this list meant they would have some specific contractual relationship with Amex, which appears to not be the case.

Thank you to everyone for comments/thoughts/suggestions.

[strickers]

Great news.

“Illegitimi non carborundum”

[oxforddoc]

I thought it was interesting that for the new credits, the T&Cs now state:
“Eligible Transactions: Benefit only available for dine-in services made in-person at a participating restaurant in the United Kingdom. Full participating restaurant list can be found here. Participating restaurant list subject to change without notice, please check before you dine as you won’t be eligible to receive a credit if the restaurant isn’t on the list at the time of your transaction.”

This seems to suggest that the restaurant being ‘on the list’ at the time of ‘before you dine’ will be the crucial aspect moving forward…?

[meta]

This was in the terms before as well, nothing new. Hence my claims above as well.