Amex Offline Transaction Fiasco

[HOME_CARDER]

Hey Everyone,

On 25th and 26th October, I made three offline transactions using my Amex Platinum Travel Card for amounts of ₹12K, ₹5K, and ₹500. I even received payment receipts for all three transactions. However, these transactions stayed in pending status until yesterday, which was unusual, as they typically move to posted status within a day or two.

One of the merchants I paid ₹12K to reached out, saying they hadn’t received my payment—or any payments made from Amex cards, for that matter. They asked me to contact Amex and requested I make the payment again through another mode.

Today, before reattempting the payment, I checked my card statement, only to find that all three transactions had disappeared entirely from both pending and posted status! When I contacted Amex, they explained that the payments were processed from their end, the merchant’s payment partner didn’t accept them, causing the amounts to be credited back to my card.

Now, I’m concerned about the other two offline transactions. Since I didn’t leave any contact details, I wonder how those merchants will reach out for the payment again.

Amex is already known for its offline acceptance issues, and after this, I wonder if merchants will trust them.

 

[SuperKnight]

Oops, i hope there should be some governance around such failed txns

 

[Riya Sharma]

Free money. Now nobody can say that Amex has a bad reward rate. Is there any card in the market which gives you 100% cash-back on all spends with no capping?

 

[Vasuki]

Hey Everyone,

On 25th and 26th October, I made three offline transactions using my Amex Platinum Travel Card for amounts of ₹12K, ₹5K, and ₹500. I even received payment receipts for all three transactions. However, these transactions stayed in pending status until yesterday, which was unusual, as they typically move to posted status within a day or two.

One of the merchants I paid ₹12K to reached out, saying they hadn’t received my payment—or any payments made from Amex cards, for that matter. They asked me to contact Amex and requested I make the payment again through another mode.

Today, before reattempting the payment, I checked my card statement, only to find that all three transactions had disappeared entirely from both pending and posted status! When I contacted Amex, they explained that the payments were processed from their end, the merchant’s payment partner didn’t accept them, causing the amounts to be credited back to my card.

Now, I’m concerned about the other two offline transactions. Since I didn’t leave any contact details, I wonder how those merchants will reach out for the payment again.

Amex is already known for its offline acceptance issues, and after this, I wonder if merchants will trust them.

MFS IDFC CURRENT ACCOUNT Qr has
Credit card payment declined by default


L BANK
GOT 2 TRANSACTION DECLINED after money got deducted from card

 

[HOME_CARDER]

Free money. Now nobody can say that Amex has a bad reward rate. Is there any card in the market which gives you 100% cash-back on all spends with no capping?

The ₹12K was at a small clinic, so they reached out when they didn’t get the payment. But the ₹5K and ₹500 were at a big hospital chain—they must have a high volume of Amex transactions daily and they haven’t contacted me yet. Looks like Amex might have secretly rolled out its own version of cashless health insurance! 😆

 

[HOME_CARDER]

MFS IDFC CURRENT ACCOUNT Qr has
Credit card payment declined by default


L BANK
GOT 2 TRANSACTION DECLINED after money got deducted from card

But did you get a payment successful receipt for both the declined transactions ?

 

[Riya Sharma]

I already know what card I’ll be using for my upcoming spends in Mumbai

 

[Riya Sharma]

btw this is unrelated to the thread but every time I have tried to make a purchase at Apollo Pharmacy using an Amex, the machine redeems my points instead of charging my card for the payment. Last two times I explicitly stated for the cashier to not use points but it still happened automatically for some reason.

After this I stopped using Amex at Apollo Pharmacy.

 

[HOME_CARDER]

I already know what card I’ll be using for my upcoming spends in Mumbai

From what I’ve read in other threads, some Amex area supervisor mentioned that their system is currently undergoing updates, which is causing payment issues for both merchants and customers.

 

[HOME_CARDER]

btw this is unrelated to the thread but every time I have tried to make a purchase at Apollo Pharmacy using an Amex, the machine redeems my points instead of charging my card for the payment. Last two times I explicitly stated for the cashier to not use points but it still happened automatically for some reason.

After this I stopped using Amex at Apollo Pharmacy.

Yeah, happened to me as well. I had to call Amex Customer Service to reverse the deducted MR points (Pay with points) and post the amount on card.

 

[RAMESH BABU N]

There seems to be NO FAULT AT AMEX.

The OP had mentioned that the real problem was with the merchant's banker end.

If the problem is at the RECIEVING BANK's end, what can AMEX do ?

AMEX - in this case - did the right thing of waiting for sometime (for the other bank to get their problems fixed) and credited back the money yo the OP's account.

Blame the others.

 

[HOME_CARDER]

There seems to be NO FAULT AT AMEX.

The OP had mentioned that the real problem was with the merchant's banker end.

If the problem is at the RECIEVING BANK's end, what can AMEX do ?

AMEX - in this case - did the right thing of waiting for sometime (for the other bank to get their problems fixed) and credited back the money yo the OP's account.

Blame the others.

OP here. Yes, as per Amex support, the issue is with the merchant’s payment partner/bank, but since its only with Amex cards, the merchant views Amex cards in a bad light and is not accepting Amex. I ended up making the ₹12K payment again with ATLAS card, and the merchant was fine with that.