[News] - AMEX Expansion in India?

[D₹V]

Amex cards have serious acceptance issue.

• It is accepted wherever Pine Lab, Paytm swipe machines are there. No issues there.

• Amex is in talk with SBI also to have tieup, so next month onwards, there won’t be any issues with SBI machines also (currently it depends on merchant willingness to Accept Amex cards on SBI machines).

• With HDFC and Axis machines, it depends on the merchant. Some HDFC and Axis Swipe machines, merchants have opted out for Amex cards as Amex charges higher fee to merchants. So, they don’t accept it.

• Another update is that, Amex is coming up with a dedicated drive next month to increase acceptance. This will include following initiatives

• Users will be able to provide details of retailers on Amex app, chat or email, wherever they feel issue with the Amex acceptance. Amex team will reach-out to the merchants to onboard them.

• They are in talk with major banks so that Amex would be accepted on their swipe machines by default.

• They are also considering reduction in merchant fee to drive acceptance.

• In last one year, they have issued large number of Amex cards and have doubled the list of serviceable cities. Higher number of card users naturally increases pressure on merchants to accept the card.


👆 The above is based on my detailed talk with Amex Customer Care executive on acceptance issue. They are promising that the acceptance will drastically improve in next 5-6 months. But let’s see🤞


• For now, 5 out of 10 offline merchants in metro cities like Mumbai are not accepting Amex credit cards, even in malls.

• Right now, best use of Amex card is Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Swiggy, Zomato etc. giftcards, Amex Reward Multiplier and Fuel ⛽️ at HPCL.

Post Credit: SpendWisely

Ps: above words are of the original author. My intent was to aware about this news only.

 

[Abhishek012]

NPCI & Amex should tieup to link Amex credit card with UPI.

Reward/cashback rate should be - 0% for first 1 year (when Amex will start offering link with UPI) and after 1 year Amex should give Flat 1% cashback on UPI transaction above 2k. UPI transaction under 2k should be 0% cashback.

 

[SamPtnk]

NPCI & Amex should tieup to link Amex credit card with UPI.

Reward/cashback rate should be - 0% for first 1 year (when Amex will start offering link with UPI) and after 1 year Amex should give Flat 1% cashback on UPI transaction above 2k. UPI transaction under 2k should be 0% cashback.

Jo joint mara hai hume bhi dilwa do
UPI se payment kardenge kasam se

 

[Abhishek012]

Jo joint mara hai hume bhi dilwa do
UPI se payment kardenge kasam se

 

[SSV]

NPCI & Amex should tieup to link Amex credit card with UPI.

Reward/cashback rate should be - 0% for first 1 year (when Amex will start offering link with UPI) and after 1 year Amex should give Flat 1% cashback on UPI transaction above 2k. UPI transaction under 2k should be 0% cashback.

Please leave Amex alone..
We need different kind of players in any industry to cater to the different kind of customers..
There is nothing wrong per say

 

[coolguy1]

After SBI and Amex tie-up, I just hope Amex people won't say "Lunch ke baad call karna"

 

[Abhishek012]

Please leave Amex alone..
We need different kind of players in any industry to cater to the different kind of customers..
There is nothing wrong per say

Amex card is Apple of credit card industry.

Amex card is only for rich people. Amex card accepted at all rich places.

Dnt know why people are crying and doing chindi giri.

Why this chindi giri di, Why this chindi giri, chindi giri.. aa di.

 

[SSV]

Amex card is Apple of credit card industry.

Amex card is only for rich people. Amex card accepted at all rich places.

Dnt know why people are crying and doing chindi giri.

Why this chindi giri di, Why this chindi giri, chindi giri.. aa di.

This is what I am exactly saying

 

[ray8285]

20k joining points on AMEX Platinum Travel ft. RBI Ombudsman
Any specific nuances or occasions which make you feel so?

I find it's way better than the rest of the banks but I'm unsure of how it was several years back so it's hard to compare.

Multiple occasions

There is sense of laziness that has crept into their customer service for starters. They want to just send you a link or email for every query you have. Never use to be the case even till a few months back.

Even the level of courteousness is not what it used to be. The agitation & impatience in their voice is so evident if you have multiple queries. Again that is not something that amex I knew of.

Promise of call backs to resolve an issue is non existent unless I have escalated that a few times.

Their chat support most times is useless. If you call customer care they promote chat support every time at the end of the call (which is annoying after a certain point) & when you try chat support, other than few basic query they will ask you to call the customer care. Which is ridiculous ! The other day they could not even pull my Platinum card account (they could pull the PT account fine but not the platinum charge) & asked me to call customer care. Called customer care & they sent me repetitive emails to have a read & promoted the chat support ! You do not expect these things from amex !

So all these few little things is what really matters. This is the reason amex used to be an industry apart, do not get me wrong may be their support is still best in the business at least even when compared to most other Indian premium support but just not what it used to be.

 

[ray8285]

Amex card is Apple of credit card industry.

Hope amex themselves identify that to position themselves in the Indian market accordingly

Amex card is only for rich people. Amex card accepted at all rich places.

The recent branding & developments seems amex themselves are trying to shy away from that tag. heard an ad on a radio a few years back where it said why have amex only for your big purchases when you can use yours for daily spends too. Please do NOT get me wrong here but with cards like smart earn & then dishing out cards to people without even an ITR & on C2C basis, these days amex themselves are devaluing the brand & seems it wants to position itself as a mass market player ! Something that was unthinkable when I first acquired my amex !

Dnt know why people are crying and doing chindi giri.

Which people ? aren't amex themselves to blame for this ? Never used to be the case till a few years back & I've already mentioned the reason above ! It all depends which market you are catering to. I doubt someone holding a centurion would be doing or saying what someone hold a smart earn would. That is how the market works.

 

[elite34700]

NPCI & Amex should tieup to link Amex credit card with UPI.

Reward/cashback rate should be - 0% for first 1 year (when Amex will start offering link with UPI) and after 1 year Amex should give Flat 1% cashback on UPI transaction above 2k. UPI transaction under 2k should be 0% cashback.

This will kill Amex. They operate in an open loop system which has lesser scope to negotiate percentages and pushing cost quotient to other players in the system unlike what hdfc does.

 

[nomad]

If the acceptance increases, then it will be a serious boon. People might want to spend even in Tier 2/3 cities (that Amex now supports) but don't have enough avenues. What's the point of getting a Card that is so selective when it cannot be even used?
No comments regarding the card benefits or rewards as the person getting it is already aware of what they are getting into. Though one can wish that Lounge access could have been extended to MRCC as well even if it is linked to 5k spends in a month (1.5k * 4 can easily take care of it in a month)

 

[RajdeepMaity]

I can say acceptance has definitely increased many folds in Kolkata. Most bars / pubs, restaurants, stores in malls have started accepting amex ! It really has surprised me, as till around 2022 every time I would take out an amex, literally "sorry we do not accept amex" was the way of life.

Recently got Amex MRCC, very happy to see this

 

[Avatar Aang]

I’m a student
I have plat charge plat travel mrcc
Axis VI atlas select samsung ifinite
Hdfc mb+ swiggy neu infinity

How can a student afford the Annual fees of Plat Charge?

 

[ray8285]

How can a student afford the Annual fees of Plat Charge?

They did not mention their age .. Could be a working student or could be someone "privileged" to have return from "various investments .......... 😬

 

[coolguy1]

How can a student afford the Annual fees of Plat Charge?

Welcome to TechnoFino!

 

[Heisenberg37]

They did not mention their age .. Could be a working student or could be someone "privileged" to have return from "various investments .......... 😬

My age is 19
I got Axis VI atlas select MRCC plat travel when i was 18
Plat charge, hdfc marriot this year when i turned 19

 

[Heisenberg37]

They did not mention their age .. Could be a working student or could be someone "privileged" to have return

i even got plat charge without income proof and i have created a thread for that 😂

 

[Avatar Aang]

i even got plat charge without income proof and i have created a thread for that 😂

Great feat man!

 

[kshitij_0]

Kya karu main iska😂 1 saal se Platinum Travel diya nahi liya maine ab Platinum Charge dena shuru kar diya.
Bhai main bas rotation karta hun abhi filhaal, na to mujhe 5 star hotel chahiye na international flight.
Ameer banna padega pahle isko lene ke liye.

 

[coolguy1]

View attachment 39299Kya karu main iska😂 1 saal se Platinum Travel diya nahi liya maine ab Platinum Charge dena shuru kar diya.
Bhai main bas rotation karta hun abhi filhaal, na to mujhe 5 star hotel chahiye na international flight.
Ameer banna padega pahle isko lene ke liye.

Since you're seeing this ad now, I believe you should be eligible for the Platinum Travel card.
Try applying now and it should work!

If you're still doubtful, send me more details in DM and we can discuss about it.