Merchants balking at AmEx card fees

Barbara Hagenbaugh
USA Today
Dec. 24, 2004 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - American Express tells its cardholders, "Don't leave home without it." But some businesses wish their customers would do just that.

Complaining about higher fees when compared with other credit cards and added paperwork, some merchants are considering dropping American Express or have stopped accepting the cards altogether.

In perhaps the biggest challenge to American Express, Walgreens announced last week that it will stop accepting the cards next month. The drugstore chain, with 4,681 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, said higher fees charged by American Express for every transaction led to the decision. A spokesman said American Express sales accounted for a very small amount of credit card transactions at Walgreens.

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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1224amex24.html

There is currently a class action lawsuit in  the Southern District of New York on behalf of merchants arising out of thes uncompetitive rates merchants are forced to pay.  Indeed, since Amex is teaming up with Citi and MBNA, Merchants are facing the prospect of being clobered by Amex's excessive rates for both their charge and credit products.

I once asked why I as a merchant paid much more for AMEX then the other cards. Guess what the worker told me. She said because American Express protects the merchants more then the other companies. I asked how. She said if there is a dispute American express protects the merchant. Lies Lies Lies. I got a charge back with no investigation. I even mentioned it when  I told I got the $1,500 dollar charge back. The rep said well usualy AMEX is 70% for the merhcant LIES LIES LIES maybe they get paid to lie. Thye sure lied to me tried to get me to call 3 days later so they could try and sneak 1500 bucks out of my account.