Just where can you use it at? AMEX Gift card restrictions

from JoeUser Forums

Thanks to a very kind individual, I was given an American Express Gift Card as thanks for some computing help I provided.  The individual got the gift card at a local retailer, but thanks to it being an American Express Gift Card it should be good -- as the little package says -- 'Instead of one place, it's good all over the place.'  But of course there should be an ASTERISK after that slogan and inside the quotes so it really reads all over the place.*

What is the asterisk for?  Oh, that's there to remind you that it's good only where American Express Cards are accepted.  Except, uh, there needs to be another asterisk to go with that first one that tells you that the card is good wherever American Express Cards are accepted EXCEPT the following: Cannot be used for airlines, hotels, car rental, telecom merchants or ATMs.  Additional usage restrictions may apply.  Some of those additional restrictions include a recommendation not to use the card for purchasing gasoline, and also include reminders that if you use the card at a restaurant (as an example) the restaurant may pre-authorize a charge against the card for the original amount of the meal plus 20% which is pre-authorized to cover a potential gratuity.

By the time all is said and done you have to start asking the question just where the heck can you use the card at and how long it will take you to use the funds on the card, which oh, by the way, need to be used fairly quickly because if the card still has funds on it after the year it was purchased and activited there will be a $2 per month charge against the original funds as a monthly maintenance fee which will slowly but surely eat away whatever funds have been left on it.

I really do appreciate the gift and the thoughtfulness of the individual that gave it to me, so please don't think I am looking a gift horse in the mouth here.  Found money is always nice, and actually there are places where you can use the card, but I find it amusing that there are so many restrictions and suggestions about where to use and not use the card at that if the user isn't careful they'll pull the card out and go to pay for something only to be stuck finding alternate payment.

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10,598 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

One more thing I should add here, the other irritant with these cards is that American Express doesn't offer a way to reload the card, as in add funds to it so you could keep using it later.  Once you've used up the funds on the card, or at least used up most of the funds on the card (you may find that you leave something under $1 but more than $0.01 on the card) and then leave yourself trying to figure out where you can spend those last few cents at), you have a piece of worthless plastic that is going to get tossed into the waste basket somewhere.  Nice to know that American Express is so environmentally friendly.

Actually, to give some credit here, this is an area where Starbucks deserves some credit as they make their cards reloadable.  If you use all of the money on the card, or most of it, or even if you just know you'll be using a lot of funds on the card, you can add funds to the Starbucks card and keep re-using the same one so that you never need to buy another card.  Less plastic used.  Less magnetic strips and other material used.  And finally, no way you get stuck unable to use up the balance on the card.  Very nice.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Nothing says thanks like the green stuff.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

terpfan1980, an option for transferring the balance of your Amex gift card (as well as Visa, Mastercard, and Discover) to PayPal recently became available - www.cashfromcards.com.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Next time you get an American Express gift card use it to buy a Visa gift card. ;)