The Lemon Fool

Going out for a meal on Mon , and Just worked out its only going to cost around £5 for a 3 course meal - cant be bad
Special offer of 3 Courses for £19:99 - Understand with the governments eat out to help out I will only pay £10 with government picking up the rest , then as I've spent £10 on my Amex card , and the restaurant is part of the shop small scheme ,Amex will refund £5 to my card . the restaurant was original only go to charge £9.99 but agreed to charge £10 so i got the Amex £5

Anyone want to help a poor old pensioner out and cover the remaining £5??? LOL,

been serious though - its a good reason to look out places that are in both the Amex ^ eat out schemes to get some cheap meals

steelman99 wrote:
Going out for a meal on Mon, and just worked out its only going to cost around £5 for a 3 course meal - cant be bad..

There's some even better news - I think if you use the meal-voucher facility so many times within a relatively short time-scale, you might even win a free bike on the NHS too!

:-)

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

steelman99 wrote:Going out for a meal on Mon , and Just worked out its only going to cost around £5 for a 3 course meal - cant be bad
Special offer of 3 Courses for £19:99 - Understand with the governments eat out to help out I will only pay £10 with government picking up the rest , then as I've spent £10 on my Amex card , and the restaurant is part of the shop small scheme ,Amex will refund £5 to my card . the restaurant was original only go to charge £9.99 but agreed to charge £10 so i got the Amex £5

Anyone want to help a poor old pensioner out and cover the remaining £5??? LOL,

been serious though - its a good reason to look out places that are in both the Amex ^ eat out schemes to get some cheap meals

Thank you for that. How does one find out if somewhere is part of the Amex scheme? Is there a list / search facility somewhere?

Wizard wrote:Thank you for that. How does one find out if somewhere is part of the Amex scheme? Is there a list / search facility somewhere?

I hope this link works. If not, just Google for American Express Shop Small, and click through to the map.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-GB/m ... cta-newmap

Just pop in your postcode and you'll get the map. Be careful - there are small red dots, and they are just landmarks. You need to choose the ones that are pins. I get confused! Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

Loup321 wrote:

Wizard wrote:Thank you for that. How does one find out if somewhere is part of the Amex scheme? Is there a list / search facility somewhere?

I hope this link works. If not, just Google for American Express Shop Small, and click through to the map.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-GB/m ... cta-newmap

Just pop in your postcode and you'll get the map. Be careful - there are small red dots, and they are just landmarks. You need to choose the ones that are pins. I get confused! Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

That's great, thankyou. Lining up lunch at a pub in walking distance for early next week. Great tip.

I dont get it? Ive loked on that map and i see a local business that i shop at quite often with an Amex card. I never get a fiver back from Amex for it?

UPDATE: Ah. it appears I have to log in online and opt in to the deal. That was obvious.

didds

Loup321 wrote:
I hope this link works. If not, just Google for American Express Shop Small, and click through to the map.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-GB/m ... cta-newmap

Just pop in your postcode and you'll get the map. Be careful - there are small red dots, and they are just landmarks. You need to choose the ones that are pins. I get confused! Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

For my town I see one large red "key fob" which illustrates the searched place. Then there are blue "key fobs". and there are blue dots. If I click on the blue fobs opr dots they both show details of the business and that the scheme applies there. So what is the difference between a blue ob amd a blue dot ?

didds

didds wrote:

Loup321 wrote:
I hope this link works. If not, just Google for American Express Shop Small, and click through to the map.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-GB/m ... cta-newmap

Just pop in your postcode and you'll get the map. Be careful - there are small red dots, and they are just landmarks. You need to choose the ones that are pins. I get confused! Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

For my town I see one large red "key fob" which illustrates the searched place. Then there are blue "key fobs". and there are blue dots. If I click on the blue fobs opr dots they both show details of the business and that the scheme applies there. So what is the difference between a blue ob amd a blue dot ?

didds

Noticed that as well. My guess would be some sort of promotional arrangement with Amex as part of agreeing to start taking Amex?

didds wrote:For my town I see one large red "key fob" which illustrates the searched place. Then there are blue "key fobs". and there are blue dots. If I click on the blue fobs opr dots they both show details of the business and that the scheme applies there. So what is the difference between a blue ob amd a blue dot ?

As far as I can see, the big blue pins (your "key fobs") are the businesses listed on the left, and are part of the Shop Small Scheme. The little blue dots, I have no idea. I think they might be markers in Googlemaps - the map looks like it's powered by Google, and they usually have random landmarks put there just to confuse. Sorry, to help you get your bearings. I have no idea what puts certain businesses there - paid ads in Google?

Also, I know from experience that the blue dots don't necessarily accept American Express. I have got confused by the map in the past and tried, and had to pay with Visa or cash at the till.

Wizard wrote:That's great, thankyou. Lining up lunch at a pub in walking distance for early next week. Great tip.

Do take care. I've an idea pubs will shortly prove to be first class places to catch something nasty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-englan ... tbreak-pub

My expereinces in pubs since the SD re-opening is that they seem far safer than the average supermarket, face coverings or not!!

didds wrote:My expereinces in pubs since the SD re-opening is that they seem far safer than the average supermarket, face coverings or not!!

How safe you feel in a pub or supermarket bears no relation whatsoever to the likelihood of you infecting several of people in there, should you turn out to be asymptomatically infected yourself.

And that's the point, surely.

Mike4 wrote:

didds wrote:My expereinces in pubs since the SD re-opening is that they seem far safer than the average supermarket, face coverings or not!!

How safe you feel in a pub or supermarket bears no relation whatsoever to the likelihood of you infecting several of people in there, should you turn out to be asymptomatically infected yourself.

And that's the point, surely.

Actually that's not true, but might amplify your point.

The safer you feel the more likely you are to be there, the longer time you will stay, and the less likely you will "wear protection" etc. All of which increases the (unlikely, but still possible) chance of you passing on that infection, despite being asymptomatic.

one other thing to be aware of is that AMEX seem to of sent promotional packs to lots of places - Our local Greene King pub has a shop mall sticker in the window , but when we sent £10 in there the other week I didnt get £5 -apparently they arnt part of the promotion - ( didnt expect them to be) so check the website to make sure they are part of the scheme

Loup321 wrote:Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

Lots of places *say* they don't accept Amex, when they actually do (they just don't like paying the fees).

I now just offer up my phone to the machine to pay without asking whether they do or not, and with Amex set as the default method to pay then if they do *ping* and all is good and if they genuinely don't then *bong* and I just swipe to the VISA card which they will take.

And also in past years the Amex map was a bit hit and miss, so there were some companies who had taken Amex when it was produced but had since stopped. In those instances if you phoned Amex they would just pop a £5 credit on your account.

Mike4 wrote:How safe you feel in a pub or supermarket bears no relation whatsoever to the likelihood of you infecting several of people in there, should you turn out to be asymptomatically infected yourself.

And that's the point, surely.

Fair point.

I presume then we wouldnt ever go anywhere outside of our own homes for any reason at all - for exactly this ?

didds

AF62 wrote:

Loup321 wrote:Also, just because a shop has American Express Shop Small social distancing markers on the floor doesn't mean they accept American Express. Or if they bring your bill in an American Express leather wallet thingy, they also might not accept American Express.

Lots of places *say* they don't accept Amex, when they actually do (they just don't like paying the fees).

I now just offer up my phone to the machine to pay without asking whether they do or not, and with Amex set as the default method to pay then if they do *ping* and all is good and if they genuinely don't then *bong* and I just swipe to the VISA card which they will take.

Good point. I don't have a phone, but in Home Bargains (which I believe to be a big enough chain that they should take American Express), I have just tapped my card, and then I think there was some rigmarole about having to print the slip and find a pen (you know, those things that you can use to make marks on paper) for me to sign (you know, that thing they did in the olden days before even PINs could be used) the slip. I just pay by Visa in there now... And when contactless first came in, it worked in Wilko for my Visa card, but American Express was Chip and Pin for a couple of years before they also went contactless. Not quite so much of a rigmarole, but if I forgot at the till I got a card declined message, and had to insert the card and put the pin. So it wasn't declined, but still said it was, and all the cashiers were very helpful. Either EXCELLENT training or a lot of people had the same issue.

And also in past years the Amex map was a bit hit and miss, so there were some companies who had taken Amex when it was produced but had since stopped. In those instances if you phoned Amex they would just pop a £5 credit on your account.

Not sure that would work this year. There is a message about checking with the company directly because things are changing rapidly with COVID-19. So I think they have covered themselves for the moment. But worth remembering if it happens to me in the future.