Costco Canada already dumped the Amex while a go ...and people are happy about it as Amex is not that popular or preferred card in Canada and it was a pain to signup for Amex just for costco purchase ....
It's a great mystery why AmEx doesn't seem to want to get more retailers using their card. Although their cardholder services are great, the card is accepted in so few places that I rarely try to use mine.
The only places I know that don't accept them are small mom and pop shops or hole in the wall restaurants. I switched form using my visa to Amex for all of my purchases by default but still keep my visa as a backup. Last month I made 3 purchases on my visa and ~50 on amex so I would say that is a favorable ratio.
There definitely seems to be something odd with AmEx lately. Australia changed to Chip & Pin exclusively sometime last year (signatures no longer accepted), and yet AmEx still haven't sent out new Chip cards so it can be used in retail stores. It's as if they've given up on the Australian retail market. Very strange.
Retail stores are happy to charge everyone 2% more that they can pocket if the customer isn't using amex as long as all the others will too. (They can't give a cash discount without violating the vendor terms and they shouldn't sell at a loss.)
Smaller businesses may offer you different terms verbally and other businesses will risk not having amex to have the lowest prices. But until amex is more like discover that carries brand risk instead of pure shame for the user.
I believe the rules for this have changed and it is no longer illegal to suggest that using a charge card will result in a use fee: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/as-ru... . Heck, even gas stations in my town now have two prices listed: one for using debit/cash and a higher one for using credit.
as do I - it's wonderful, and if you ever had electronics die after warranty ends (within 3 years) they have an amazing program to make you whole within minutes, no hassle, no costs... I would fight for my AmEx!
Funny enough, I get better customer service from Discover with their card then I get from Amex with my $500/year Platinum card. I've found my experience with Amex in general to have gone downhill over the last ~5 years or so.
I've personally lost my platinum card about 7 times and it is the most pain-free experience. Also I've had a number of fraudulent charges and amex just wipes them away. It's wonderful.
I received the exact same level of service from Discover over the last 2 years. Lose my card? They overnight it to me at no additional charge. Fraud charges? Never had an issue with a dispute.
I've found Amex's concierge to be okay and their travel product prices to be absurdly high. The only reason I keep my Platinum card is because I get $200 in Southwest gift cards each year with their airline reimbursement, and they reimburse me occasionally for my Global Entry membership renewal.