AMEX Simply Cash Acceptance? | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

I've never held an AMEX credit card and notice that some Forum members keep the Simply Cash card for specific reasons.

I have had and dropped Amex over the years. The mess that Costco made and Amex’s auto replacement pissed me off. So I dropped every Amex card we had and I refuse to buy into a company preferred card like the Costco Capital One Mastercard Card. But I am recently back to Amex Simply Cash. It will be my second card of choice. Right now I am receiving 1.25% on everything....yes everything! And will lose the extra 1.25%, 3 month bonus period soon. Bad timing as Covid has for some reason lessened our purchasing of goods and services.

What is the general acceptance of AMEX in Canada among supermarkets, Walmart, gas stations and even Costco? Didn't Costco once issue AMEX credit cards?

It is getting better. But have not been shopping much. Only two so far that don’t accept....local lumber yard.....and transfer station. Earls restaurants and Home Depot, accept. Have set up my Telus and Public Mobile billing on Amex too. Like I say not shopping much. Costco is Mastercard in Canada and Visa in USA. So we use Rogers Elite (our first choice card) for 1.5% Cash Back at Costco Canada and Home Trust Visa at Costco USA for no forex fee.

What's their customer service like and how easy / complicated is it to redeem cash back?

Customer service is ok. But there are some things they won’t bend on. Redeeming if I recall is an annual credit to your account. Each billing statement shows how much you earn each month and year to date. Their alerts are not great...all I get is a weekly summary total and can pick the day for the summary. The APP may have better alerts. I don’t have data to accommodate that so I don’t know.

Edit: Just put APP on iPad and is good. Will try on iPhone but personally I don’t like the idea of leaving the APP signed on. Will see if iPhone version sends any alerts due to purchases. BMO Mastercard Cash Back (our last choice card) and Banking sends email for ANY activity for both of our cards or banking to both of us.