£1.50 surcharge to use a DEBIT card?????

MickKnipfler · 9 March 2006 at 10:35PM

I went into a resturant last night. When I came to pay by visa, they wanted a £1.50 surcharge. I then offered by debit card (which is also a visa and they wanted to charge the same for that too!

When I said that there was no mention of this on the menue, they pointed to a piece of paper on the wall that was impossible to read from where I was that said about the surcharge. What's the legal situation? I asked my bank and they said it's up to the trader concerned......

jonesMUFCforever · 9 March 2006 at 11:20PM

Technically they are within the law BUT if the sign on the wall was such that you could not see it before ordering and eating your meal how can they enforce it?
Have a word with Trading standards.
One other way I would use is to nit pick over absolutely everything on the menu - like the meat was over cooked, the wine was warm, pudding was cold etc etc and tell them that you want to dispute the bill. Advise them that you would be prepared to overlook it this time if they accept your card without charge!
Last thing - never go back again.

Sun · 9 March 2006 at 11:23PM

post the resturant's name & location here, so we all can avoid it

Rafter · 10 March 2006 at 10:12AM

Ridiculous.

The restaurant has to pay a small fee for a debit card transaction, but much less than for a credit card, and probably about the same as the cost of depositing the cash in a bank.

I'd just tell them, that is fine, you were planning to leave a £5 tip but now you will only leave £2 as a result of their £1.50 charge and your own £1.50 charge for the embarassment!

R.

steve_cov · 10 March 2006 at 10:20AM

If it had been me, I would have refused to leave a tip.

If the staff don't get tips when they have to enforce the owner's silly rule, it'll change soon enough.

steve_cov · 10 March 2006 at 10:21AM

OK, so Rafter beat me to it!

mediaman · 10 March 2006 at 10:33AM

the fee charged by banks is around 80p per debit card transaction.
large companies and restaurant chains negotiate small charges.
This can be unfair on smaller independent companies and penalises their customers who get charged extra.
Extra charges shoulds be printed on the menu and displayed prominately in the premises.

Correct me if I'm wrong

grumbler · 10 March 2006 at 10:59AM

I'd pay them by a cheque

. I always have a couple of cheques - just in case.

MickKnipfler · 10 March 2006 at 11:49AM

OK, more info:

There was a sign in the window (I just walked in without noticing it)
There was also a sign inside that was impossible to read from where I was sitting. It was nowhere near the "VISA" sign on the wall near the till that I could read.
I did remind them that if I deemed the meal to be "not to satisfactory standard", I was quite within my rights to reduce the amout I pay (conveniently by £1.50) and leave my name and address. They said "you can try that if you want" (not sure what that meant)
I did offer to leave a credit card while I walked over the road to get my cheque book out of my car. They agreed. I offered them my Marbles card but they insisted on my Egg card (which I had originally offered them). I felt like being pedantic now so told them that they don't get to choose which card I decide to leave.
They then called the police who of course weren't interested - they did ask to speak to me and suggested that I should just pay the charge to which my reply was "why should I?".
In the end, I just went over the road and got my cheque book....
I did tell them that they had shot themself in the foot because I'm working in Reading and they could have had me muying a meal every week for the next 6 months. They just said that they wouldn't want me and that in 12 years they had never met anybody like me. Maybe other people just accept being ripped off.

And, yes I normally do leave a tip but i leave cash on the table. I guess in the end I saved the tip!

skippy64 · 10 March 2006 at 11:58AM

I would contact the local trading standards office and point out your concerns over how they are displaying their terms & conditions. I think you have every right to act how you did and find it amazing that they called the police!!

mancitychick · 10 March 2006 at 12:05PM

If you think thats a rip off - I once went into a restaurant in Chiswick upon sitting they asked us if we wanted bread and oil, we said no. When we recieved the bill there was a pound charge each on it. When I queried it was told this was for the bread, we pointed out that we didn't have the bread and the waitress actually said well its for sitting down! Told her that if we had know that we would of ate our meal standing and that we would not be paying it!

£1.50 surcharge to use a DEBIT card?????

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