BBC News: Credit and debit card surcharges 'are excessive'

lijaloo

Ryanair isn't being singled out with the Which super-complaint. The complaint is against any company or organisation which charges the consumer more than than cost made by the bank to use the card. Is it right that DVLA charges extra when paying for road tax if you pay by credit card? I don't see anyone arguing in favour of that charge.

I refuse to pay any company by credit card if they make a charge for using it however I am able to use a debit card in most cases without additional charges except if I am trying to book a flight where it seems the norm to have to pay for the priviledge of paying.

NFH

lijaloo wrote: »

Is it right that DVLA charges extra when paying for road tax if you pay by credit card? I don't see anyone arguing in favour of that charge.

Their fixed charge of £2.50 for credit card payments is not related to cost, given that the cost is a percentage rather than a fixed amount. Therefore those who pay small amounts by credit card subsiside those who pay large amounts. My road tax was £425 so I paid by credit card, giving me £4.25 cashback, i.e. still cheaper to pay by credit card and pay the £2.50 fee.

MarkBargain

It's not just Ryanair, there are other examples and all of these should not be allowed. For example, I booked transfers from an airport to my resort recently using ResortHoppa. It quotes a price and you then enter all your personal details, flight details and hotel information. Right at the very end on the payment screen it shows a "card handling fee" of £3 for credit cards and £1 for debit cards. So, £1 is the lowest fee possible and it seems it is not possible to avoid it in any way. While that is not a lot of money, because of the principle of it I felt cheated as the price I was shown at the beginning (when I was comparing with other travel options) was not the price I had to pay at the end.

NFH

MarkBargain wrote: »

Right at the very end on the payment screen it shows a "card handling fee" of £3 for credit cards and £1 for debit cards. So, £1 is the lowest fee possible and it seems it is not possible to avoid it in any way.

Was the fee charged per passenger or per payment? If it's per payment, then it's more justified, because to include it in every passenger fare would result in the final price being higher. Nevertheless £1 for a debit card payment is excessive considering it costs them around 20p.

Vendee

malkie76 wrote: »

There aren't other airlines other than RyanAir? That's news to me.

Don't be obtuse. You said use another providers service. There may not be another provider offerering that service i.e. flying the same route.

photome

Why is there always so many people ready to defend Ryanair.

What if every retailer including Tescos etc had the same obscure pricing policy and all offered free payments with a certain card only, but they were all different cards, Where would that leave the consumer

tingtong

photome wrote: »

Why is there always so many people ready to defend Ryanair.

What if every retailer including Tescos etc had the same obscure pricing policy and all offered free payments with a certain card only, but they were all different cards, Where would that leave the consumer

That's exactly why it needs to be addressed now before it becomes commonplace with retailers. Imagine if the likes of Amazon, Play, PC World, Argos etc all adopted a similar policy. Doesn't bear thinking about. Or like you say, get to the till at Tesco and they charge an extra £5 to pay by credit card.

As others have said, it's not just Ryanair doing it now but they do seem to be one of the worst offenders.

malkie76

Vendee wrote: »

Don't be obtuse. You said use another providers service. There may not be another provider offerering that service i.e. flying the same route.

If you can highlight a destination where RyanAir are the only airline which fly to then you'd have a point. Otherwise there is always another option, albeit an indirect one.

Don't like RyanAir? Fly with someone else.

molerat

How about Ryanair etc putting the price that most people will pay on the front page, stating payment discounts are available, and then at the final stage offer a discount for those paying by their preferred method, fair and honest.

tingtong

molerat wrote: »

fair and honest.

Two words not normally associated with Ryanair