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CC surcharges: clarity of final price on e-commerce transactions
NFH
Posts: 4,413 Forumite
in Credit cards
If a merchant chooses to make a surcharge for payments by credit card when selling a product or service online, are there any rules about how and when the final charge amount should be displayed to the customer ?
I bought home emergency insurance on the AA's web site, and entered my credit card details to make the initial monthly payment (subsequent monthly payments to be collected by DD). Having already entered my credit card details, I then decided to make a lump sum annual payment and selected that option. What I believed was the final price was displayed prominently and I clicked on "Submit". The site then confirmed that a higher amount than I had authorised had been charged to my card. I clicked the back button and saw it said "For credit cards there is an additional transaction fee of 1.5%" (in a font around a fraction of the size of the final price). Even if I had noticed this small print, it was not obvious whether or not the displayed price included or excluded the surcharge, particularly as I had already specified my payment method which the site could have used to determine the correct final price. Because previous stages of the process also used a yellow "Submit" button, it was not made clear that my card would be charged at this point with a yet undisplayed amount. Even Ryanair doesn't do this!
Before a merchant charges your card, aren't they supposed to display the final amount that will be charged to the card?
I bought home emergency insurance on the AA's web site, and entered my credit card details to make the initial monthly payment (subsequent monthly payments to be collected by DD). Having already entered my credit card details, I then decided to make a lump sum annual payment and selected that option. What I believed was the final price was displayed prominently and I clicked on "Submit". The site then confirmed that a higher amount than I had authorised had been charged to my card. I clicked the back button and saw it said "For credit cards there is an additional transaction fee of 1.5%" (in a font around a fraction of the size of the final price). Even if I had noticed this small print, it was not obvious whether or not the displayed price included or excluded the surcharge, particularly as I had already specified my payment method which the site could have used to determine the correct final price. Because previous stages of the process also used a yellow "Submit" button, it was not made clear that my card would be charged at this point with a yet undisplayed amount. Even Ryanair doesn't do this!
Before a merchant charges your card, aren't they supposed to display the final amount that will be charged to the card?
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Comments
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Have you asked the AA?
Internet sites are now governed by the same advertising rules as everyone else.0 -
Yes, they're investigating and will call me back. But I want to know what the regulations are regarding such matters before I speak to them again.jonesMUFCforever wrote: »Have you asked the AA?
Internet sites are now governed by the same advertising rules as everyone else.0 -
The AA have just called back and as well as refunding the surcharge, possible changes to the web site are being investigated.0
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