Charged extra for paying by debit card

MamaMoo_2

I hate it when this happens at the best of times, but sometimes I don't mind (ie the local corner shop used to charge 50p to pay by card if you were buying less than £5 of stuff)
Whenever I order food online using Just-Eat or similar, I always pay cash on delivery. It used to be free to pay by card, but then they whacked a 50-60p surcharge on, so I stopped using my card.
All of these sites & shops advertise the charge beforehand, however, I went to the corner shop by my dad's house the other day, and when everything had been put through the till (£15.10 worth of stuff) and I handed over my card, I was then told "that's an extra £1"!
Never again will they be getting my business, I'll pop to the shopping centre 100m away where none of the shops charge. No wonder these shops are dying out! Thieving gits.

santer_2

I set up a DD with a mobile phone operator, they didn't take anything so when it showed two months owing, rang them to settle with a debit card, they charged £3 for doing it, though they didn't say so, saw it on next bill

oldone_2

A close eye needs to be kept on this practice. It is no secret that Banks are in the process of phasing out cheques, so in future the only means of paying will be cash or a card.

What is the betting that some retailer will come up with the idea of a surcharge for 'handling' cash.

MamaMoo_2

I think it's really rather dodgy. Especially as the prices in the shop are hiked up already. I don't think it should be allowed. Having to pay to pay is a little stupid. No way does it cost that shop £1 to process my transaction, I was only using a visa debit!

geordieracer

My local Spar does this for anything under a tenner - because the cash machine outside charges £1.94 for a withdrawal. I dont shop there any more.

MamaMoo_2

The shop in question has a cash machine that charges £1.85, so if you want to withdraw cash you've got to pay through the nose for it.
If I'm spending £15 on overpriced food etc in a corner shop (rather than walking 2 minutes up the road to one of the cheaper shops) then they shouldn't be charging extra to take cards.
From now on I'll save my money and walk down the road. I know a lot of people complain about local shops going down the pan because nobody supports their local shopkeeper, but if they're going to be so cheeky, then I'll be showing no support. The local Costcutter can have my custom.

Hern

I had no idea Ryanair had gone into the corner shop business.

So that's, let's see, £5.50p m'dear for the same groceries you could've got at Lidl for £3; plus administration of £1.50p, because someone had to operate the till; plus Out of Hours service £2.00p because unless you purchase between 11am and 11.30am, then sorry; plus £5.00 for failing to print out your checked goods before arrival at the shop, meaning that we've had to use the till receipt roll; plus £2.50p Dimensional Surcharge because your shopping bag takes up too much space in the shop; plus £3.50p English Language Charge because all our staff are either Somalis or Albanians; plus £1.50p Debit Card charge. . .

So that'll be £21.50p. Oh: your car seems to have taken a space at the kerb that wasn't pre-allocated so that's another £8.50p, call it thirty quid, OK?

Shop local!

PS: to the OP -- report the shop to your local council's Trading Standards. No transaction is legally valid unless any and all conditions attaching to it are made clear before the transaction is complete.

Bowling_4_Gold

Hern wrote: »

PS: to the OP -- report the shop to your local council's Trading Standards. No transaction is legally valid unless any and all conditions attaching to it are made clear before the transaction is complete.

I disagree with this. The OP had the option to simply walk away once the £1 fee was mentioned - but willingly decided to pay it. Not the shop's problem!

david39

The OP had the option to simply walk away once the £1 fee was mentioned - but willingly decided to pay it. Not the shop's problem!

Well, it is the shop's problem - because the OP says that she won't be going back there again.

I suppose the shopkeeper's thinking behind this is : These people will pay extra for the goods I sell rather than go 10 minutes up the rpad, so I'll extract a little more profit from them.

A short-sighted policy, I'm afraid as I certainly would not pay £1 to use a debit card, nor will I patronise a cash machine that charges for withdrawals.

DCFC79

Is it the only shop you can use then OP, can you not get cash before hand from an atm and use cash in the shop.

Bowling_4_Gold

But why do Trading Standards have to be informed? The shop has done nothing 'wrong'! It's not their problem the customer is too lazy/in a rush to have cash with them.

Although I agree the charge for paying by debit card is often frustrating and unwarranted, we don't need to make it harder for corner shops that open all hours, 7 days a week at our convenience.