Car Payment Issue on CC

jadeandalan · 10 March 2012 at 10:45AM

Hello all!

Now, I can't wait until office hours on Monday through to Friday, so I thought I'd sign up here.

Here's the thing:

I bought a car from Bowerhill Trading Estate, Melksham which is great - nothing wrong with the car, but...it's paying by credit card which is the conundrum!

On the point of sale, we placed a deposit on the 4th of February for £395 via our debit card. No problems there. Simple enough. The pleasantries were fine.

We agreed with the salesman that we would pay £395 on the day, wait for our new credit card to come through and pay £3000 on it completed the deal. Again. No problems there.

The 11th of February rolls around and we get our card. Happy day! I can get my new car. Going back to the salesman, on my own, I went to complete the deal, only to be told that they had to charge £100.00 on top of the deal as it's a credit card payment...hmm!

I mentioned, 'well, this was not agreed when we paid the deposit last week about the credit card payment', to the reply: 'well, the boss won't be happy I've let the car go with no charge'...hmm!

I settled on a £50 credit card charge (here's me thinking I'm a dealer!) and the payment went through. Funnily enough, it was keyed in as the chip and pin was not active on the card...now here's the problem...

The missus ain't happy!

I did feel slightly pressured into the sale of the extra £50, but miraculously from £100 to £50, I thought I did a bargain...obviously not!

Is there any procedure I can follow, as I cannot see for the life of me ANYTHING about credit card charges on the contract. It's just an invoice actually!

Is it the discretion of the salesman to impose that charge or have I lost out on £50?

I know its only £50...but money is money.

Please help.

Embarrassed Consumer!

Thanks.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case · 10 March 2012 at 11:00AM

This is pretty standard for automotive purchases. They'll take a deposit via credit card quite happily, just to get you hooked. Then they ask for a supplementary payment when you pay the balance.

They should warn you about this in advance but I suspect it's just mumbled in some instances.

There's a school of thought that says if the dealer doesn't ask for a supplement it means that you haven't haggled hard enough.

I'd put it down to experience; probably not worth the time and effort to try and get it refunded. Buy your wife a bunch of flowers!

chattychappy · 10 March 2012 at 11:49AM

My view is that if they are displaying CC signage, you pay a deposit on CC and there is nothing in the T+Cs (which are given to you), then you are entitled to pay the balance on CC without additional charge. Still arguable though.

Your experience is a common story. I expect it is too late to do anything about it now except perhaps a complaint in writing followed by contacting trading standards*. The pressure you felt it beside the point, you weren't really under any duress in the legal sense. And of course, you have "done a deal".

Retailers pay a fee for CC acceptance. So generally they'd rather have a debit card or cash equivalent for anything that is low margin. The deposit is a small amount and they want the business. Once you're bound, they see no reason to suffer additional fees.

If entering into a binding agreement which involves "more money later" and paying by CC is important, then you must get it in writing that you can use a CC without additional charge.

My usual trick is if a salesman makes a verbal promise, gives me a reassurance I want to rely on, or something is important to me then just above where I sign, I write in whatever it is. That flushes out any dispute. If the salesman just doesn't care - well then the company suffers not me.

Indeed I was saved by such an amendment when shipping some commercial goods by a courier division of a "well known PLC". To cut along story short I got a large bill for something I had been promised on the phone I wouldn't be liable for. It chugged through their internal processes until eventually they sued me. Only then did I get a sensible contact in their legal division. Phoned her up, suggested she looked at the form.. she chuckled and faxed back a confirmation that they were discontinuing.

(* I've had mixed experiences with TS. They were great with a relative when she had a rather odd dispute with B&Q. But another branch gave appalling advice to a friend of mine when she had a dispute with builders - something that would have cost her £3000 if she'd followed it.)