Credit surcharge, or not?

munchings-n-crunchings

I've just paid my daughter's school trip deposit of £300. The two tick box options for payment were either cheque, or credit card with 2.5% surcharge.

Not having a credit card, and not wanting to incur a surcharge, I paid using my visa debit card, only to find that I've been charged the surcharge anyway.

Was I just naive in thinking that the payment would be differentiated from a credit card payment, or do I have reasonable grounds to ask for the surcharge to be refunded? It's only £7.50, but it's the principle.

Regards
Munchie

dzug1

Difficult one - you paid by an unadvertised mrthod of payment and assumed that it would be treated in the way that other merchants would. I doubt if the school 'knew' it was a debit card at all and just treated it as a credit card

It's worth asking, but I'm not sure what the answer will be - nor of your rights.

chattychappy

Did you tick either box?

It could be argued either way. If it says 2.5% surcharge for CC, then you could argue that since you were not paying by CC, then the £7.50 element was unauthorised. They should have rejected your payment method or sought your approval for the extra amount.

On the other hand, if you filled in your debit card details in the credit card area and ticked the box next to it, then it is tantamount to your accepting that your debit card would be treated as a CC for charging purposes.

If the reality is that the school is charged a smaller amount for processing debit card payments - perhaps similar to what they get charged for cheques, then hopefully they will agree to refund without the need for an argy-bargy as they won't be out of pocket.

I wouldn't be shy to raise this with them. They should pay more attention to detail when designing forms!!

reclusive46

Agree with above but it is also possible that the school processes all payments as a credit card as well I.e. They don't really have a different fee process for debit cards.