Vendors Splitting Transactions - is it allowed?

regency_man

I recently purchased transfer flights for an upcoming vacation on a US website (because even with the currency exchange it was cheaper than anything on a UK website). Give-or-take the tickets for the two of us came to $180 and I knew I would have to pay a foreign transaction fee on this of £1.50 (yes I know, I should get a different CC, just applied for Halifax Clarity).

Anyway, when my statement came through the tickets from the vendor were in two separate transactions for $90 each - meaning I had to pay TWO foreign transaction fees.

I phoned up the CC company and asked what had happened and they said the vendor can decide to submit the transaction however they want and CC company can't do anything about it.

Surely this cannot be correct and the vendor has an obligation to process transactions as the total amount advertised? If not then the vendor could have decided to submit the purchase as 180 separate transactions of $1 and landed me with a bill of £270 in foreign transaction fees?

Sound fishy - and the only people gaining here are the CC company with their fees. Anyone had similar experience?

ermine

I've had return tickets appear as two transactions before, so it doesn't surprise me. You're working hard for the £1.50 you're out of pocket here, however.

The world is full of fight if you look for it but £1.50 seems to set the bar low for taking The System on. How long did you spend on the phone call and how much do you value your time? You're about to go on a lovely US holiday and it's £1.50 dearer than you thought it was going to be. Don't sweat the small stuff, and have a great time!

BTW you will hate some aspects of the US if you're sweating this £1.50. The way prices are often shown ex-sales tax so you always end up paying a bit more than the sticker price. And there's the whole tipping thing:eek:

ic

I've been charged for items individually before now, so it doesn't seem unreasonable. Remember that it isn't the website that has benefited from the fee - that's gone to your credit card company.

One thing I do wonder, as your tickets have been paid for individually, are they seen by the airline as individual - what would happen if one of you were bumped off the flight? The airline might not see you as travelling together and instead treat you as two lone flyers?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

OK, it's an overseas transaction so the CC company might have dug their heels in, but with each $90 transaction being for less than the £100 minimum there will presumably be no Section 75 protection.

dalesrider

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

OK, it's an overseas transaction so the CC company might have dug their heels in, but with each $90 transaction being for less than the £100 minimum there will presumably be no Section 75 protection.

Even if it was put through as one amount. There would still be no S75 as each flight/ticket is a separate item.

Standard practice by airlines to place each ticket as a separate purchase. makes it easier for them to resolve any refunds should they need to do so.

regency_man

the vendor has an obligation to process transactions as the total amount advertised

No. They can process transactions per item.
Amazon are a company that do this. You order say 5 items and you get a total price.
They then bill you per item.

brendon

I don't think Section 75 would apply for each ticket, but I think you would be covered if the vendor didn't provide both tickets. See here.

dalesrider

brendon wrote: »

I don't think Section 75 would apply for each ticket, but I think you would be covered if the vendor didn't provide both tickets. See here.

It is viewed as each item price. Which cannot include P&P etc to bump it over £100.

If tickets did not arrive then there are chargeback rights.

regency_man

Just to be clear I'm not worried about recovering £1.50 it is more the principle of the matter- if you ordered 100 pairs of socks from an American retailer for $100 dollars- would you be happy if, without making it clear they were going to do this at the point of sale, they charge you individually for each pair as a foreign transaction on your card? So you'd pay $100 for the socks and £150 in processing fees.

I'm asking, as an academic question, are there any limits on retailers doing this?? Or is it truly completely at their discretion?

Also- I would consider a joint booking (all on one airline record locator) to be a single item for section 75 purposes... Is this not the case?

So, just for example, if I bought a £150 mobile phone, and the retailer decided to split it into two £75 transactions, would it still qualify for Section 75??

guesswho2000

brendon wrote: »

I don't think Section 75 would apply for each ticket, but I think you would be covered if the vendor didn't provide both tickets. See here.

I don't think it would, it's for each item - if they provide neither ticket, then they're simply not providing two separate items each priced below £100. But as Dalesrider states, there's always chargeback.

OP, as everyone else has stated, with airline tickets, it's normal to be charged individually for each one (but doesn't always happen that way). BA & Finnair charged me individually about a month ago, Etihad charged me for multiple tickets in one go.

You state that you're getting a £1.50 charge for these forex transactions - are you using a debit card by any chance? Normally credit cards only charge a set %age...if you're using a DC, the S75 doesn't apply anyway, unless you buy the tickets using an overdraft...

guesswho2000

regency_man wrote: »

So, just for example, if I bought a £150 mobile phone, and the retailer decided to split it into two £75 transactions, would it still qualify for Section 75??

Yes, because the individual item cost >£100.

The same as if you paid 1p by credit card and the rest by cash/debit card/magic beans, you'd still have s75 protection.