2% charge for using a credit card

Andrew_Ryan_89

Hey guys,

Getting married soon and wanted to pay for the venue using a credit card. It's somewhere where we have ate before and paid with a credit card no problem. The final bill is around £4,500 and I sent an email asking if it was okay to pay by credit card as opposed to doing a bank transfer and that's when they told me it would be a 2% charge. As this is £90, I thought it seemed just a bit excessive.

Obviously I have come across places that charge you for using a card or charge you more for a credit card, but I am scratching my head about this large fee.

Before I challenged/negotiated I wanted to know whether it is something that is justified or if they are just trying to squeeze more money out of us?

Many thanks

[Deleted User]

It's justified if it reflects their costs.

bengalknights

It sounds like they are passing on the merchant charge costs so it can be justified from there perspective

On the plus side you get to keep your S75 protection

drp_2

Ring them up and tell them you are not happy with the 2% charge. As you are already spending a decent amount of money with them. And ask them to waive it as a goodwill gesture they will already be making a good profit out of your booking without charging the booking fee.i have done it before when I have booked holidays if you don't ask you don't get good luck

m4rc

It is certainly worth a go as drp says above, they are probably not doing anything technically wrong, but I too would argue that morally it isn't a great idea when they are taking £4.5k from you and (I'm guessing) a fair amount of cash from a bar as they are unlikely to include all drinks in the bill.

Or just say you will ask everyone to have one less drink at the reception and instead give the money to you - that should more than cover it!

lisyloo

Yes, it tend to happen on large purchases e.g. cars.
You can try and negotiate.
I would pay £1 (or something small) by credit card to get yourself section 75 protection on the whole lot (yes it's true).
That means if the venue went out of business you'd be protected for the full amount.
Be very careful making BACS payments.
If you set up the numbers wrong and send it to someone (let's say me) by mistake then you might have a devil of a job getting it back.
I could say it was a gift and you'd have a hard time proving otherwise.
I triple check but in some cases I send a few £'s and confirmed it's arrived before sending the big amount.
Your bank cannot just reverse erroneous BACS transfers for you.
I think there is some checksum done on it, so you'd have to be unlucky to accidentally type in a valid number (chances are you'll type an invalid account number) but it's still something to ponder for large sums.

Or just say you will ask everyone to have one less drink at the reception and instead give the money to you - that should more than cover it!

I take it you are making a point, rather than a serious suggestion :-)

eDicky

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

it would be a 2% charge. As this is £90, I thought it seemed just a bit excessive.

It seems like more than their actual costs would be, so you should ask them to waive it or at least halve it. Mentioning that you have alternative venues in mind might help...

Oakdene

I work in a car dealership & we charge customers 2% on any payments over £2000 made by credit card. This is the cost we get charged by our merchant services provider....

lisyloo

It seems like more than their actual costs would be

On what basis would you say that?
Big stores (like Boots for example) get huge discounts. Smaller retailers get charged a lot more. Seems in line with what car dealerships do to me and might not cover the entire charge.

ashling-33

Can i hijack this thread and also ask a question on a 2% credit card surcharge? I work for a company and frequently purchase fuel for our building sites. I order and pay for the fuel over the phone and pay via company credit card in full. I have recently received a letter saying there was an overdue amount on the account, which confused me, as I always pay in full over phone. when i queried this I was told that it was for 2% Credit Card charge that should have been charged but wasn't. this relates to 12 invoices dating as far back as January 2016 - are they legally able to charge this after the purchase and payment? any advice please?

[Deleted User]

Is it a charge that they made clear would apply when you previously ordered and have not charged you?