Charged for using debit card

sue_marie

Today I went to York Theatre Royal box office to buy two tickets and was told there was a £1.50 'transaction fee' for all debit and credit cards. I've never been charged for using my debit card before. Is this a new thing?

Brewer20

Booking fee.

jonesMUFCforever

OP I think you would have been charged this even by using cash.

realaledrinker

Brewer20 wrote: »

Booking fee.

No, rip-off

xylophone

OP I think you would have been charged this even by using cash.

How so?

£1.50 'transaction fee' for all debit and credit cards.

eskbanker

According to https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/page/terms_and_conditions.php it is a card surcharge, or more accurately a non-cash one (so cheques would theoretically be charged too!):

York Theatre Royal charges a fee of £1.50 per transaction for all bookings excluding cash payments made at the Box Office

My understanding is that under current regulations, such surcharges have to reflect actual processing costs by card type, so unless they can demonstrate that debit cards cost as much to process as credit cards their policy may not stand up to scrutiny....

CKhalvashi

eskbanker wrote: »

My understanding is that under current regulations, such surcharges have to reflect actual processing costs by card type, so unless they can demonstrate that debit cards cost as much to process as credit cards their policy may not stand up to scrutiny....

My understanding is that most systems use this to cover the cost of their software, so you end up with something like a £15 ticket and a £1.50 booking fee.

My company does things a bit differently, where we'll charge £15 for a ticket with no booking fee and reclaim the costs from the other end, usually as part of a package of services, as I feel that it's a fairer way to do it.

External companies would charge the booking fee though, not the promoter or act/group themselves, and whilst I feel it's morally wrong (as in there should be a properly costed business plan for where the £1.50s will come from elsewhere), many don't.

As a guide, with processing charges you could possibly argue it's unfair unless the ticket cost more than about £60. There are chargebacks and other costs to consider, though, which could weight the test against the OP, especially if a different system is used for that against physical sales, as it's not a card charge.

Also, just to be clear, the box office will likely be acting as an agent (largely for tax purposes although an important legal change) instead of a principal. How this changes things legally when querying the charge, I don't know.

eskbanker

This isn't about booking fees that are applied across all payment types, it's specifically about the different issue of surcharging for specific means of payment, which is regulated under the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012.

In the government's guidance notes for the implementation of these, it's explicitly clear that

Costs must not be calculated on an average basis across two or more individual methods of payment (e.g. credit and debit cards together) and applied as a flat fee across those means of payment

which is exactly what the York Theatre Royal appear to be doing, and hence my previous comment.

sue_marie

Thanks for all your help. I've sent the following message to YTR and will let you know their response...

Referring to card charges, the government guidelines for The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 clearly states "Costs must not be calculated on an average basis across two or more individual methods of payment (e.g. credit and debit cards together) and applied as a flat fee across those means of payment."
However, I was told yesterday that there is a £1.50 'transaction charge' regardless of whether I paid by debit or credit card. Could you please explain why your policy - as set out in your T&Cs - appears to directly contradict the Consumer Rights Regulations.

jonesMUFCforever

xylophone wrote: »

How so? [/B]

By going to the box office to buy the tickets and finding this fee added to the ticket.

agrinnall

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

By going to the box office to buy the tickets and finding this fee added to the ticket.

But not if you read the extract in eskbanker's post, which says that cash payments are excluded from the fee.