MSE News: Some credit card users STILL being charged despite ban

d123

Meant to add, anyone finding a dodgy retailer still trying to charge these fees should report them to their local Trading Standards, I noticed on Tuesday that a local retailer was, and contacted my local TS who have answered pretty quickly to say a TS officer will be sent to the shop by Monday to educate them or take action if required.

takman

gripped wrote: »

Very ill thought out this ban.

I'm an independent taxi driver.

Before the ban:
"Do you take card ?"
"Yes but it's 50p extra"
Either "No problem" or it turns out they did have cash after all.

After the ban:
"Do you take card ?"
"No but we can go via a cashpoint"
"OK". This will generally cost the customer more than 50p by the time we have diverted and waited.

Or maybe they will simply use an Uber or use another taxi instead that will take their card payments.

gripped wrote: »

My card machine is now purely for the scammers you wait until you've driven them home to the middle of nowhere and then say "You do take card don't you ?"

Yes I used to gain a little on a short fare paid by card and lose a little on a long fare. But a flat 50p charge just kept things simple and no-one was forced to pay it. No extra on cash.

On another note it's very rare to get a tip with a card payment so I'm better off without them

But if you only take cash payments then what about the time it takes you to pay all that cash into the bank and withdraw the right amount of change to make sure you have enough each time you go out. Alot of business bank accounts also charge you for depositing cash. So handling cash isn't exactly without cost either.

glider3560

gripped wrote: »

Very ill thought out this ban.

I'm an independent taxi driver.

Before the ban:
"Do you take card ?"
"Yes but it's 50p extra"
Either "No problem" or it turns out they did have cash after all.

After the ban:
"Do you take card ?"
"No but we can go via a cashpoint"
"OK". This will generally cost the customer more than 50p by the time we have diverted and waited.

My card machine is now purely for the scammers you wait until you've driven them home to the middle of nowhere and then say "You do take card don't you ?"

Yes I used to gain a little on a short fare paid by card and lose a little on a long fare. But a flat 50p charge just kept things simple and no-one was forced to pay it. No extra on cash.

On another note it's very rare to get a tip with a card payment so I'm better off without them

Each to their own, but as someone who rarely carries much cash, I won't book a taxi unless they actually advertise they accept card payments. That's one of the many reasons Uber became so popular...

staffsgirl0707

You can pay your rent over the telephone during office hours, using a debit or credit card. To do this, call our customer services team. Please note that we charge a £2 administration fee for payments made by telephone to cover some of the costs of taking payments this way.


Is this allowed? The only way you can pay over the phone is a card payment. All other method of payments i.e Direct Debit, cheque through post etc don't have an administration fee

eskbanker

staffsgirl0707 wrote: »

You can pay your rent over the telephone during office hours, using a debit or credit card. To do this, call our customer services team. Please note that we charge a £2 administration fee for payments made by telephone to cover some of the costs of taking payments this way.

Is this allowed? The only way you can pay over the phone is a card payment. All other method of payments i.e Direct Debit, cheque through post etc don't have an administration fee

An interesting one, I can see both sides of the argument, i.e. that it's a telephone fee not a card one but equally they're effectively the same in this case. Is it possible to pay by card in person and/or online perhaps?

staffsgirl0707

eskbanker wrote: »

An interesting one, I can see both sides of the argument, i.e. that it's a telephone fee not a card one but equally they're effectively the same in this case. Is it possible to pay by card in person and/or online perhaps?

There isn't an option to pay online. They also don't list an option of paying in person. Their offices are 2 Junctions up the motorway, so perhaps next time I'm passing Juntion I could pop in & see what they say to my card. I'd like to know what the costs are of taking over the phone

chattychappy

Seems legit to me. I note the fee also applies to debit cards.

The other methods (DD, cheque) don't require them to have staff answering the phone.

molerat

But cheques are probably the most "labour intensive" method of payment for them.

eskbanker

staffsgirl0707 wrote: »

I'd like to know what the costs are of taking over the phone

As chattychappy says, they need to have staff answering the phone, but chances are (unless they're a large organisation) they're staff who'd already be employed, with phone payments taking a negligible part of their time. Likewise telephony costs, theoretically higher if more lines needed, but in reality unlikely to be significant. Possibly higher merchant fees for accepting Cardholder Not Present payments by phone versus PIN-authorised ones or customer-entered details online, perhaps with associated PCI-DSS compliance costs too....

real_sunfire

Unfortunately this law charge will meant small retailers will stop taking credit or debit cards in the first place.

They reason why many charge 40-50p in the first place is this is the minimum fee that their card machine companies (acquirers) charge for the use of a card machine.

If your profit on a item is only 20p there is no way you will now accept a card for that purchase.

If the government wanted to be fair it would have also removed the minimum fees charged by the acquirers.

Instead a slightly higher percentage of the purchase amount could be charged by the acquirers.

This works in other places like Australia and New Zealand, why not here in the UK.

Regards,
Sunfire