Sky wants €0.75 a month for CreditCard payments

[Stapeler]

I got a letter from Sky today looking for an additional €0.75 per month because I pay direct debit by credit card.
I've given them over €2000 over the past 7 years. Should I refuse to pay and cancel my subscription?

 

[Green]

I'm in a similar position, perhaps we should cancel some aspect of the contract that we don't really want/use that much as a protest? I wonder do similar charges apply in the UK? Could they NCA help there?

 

[The_Banker]

I got a letter from them yesterday out lining the 0.75 charge. I plan calling them tonight and cancelling my sports and movie subscription.
I just did a quick calculation and I have paid them over €4,000 in the last 5 years.

The 0.75 charge while not high, is petty. I can be just as petty.

 

[DublinTexas]

Unfortunatly in both UK and Ireland they can charge customers more depending on the way they pay.

In other countries (US for example) that would be against the credit card companies policy and you actualy could complain to visa/masterard etc.

Here all you can do is pay the 0.75 € and shut up or switch to direct debit from you bank account. And we all know how bad direct debit from bank accounts is for consumer rights protection.

I'm now buying a Humax Freesat + up north next time they have one an give Sky the boot.

 

[gipimann]

In recent years the ESB and An Post have stopped taking credit card direct debits altogether, so, while the extra charge is annoying, at least they're still offering the facility.

The 75c increase almost balances the recent 50c decrease in Sky subscriptions, due to the VAT change in the UK.

 

[RMCF]

Worth giving them a call and threatening to cancel your package and see if they will waive the 0.75cent.

Thing is its probably not something they can do as it would be applied to every single account. But if they were to give you a few months at half-price then this would cover the cost of all the 0.75 combined for a while.

All this reminds me of a great argument I had with a Sky rep over the phone a few years back when they decided to round up everyone's accounts by 1p sterling to, in their words on the letters, "make it more convenient for me the subscriber".

The call went something like this:

Me: Hello, calling about this 1p rise to make things easier for me. To be honest it doesn't make any difference to my bank account if £31.99 or £32.00 is coming out. After all, many things come out of my bank account and the figure is allowed to be between .01 and .99.
Sky: We thought it would make managing your bank accounts easier.
Me: Yeah right, plus it would raise more money for you. Perhaps if you donated that money to charity then I, and others, would understand.
Sky: But we have a lot of cost involved and they are rising all the time and this money could also be used to make your programming better for you.
Me: Yeah cos you have 3 million subscribers in the UK at present and that extra £30k every month is going to make a big difference!!
Sky: Its not £30k every month, but £3mill each month, which could make a big difference.
Me: How's it £3mill? Its £30k.
Sky: No its not, its £3mill.
Me: How many subscribers have you approx?
Sky: 3 million.
Me: Yeah and 3 million 1p's is £30k.
Sky: No its not, its £3mill.
Me: How in God's name is it £3mill?
Sky: It is.
Me: Take each subscriber giving you an extra 1p.
Sky: ok
Me: Now multiple that by 3 million. What do you get?
Sky: £3mill
Me: Ok, I'm away !!

To be honest, the call lasted a few mins more, and I had a good laugh at her, and this conversation above repeated a few times, but she still couldn't grasp the concept. I told her if it was being recrded for training purposes I would love to hear it some day on a training package. I basically had to hang up as she was annoying me, but told her that when she got home to get hold of a calculator and do the sums, then go back and do her GCSE Maths again.

 

[Stapeler]

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one annoyed with them. The subject came up today in conversation and a friend suggest that I call them and ask them to read their contract with the CC company. Apparently they are not allowed to pass on this charge to customers.

In the "Rules for Visa Merchants" book it says,
"Always treat Visa transactions like any other transaction; that is, you may not
impose any surcharge on a Visa transaction. You may, however, offer a discount
for cash transactions, provided that the offer is clearly disclosed to customers
and the cash price is presented as a discount from the standard price charged for
all other forms of payment"

Might try this on them.

 

[DublinTexas]

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one annoyed with them. The subject came up today in conversation and a friend suggest that I call them and ask them to read their contract with the CC company. Apparently they are not allowed to pass on this charge to customers.

In the "Rules for Visa Merchants" book it says,
"Always treat Visa transactions like any other transaction; that is, you may not
impose any surcharge on a Visa transaction. You may, however, offer a discount
for cash transactions, provided that the offer is clearly disclosed to customers
and the cash price is presented as a discount from the standard price charged for
all other forms of payment"

Might try this on them.

Thanks a lot for that. So what happens next is that they are going to send letters to everybody announcing a 0.75 € increase in price and people that pay by direct debit a letter that they discount the price by 0.75 €. So we have the same thing than 0.75€ for paying by credit card just now it conforms with the Visa rules.

 

[DublinTexas]

So I contacted VISA Europe and within 2 hours I had an answer:

Dear xxx,

Thank you for contacting Visa Europe.

Please be informed that Visa does not have contracts with merchants or cardholders, it is our Member banks and financial institutions that have contracts with merchants and cardholders. The bank which recruits suppliers willing to accept a Visa cards is referred to as "merchant acquirer".

Surcharge (or additional charges applied by a particular merchant) is regulated by local legislation. Visa rules and regulations do not permit surcharging however where local laws permit surcharging, local laws take precedence over Visa rules and regulations. To find out whether surcharge is permitted by local laws, you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureaux.

If you run into problems with a merchant, please notify your Visa card-issuing bank. Visa Member financial institutions have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations. Your card-issuing bank can best answer your questions about surcharges. They also have access to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms that should be used by the financial institution to document and file this type of complaint. You can contact them directly, using the address or telephone number on your Visa statement or on the back of your card.

Kind Regards,

So if you want to complain contact your Visa Card issuer, now let's see what MBNA is going to tell me if I ask them for a Customer Complaint Form.