1.5% Credit Card Charge with www.directski.com

[ClubMan]

I hope that they will both investigate this charge and refund all or part of the fee.

I doubt that they will but good luck in pursuing the matter.

I hope that I will be successful, considering that the No Discrimination Rule has been broken because I was discriminated by directski.com for paying by my Visa Card.

Note that this "rule" is not a statutory one and, as such, DirectSki were not in breach of any legislation in charging this additional fee once they mentioned it at booking time - as the ODCA confirmed to you above.

I find it impossible to believe that Directski.com are being charged 1.5% on every credit card transaction.

Why? I thought that a 1.5% charge to the merchant by the CC company was not unusual. Note that a 3.5% charge in similar circumstances is mentioned by somebody above. If I recall correctly depending on how much business a merchant puts by the CC company they will be charged different rates but rarely, if ever, get this service for free.

This just goes to show that there is a big problem with how they are informing their customers of this credit card charge. the customer is informed too late in the process. Much Too late...

I disagree. As long as the charge is mentioned before you actually submit the transaction then it's never "too late". However it would make sense to mention this charge sooner and possibly in the booking Ts&Cs.

 

[GreatDane]

Garrett

I think you are missing the point. Why should any company absorb the charge?

It's cheaper for a company to provide a service to people who pay with their Laser Card than to people who pay with their Credit Card. If the company "absorbs" the charge, it means that the Laser Card payers will be subsidising the Credit Card payers.

On a separate point, can you be more careful in the language you use. Describing this as a "fiddle" leaves me open to defamation, not you. You can use the word "practice".

Brendan

Brendan

I did not "miss the point" but simply don't accept it - I refer you to my previous response, to Anthony, in which I say:

I hear what your saying...

Regarding your referance to my language, I am sorry if you felt it inappropriate as you mention above, I felt the "" around the word "fiddle", would have indicated the word was being used in a round about manner. Nonetheless, your point is noted & your position fully appreciated, no harm intended here.


Finally, Yes the user of Laser may be cheaper but the bottom line here is that accepting major credit cards such as Mastercard & Visa will attract business for this or any other retailer, or if you rather, refusing to accept these methods of payment may discourage / scare away potential customers - as such, it's in their interest to consider accepting this payment method.

Furthermore, the funds are guaranteed as soon as the payment is authorised for the retailer (assuming no fraud or disbute between vendor & purchaser), with the time until funds are cleared for the retailer, significantly faster than say a cheque clearing etc. As such, there is benifit in the retailer seeking payment via credit card & as such, an offset for the retailer "absorbing" the processing costs referred to.

The processing cost involved for credit cards, is indeed open to a level of negotiation based upon usage, the merchant service provider etc etc & as such, is something DirectSki should consider investigating imho.

Amazing how large travel operators & airlines apparently cannot absorb these costs, or negotiate more competitive processing rates ... while smaller retailers (in various industries, with various margins on their revenue), can. I'm not saying DirectSki are the worst, but they could certainly do better ... purely from the eyes of this one, potential customer.

Regards

G>

 

[Helsbels]

I work in travel and have done so for the past 15 years. Travel agencies and tour operators work on such low margins as it is (eg a travel agent will not normally get more than 10% commission on a booking, often less than this) that if the vast majority of people are paying on credit cards and the merchants are charging the agency 3.5% then the margin being made is being reduced even further.

Travel in general has suffered in the past few years due to the threat of terrorism, airlines no longer paying commission, the internet etc and there have been many companies closing down or having to make redundancies and it is getting much harder to make any money from this industry sector.

The last agency I worked in was a small independent agency and we resisted introducing credit card charges for a long, long time as the owner didn't agree with them but in the end he had to go down this route as he couldn't afford to take the hit any longer that the merchants charge the agents.

Incidentally this is not me necessarily agreeing with the charges but just trying to explain why they are there.

 

[GreatDane]

Hi Helsbels

Thanks for the explanation, I think / hope it fair to say most of us appreciate some of the background.

However, Im of the view that the margins concerned, while not as large as they once were, are still worthwhile ... furthermore, one must also consider the size of the transaction (ie a 5% margin on an average spend of €500 equals €25 where as a 10% margin on a €50 spend is only €5 etc)

Take for example, your local shop - chances are they accept credit cards for payment, once there is a minimum spend - possibly €10 and they don't charge the customer for their costs with the merchant services provider, now do they ?

- As for 3.5% costs, that seems very high ... again, referring to my comment earlier in this post, the business in question might want to have a chat with their local bank on this level of costs, or look at alternative providers who charge less !

Cheers

G>