Credit Card Handling Charges

Folks,

Trying to book a Skiing Trip online, the website offers €100 discount for ordering online. However, during the order process I note they have a 2% credit card handling charge for online bookings. For a holiday costing in excess of €2300, they reduce this by €100 ..... however it gets loaded up again by almost another €50 worth of credit card handling charges.

I find this a little bit misleading, I rang the travel agent directly, and was told there is no way to avail of the online discount without paying in full by credit card. I offered to use the credit card as booking deposit, and pay the remainder in cash, but was told this is not possible.

Is there any controls over credit card handling charges? Are there any consumer rights here? Am I right in saying that this internet discount is misleading, as you can never avail of the full discount as advertised?

Any comments?

Tom

I suppose in their defence they're only covering their costs but it is frustrating sometimes. You are still up €50.

What site?

John Rambo said:

I suppose in their defence they're only covering their costs but it is frustrating sometimes. You are still up €50.

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They should have been clever enough to factor it into the price in the first place.

OP has a point, it apears to be a bit of a swizz (as my mother would say, though I'm not sure about the spellling)

But are they really covering costs? What costs are they incurring then requires €50 for a single transaction? Even if they are only covering costs, it's under the guise of giving the consumer a discount, which they can never fully avail of.

It's the principal of the matter, and to me it kinda stinks.

Site:
http://www.crystalski.ie/

The NCA at www.consumerconnect.ie might be interested in possibly misleading pricing tactics.

thos said:

But are they really covering costs? What costs are then incurring then requires €50 for a single transaction? Even if they are only covering costs, it's under the guise of giving the consumer a discount, which they can never fully avail of.

It's the principal of the matter, and to me it kinda stinks.

Site:
http://www.crystalski.ie/

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It says "book online and save up to €50 per person". Thats is not misleading as far as I can see. Or are you saying that you can never achieve that maximum saving at all? Does it say something else elsewhere?

Update: ah - I see. €100 discount (€50 per person) but 2% CC handling charge and no option to pay with any non CC card (e.g. debit, charge card etc.). So it IS misleading since you can never achieve the €50 p.p. discount online. Maybe the NCA might have something to say about it?

ClubMan said:

It says "book online and save up to €50 per person". Thats is not misleading as far as I can see. Does it say something else elsewhere?

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Once you select dates and search, each Hotel displays "You could receive an additional discount of up to €50 per person if you book online"

Once you start to book it, all the extras add up to a total, where it shows "Internet Discount €100" and your new total. Then on this amount, they load up 2% handling charge, which for €2k+ values is €40+, so your gross discount is really only around €60.

It would depend on what deal they have with their bank...depending on volume it would be anywhere between 0.75 and 2% for credit cards and higher for charge cards (Amex, diners etc) I agree with you though, it is a little misleading but then so are airlines etc who quote prices/sales/saving etc and then add the credit card/handling charges.