Went to a restaurant today and the only mention of the card fee/surcharge was in a small font on one page of their menu. Also when making the payment no mention of the amount anywhere.
Remove name, don't want to call out business but it was size 10 font on a page towards the end of menu saying "Surcharge on all card payments"
Idk how stores can get away with this!
They will say there tiny text in a menu was enough.
They will but it is helpful to other people.
Cause it is.
Aldi doesn't mention it at all but unless you read the fine print around the cash register, it's there.
At Aldi I see that its posted on a small sign on the credit card machine which I think is good. When it on a the menu which you don't have to read since they have a menu on screens it can easily be missed.
You mean those huge signs they hang above the checkouts?
@AustriaBargain: Your point? Not everyone reads everything everywhere, whether it's at the counter, menu, on-top of the card machine and there is certainly no law regarding staff members need to tell you verbally every time you make a payment.
If you want to avoid it, go insert and select savings or pay cash.
There are other charges companies charge you sneakily, for example, I went to Frangos for the first time with a friend and ordered a burger meal and the guy at the counter said if I wanted sauce on the chips. I asked what sauce there is, and he said A B C and I wanted A. I paid and looked at the receipt, and there is a 'loaded fries' charge of $2. No where on the menu stated sauce was $2 but it says loaded fries is $2 extra for mayo and chilli sauce, but it didn't say other sauces were $2, so I ignored it cause I didn't want it. Either way, I know now but I am not going there again.
@hasher22: Believe me I'm the first to agree that surcharges are stupid. Should be built into the price. And if anything, they should offer a 0.5% discount for using EFTPOS instead of the CREDIT option, instead of a 0.5% surcharge. But then shelf prices look higher…
@AustriaBargain: I have no problems with surcharges. It isn't fair for cash-payers to compensate for my additional cost.
They just need to be clear what the surcharge is so I can determine whether the rewards-points outweigh the cost.
@AustriaBargain: They used to be. Then someone thought (or was convinced) it would be a good idea to allow businesses to pass on those fees. It's not like prices dropped 1 or 2%, everyone just started charging the fees on top.
Should get rid of it and go back to the way it was. It's part of running costs, build it in. Offer a cash discount if you want.
Where has OP been over the last 2 years?
Sleeping under a rock??
This is now common practice
And not just in restaurants!!!!!
As is 10% surcharge for Sunday purchases at cafes and restaurants.
Not saying I agree and Im sure nobody else here does
AllI gotta say is that at least they do say they pass on the card charges
But welcome to 2023
Never mind the fine print about the 0.25% card fees
Thats simply the price you pay for convenience - EVERYWHERE!
How as the food and the service?
Thats what you write about in Reviews!
do you want it size 50 font in bold red on page one OP?
most menus advertise it similarly to that
I want it close to where, I am paying…
I don't care where it is, so long as they are sure that every payer has seen it before choosing how to pay.
And it needs to indicate how much, so I can decide which card to use.
My guess is that this is OP's first time out to a restauarnt since COVID-19
Or maybe the first time OP has looked at the fine print on a menu
You could also pay in cash, or magic beans
You forgot to mention ..
"without paying a surcharge"
And don't go there on a Sunday either because many restaurants and cafes now levy a 10% Sunday surcharge
Guess it depends on the definition of the word prominent
Where there are other ways for a consumer to pay without incurring a surcharge or other fees, businesses should display these charges in a prominent way so that consumers are aware of the additional costs before payment.
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays#toc-…
prominent
adjective1: standing out or projecting beyond a surface or line : PROTUBERANT
Surcharges are usually at the bottom of the menu in fine print.
Never been an issue to anyone except OP
Just because something is the usual way, doesn’t mean it’s right or fair.
Bottom of the menu hardly “stands out or projects beyond a surface or line”. So we probably shouldn’t stand for it any more.
As it is legal to do so, I just assume there will be a fee. If there isn't then it's a bonus. It's not like you can't use a debit card or pay cash
At this place debit cards also had a 1.9% fee! But good way of thinking it about!
How rude!
Debit cards usually charge about 0.5%
I would be so mad if I got hit with that. They'd better warn me in advance. I'd drive home and get some cash before I'd pay that.
As it is legal to do so
Not in the way they did…. ACCC says
businesses should display these charges in a prominent way so that consumers are aware of the additional costs before payment.
Doesn't sound prominent and the OP wasn't aware of what the % being charged was! So fails the ACCC guidelines.
As it is legal to do so
It's only legal if it is clearly on display before you order…
Went to a restaurant today and the only mention of the card fee/surcharge was in a small font on one page of their menu. Also when making the payment no mention of the amount anywhere.
Yeah that doesn't pass the ACCC test….. Need to display the fees and the %. Also if they don't accept cash, then they can't charge fees at all.
if they don't accept cash, then they can't charge fees at all
Really? So online stores can't charge credit card fees?
I'm sure it was credit card fees I had so much trouble trying to dodge with airlines. I had to bpay them within 24 hours or something.
Really?
Yes Really…. Have a read over here -> https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing/price-displays#toc-…
Mainly this bit
If there is no way for a consumer to pay without paying a surcharge, the business must include the minimum surcharge payable in the displayed price for its products.
In your airline explain, they used to offer POLI or some way to transfer the money for 'free'. But made it extra painful so people just paid the fees.
The ACCC rule of thumb is: There must be at least one method of payment without fees. You must be able to buy the item/service at the listed price in some way.
So if a store doesn't accept cash and has fees on all their electronic payment methods, then they have to raise the base price to match the lowest fee payment method.
In short, if there's a coffee shop selling something for $5, but all payment methods involve a fee, with the lowest fee being 1.5%, then the base price must be raised to $5 x 1.015 = 5.075. You cannot advertise something for $5 and then not make it possible to actually buy it for $5.
It's also not allowed to have payment surcharges that are more than what it costs to support said payment. I.e. You cannot pretend the payment surcharge is more than what it actually costs you.
Why didn't you pay in crypto, bro
I definitely wouldn't leave a tip.
This isn't the USA
Never thought of that! If they charge fees just take it out of any tip you give them!! :-$
Got to love the revisions page where OP clearly calls out the business for those curious minds
Wow thanks. Given the size of the restaurant group the surcharge is pretty shitty.
I do feel for local shops though dealing with people moving the card only payments payments. Thin margins are made even more thin.
Hungry Jacks no longer hungry
It costs local shops more than the payment system fees to use cash when you take into account the labour costs and theft involved. The only reason they complain about cash is because they can no longer avoid tax.
Mainly changed it since some other places do the same thing. Not many, but some. I didn't really mind the fee it just before I paid there was no indication of the amount and the surcharge was fairly hard to find and didn't state the percentage.
I wish the ACCC would reinstate the law they previously had in place where businesses couldn't charge the credit card fee - it's a cost of doing business and consumers shouldn't have to pay their fees.
if it means I can use a credit card to buy a $2 widget, I can handle a surcharge
Then dumbos elected Softbanese:
Brace for bank taxes coming in sooner than he can spend it!
A cafe I visited recently had a sign showing credit card surcharge and also 5% discount for cash.
I prefer it is on the menu and not just a little sticker on the eftpos machine they pull out when you pay.
should be expected, a lot of businesses are doing it, even Gov't compnaies have a CC surcharge
Pay by cash or other means to avoid these charges
I went to Bavarian at Moore Park last year and they had a sneaky and I think illegal footnote saying 10% surcharge Monday - Saturday and 15% Sunday.
Pretty sure the surcharge is 5% Monday-Friday; dunno why they just don't raise their prices by 5%. (Refuse to eat at Bavarian and all associated restaurants while they have that weekday surcharge)
I might have gotten it wrong, dodgy either way.
Funnily enough, I went to the Manly branch recently for a team lunch and they didn't have the extra fee (though there was the card fee but HSBC 2% for the win).
Caveat emptor:
You paid for a half empty stomach?
If there is any doubt, just ask the waiter / cashier before paying.
Speaking of displaying card charges, what about the actual final amount to be charged to the card? Can they just say fees are this much, charge is this much (as in ex fees) then just charge the amount with fees?
Here's the scenario:
One of those shit portal things some places are forcing people to use. They used to have a different system. They'd email an invoice, click the link to pay and they even absorbed the CC fees.
New system, you go to pay, the T&C's pop up and right at the bottom says CC fee whatever % it was. Go to the next step, says amount to pay is the ex fee price, card is charged, get an receipt/invoice for the ex fee price, but amount charged to card is with fees. Apart from the mention in the T&Cs theres no receipt or mention to say the amount with fees.
To me, doesn't seem like that hard to display a price including the fee that will be charged, but I'm unsure of the legality since they did display a fee. If I pay at a POS terminal though, it shows the total to be charged including fees. I actually thought they must be absorbing the fees as per before because of the price displayed.
(To further piss me off, the only other option to pay is by a direct debit agreement (which also has fees, though much smaller). I really don't want to give authority to some third party to withdraw money from my account just to pay for my kids recreational activity, especially these days when it seems no one can keep their data secure. Also given they don't provide any option to pay without fees, they shouldn't be quoting the price without fees.)
OK, rant over :)
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