I'm sick of companies adding on charges to prices after I have decided to purchase. V.A.T. comes to mind, but at least there's an excuse for that, however paltry. No, I'm referring to 'handling fees' for credit card purchases.
Ticketmaster have had their share of Liveline airtime, but Ryanair are of course the acknowledged Shaolin masters of post-decision retroactive extra charges. Exasperated and white-faced with indignation for the umpteenth time, I finally decided to send a complaint to Visa.
You probably think I have nothing better to do (not true!), but drafting this letter only took a couple of minutes.
Of course, that doesn't include the time I wasted searching Visa's European site which is the worst example of empty corporate puffery I've come across in many months. It's the kind of mind-numbingly useless site that some pointy-haired boss ordered his weasels to extrude from an old Dreamweaver template. I'm surprised half of it isn't Lorem Ipsum.
I finally found the fine print I was looking for through Google. Do you think I'll get anywhere?
::
Dear Visa,
I am a Visa customer and I am curious to know the answer to this question. Is the company Ryanair within its rights to charge a handling fee for accepting credit cards as payment?
(UK Pounds/Euro or local currency equivalent) Booked on www.ryanair.com Booked via a Call Centre* or Airport UK Pounds Euro UK Pounds Euro Visa Electron - As a special offer to Visa Electron card holders, Ryanair, for a limited period only, will not apply a Debit Card charge Free Free Free Free Debit Card Fee – Per passenger/ Per One Way Flight £4 €5 £4 €5 Credit Card/ELV Fee - Per passenger/ Per One Way Flight £4 €5 £4 €5 See: http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=CHARGES
According to Visa International Operating Regulations, Volume I—General Rules p169
Prohibitions
A Merchant must not:
• Add any surcharges to Transactions, unless local law expressly requires that a Merchant be permitted to impose a surcharge.I am not aware of any such local law. In any case, your Rules for Visa Merchants—Card Acceptance and Chargeback Management Guidelines only allows for fees ifThe fee is being charged for a bona fide convenience of using an alternative payment channel outside of the merchant’s normal business practice
I don't think anyone could argue that accepting credit cards is outside the 'normal business practice' of a web-based company. As their Chief Executive Michael O'Leary put it last month
"All we want to know about our customer base is that they've booked and we have their credit card number."
In anticipation of a swift reply.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Darwin
UPDATE:
Here is the cut-and-paste boilerplate they responded with (basically 'nothing to do with us'):
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,
Customer Services Representative, Technology & Payment Services I Visa Europe I www.visaeurope.com
17 Comments
They'll put four euros on the price of the ticket instead, and we'll pay it, just like we pay everything else they demand.
The sooner this recession bites the better.
Bock: Yes, you're right of course. But what's so special about credit card fees that they deserve their own priceline? What about a fee for 'design of corporate logo,' or for a 'software license' or something? In my mind it's just a business expense.
The fee for asking us to bend over will come in soon.
If only it was a credit card fee, they have increased debit card charges too. If it was one payment per transaction I think it would be legal, but how can it be a 'card charge' when they charge for EACH PERSON, EACH WAY!
I am also going to persue this matter.
I will persue this matter too.
I actually think that local legislation here in Denmark forbids fees like this …
what I do not understand is, how can Ryanair charge credit card fee per person, if you book for 8 people and pay in one amount, you pay 8 credit card fees, surely that cannot be right.
I think rather that it been an issue between the consumer (us) and Ryanair I think that for some reason Ryanair has to proclaim this charge as a "surcharge" possibly for their own tax reasons. Because at the end of the day O' Leary doesn't give a damn about the consumer or anybody else. So if he extracted this money from people through the fare he would probably have to pay taxes on it. Proclaining it as a visa surcharge avoids the tax issue for him and hence makes more money for his pocket. thats my hunch but i ask the question why visa and the like don't follow it up as O'Leary is making "a lot" off the back of their name……………
I too am extremely annoyed with Ryanair because of these extra charges. This week i booked two tickets from Bournemouth to Glasgow. Total cost for the flights was £4.
Admittedly, i didn't trawl through the Ryanair website to check the card charges, but it wasn't until i received my confirmation email that i realised i had been charged and extra £16 for the privelege of using my debit card.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, paying a total of £10 per person for a return flight is a bloody good deal and i would've paid that amount straight away anyway. I was just so annoyed by the way that i have been charged so much for a card transaction that takes a matter of seconds.
Has anyone had any luck in persuing this matter. I am trying to think of the best way of approaching the subject.
I know it is 'only' £16 but just for the pure principle of the fact i am being ripped off, i really want to take this further
I feel the same as others, ripped-off. There must be something wrong, how can a company charge card payment fees per person and on top of that each way of the journey. So for a return ticket you pay 4pounds each way and for every person travelling. I have a family of 4 and I paid 32pounds just as a card fee, and we all know it's just one transaction that takes place. Just awfull, I will start using someone else because Ryanair's prices are closer and closer to every othe airline. Disgusting
what is going on? As a true novice to booking flights online i thought I had somehow managed to click a box on Ryanairs' website that I hadn't meant to. It was only when my payment had been accepted that I noticed i had been charged a handling fee per person on each flight. I think its a joke Ryanair can get away with this.
It is absolutely disgusting!
By the way, did you hear the latest on Ryanair?
Well Mr. O'Leary will get rid of all check-in desks at all airport by the end of the year and he will charge for hand luggage. How about that??
The German court stopped Ryanair from charging customers additional fees on their credit card on the internet. Ryanair has been taken to court by the German consumer organization ( Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverbands). Ryanair has till the end of this month to go back to court in Germany.
The reason for all this is to get more transparency on the internet, so consumers should not be tricked and just pay for the sum they see.
This would be a great improvement to all transactions for the consumer, but maybe not for the seller.
(articles in German , please translate with Google translate.):
http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,630705,00.html
http://www.kostenlose-urteile.de/newsview8011NFC.htm
http://www.welt.de/reise/article3935510/Ticketkauf-per-Kreditkarte-darf-nicht-extra-kosten.html
(Berlin Court:Berliner Kammergericht: Aktenzeichen 23 U 243/08)
Interesting News?
Prepaid cards let you escape Ryanair's fees
You'll soon be able to avoid Ryanair's admin fee by using prepay Mastercard
By Dan White
Monday December 07 2009
I AM sick and tired of paying Ryanair's 'administration' charge of €5 each way, €10 per return trip, every time I book a flight with the airline. I have tried several times to get my hands on a Visa Electron card but no Irish bank seems to offer one.
Is there any other way of beating this sneaky charge?
Stephanie
Yes there is. Forget about Electron, the Visa debit card. It is not available in this country, plus Ryanair is dropping it from the beginning of next month so that any bookings made with an Electron card will be liable for the €5 each-way charge from the start of January.
However, the good news is that, for once, Ryanair has made it easier rather than harder for consumers to avoid one of its charges. Since the beginning of December, Ryanair hasn't been charging its 'administration' fee on bookings made with a prepaid Mastercard.
Prepaid Mastercards are available from Payzone outlets throughout the country.
expensive
However, a word of warning about the prepaid Mastercard. Loading cash onto the card, particularly small amounts can be expensive.
On amounts up to €350 you will be charged €3.50 while the charge on amounts between €351 and €500 is €5.95.
There is also a 2.95pc charge on all transactions using the card.
In other words someone spending €100 using a prepaid Mastercard would be charged €2.95. Ouch!
Is Mastercard sharing some of these transactions charges with Ryanair I wonder?
Other things to remember with a prepaid Mastercard is that if it isn't used for three months or more you will be charged €3.50 for every month that it is inactive.
As against that the prepaid Mastercard can be used to make purchases in shops that accept Mastercard or for online purchases.
So does it make sense to get one of these prepaid Mastercards?
For someone who only flies with Ryanair once or twice a year the benefits are marginal.
However, if you travel regularly with the airline, particularly if you like to take advantage of Ryanair's seat sales, where it occasionally offers seats for €10 or even less, then the prepaid Mastercard starts to look a lot more attractive.
Families travelling together on Ryanair flights should also consider the prepaid Mastercard.
A family of four, who would pay €40 in 'administration' fees on a return flight if they booked by conventional credit card, would have to shell out a total of only €11.80 in transaction charges on tickets costing €150 each if they booked using the prepaid Mastercard.
RYANAIR CUSTOMERS will be able to avoid the airline’s hefty credit card booking charges following its decision to accept prepaid MasterCards from today.
Currently, travellers pay €5 for each person on each booking when they reserve with Ryanair using a credit card. This amounts to an extra €40 on the travel bill of a four-person group, even where their flights are booked and paid for together on the same card.
The airline said yesterday it would start accepting MasterCard prepaid cards as its “free form of payment”. Up to now, the only way to avoid the charges was to use the rarely seen Visa Electron card, but this is being phased out; Ryanair plans to impose a €5 a person a flight charge for paying with Visa Electron from January.
However, what customers save in credit card charges to Ryanair they could lose to the issuer. While Ryanair said prepaid MasterCards were much more widely available than Visa Electron, those available in Ireland come with substantial charges. The prepaid card issued by Payzone can be found in almost 500 shops around the country, but it costs €6 to buy and the user pays €3.50 to load up to €350. In addition, there is a 2.95 per cent commission for purchases.
Ryanair charged an annual fee of €85 for its own prepaid MasterCard when it was launched last year, plus 75c on each transaction. However, a spokesman said this card was no longer being offered.
No Irish financial institution issues Visa Electron cards, although it is possible to buy the card in convoluted fashion from overseas providers.
Airlines need to maintain a fee-free option for booking flights as it allows them to claim credit card booking charges are optional. Under advertising rules, they must include all unavoidable charges in the basic ticket price they advertise. By keeping credit card charges optional – regardless of how hard it is to find a fee-free way – they keep advertised fares lower than they would otherwise be.
Did you ask your banking institution then?
Just to let everyone know that i have booked Ryanair flights AND I AVOIDED the charges by using my Bishopstown Credit Union DEBIT card. (It is classed as a Pre-Paid MasterCard)
I saved €80 on 8 return flights for me n my friends! And to top that i dont have to pay the €30 stamp duty either! Total saving €110!
Dont know how many of ye can join but i have one so i am happy
I share everyone’s frustration regarding this matter and I would like to follow it up the best way possible. I was wondering if everyone can joint in a collective petition to Ryanair and the financial authorities in our respective countries. Like someone pointed out, soon Ryanair will charge customers for the oxygen the breath while on board their aircrafts.
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