My Letter to MasterCard Corporate:
I understand times are tough for merchants as well as consumers right now, which has us all grabbing for our charge card to get by. I am disturbed that merchants are still able to get a way with charging a fee to use a credit card when it is illegal in many states. I plan to post this letter as a blog as well.
Equally disturbing is the response I received when I called MasterCard to inquire about filing a complaint. The law was instituted so that merchants with signed contracts from the credit card companies could NOT deter credit business by charging more for it. Consumers are well aware that we have choices and can avoid businesses with these illicit practices, but that really is not the point. The MC rep that tried to answer my question when I called gave me a website for contact information (consumer_advocate.com), which did not appear to address my concern; but her second reply was to use a different merchant.
My question, why is this not more upsetting to MasterCard? Why wouldn’t they want to take this more seriously?
I am almost certain I can answer that question – because you do not want to lose their business alltogether should they choose to no longer accept MC as a form of payment. But why are these merchants not concerned with losing our business? I can answer that too…because we accept it and don’t complain. Let’s call these laws what they are – Unenforcable! Nobody is willing to complain enough about them and nobody is willing to enforce them.
That said, we all know there are loopholes to these laws. Most businesses build in the fees to the regular pricing. Gas stations for example charge the higher rate as their standard price and give a “discount” for cash buyers. However, the merchant that I had a recent experience with blatently stated that there would be an additional 3% charge to use my credit card. She in no way tried to camoflauge it. I explained to her it was illegal and she admitted that many consumers have told her this but her “controllers” are adimant that it is not. This particular merchant is in Florida, which happens to be a participating state in these “unenforcable laws”. She claimed that they would need some documentation regarding the law to not charge it, so I faxed her information from a financial website. I don’t know yet if they will retract the 3% charge after they review it, but the complacency they have about it is disturbing enough. And the truth is, my situation has me binded to this merchant and I do not have a choice of merchant at this point.
If you care enough t investigate;
Coach America/American Coach Lines – Miami
Sincerely,
Amy
