No credit card charges

Has anyone paid by credit card since the change to the law? Was a 'service charge' applied to take over from the credit card surcharge or were no 'extras' applied?

Has anyone paid by credit card since the change to the law? Was a 'service charge' applied to take over from the credit card surcharge or were no 'extras' applied?

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I have had confirmation from our TA that there will be no extra charges applied when paying by CC.

Has anyone paid by credit card since the change to the law? Was a 'service charge' applied to take over from the credit card surcharge or were no 'extras' applied?

There are no additional charges for paying by credit card as that would be illegal. P&O will simply do as all businesses will do - offset the charges that they pay to credit card providers through overall price increases over time. Doubt that it will be enough for us to notice though.

We paid this week for a city break booked through a High Street TA with whom we do all our cruise booking and I specifically asked whether they had dropped the CC charge. The answer was in the affirmative though our agent said she thought the Company weren't too happy with it. We paid by CC no probs.

But after reading bee-ess' post I wonder whether suppliers are looking for ways around it. I hope our TA doesn't drop the % discount which is applied to bookings in response to recoup losses on CC transactions.

Although not a huge amount, it's worth far more to us as we would previously have chosen to pay by DD avoiding CC charges but getting a small discount instead.

There are no additional charges for paying by credit card as that would be illegal. P&O will simply do as all businesses will do - offset the charges that they pay to credit card providers through overall price increases over time. Doubt that it will be enough for us to notice though.

No but the smaller amount will now be applied to everyone, instead of the profligate and idle paying it all.:loudcry:

Sorry - why does paying by credit card make me profligate and idle?

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No but the smaller amount will now be applied to everyone, instead of the profligate and idle paying it all.:loudcry:

Correct on the first point and I’m sure you are being tongue in cheek with the 2nd ;).

I use my credit card whenever I can, to build up loyalty points that have saved me many thousands of pounds on things such as P&O Cruises (!) but I have a direct debit arrangement that pays off the balance in full every month. I have adopted this approach for the last 35 years and never once paid a penny in credit card charges. I did, however, use my debit card in situations where a fee would apply if I used a credit card (bit of a theme here!) although that can be irritating if you have to remember to move money around to have large funds in your current account. Now I shall just pay everything by credit card and continue to pay off in full. Of course, more and more people will do the same and business costs will therefore rise as they will be paying more transactional fees.

And anyone who understands how business works will know that these costs will not be absorbed by the companies. They will ultimately be passed on to consumers through higher prices, so this is not as much of a ‘win’ for consumers as is being portrayed!

Just paid on line for our upcoming cruise. The card payment page still showed that the credit card charge would be applied, so we changed to debit card, which was free to use.

Just paid on line for our upcoming cruise. The card payment page still showed that the credit card charge would be applied, so we changed to debit card, which was free to use.

Typical P&O IT I'm afraid. They will probably get around to updating their website in a few years time! You wouldn't have been charged for using a credit card, but I can understand the reticence. Thanks for flagging though. I shall phone P&O to pay the balance of our next cruise, as at least the call centre staff are up to date with the law!

I have just copied and pasted the following from our TA (BCC) website and I have telephoned them to confirm.

 

"So, to the question everyone really wants to ask; will the price of my holiday go up as a result of the ban on credit card charges? The answer is no, not when you book with BCC. Unlike some other travel agents, who will be applying additional fees and charges to payments made by card, we won’t be increasing our prices to cover the cost of processing card transactions."

 

I have abbreviated our TA name as I am not sure if you are permitted to name specific TA's on the forum. Purhaps someone could enlighten me.

Anyway, I am sure you can work out who they are :D

I would be surprised if anyone could point to a single company that will state that they will be increasing prices as a direct result of the law change in relation to the abolition of credit card charges. It would be commercial suicide to do so. The point is that it is just one of many inflationary factors that collectively contribute towards the overall price that consumers pay. It’s the same as pay rises. You won’t find a company that says “we have given our staff a pay rise, so the price you, our customers, has to pay has gone up as a result”. In itself, it is highly unlikely that we will see immediate price increases as a direct result of this change. Single changes such as this rarely do. However, any company that has investors, for example shareholders, has to show growth or, at the very least, stability, in their profits for them not to run into trouble. So any and all cost increases, whether that be the cost of materials, services, charges, staff costs, rent, rates, service charges etc etc have to be recouped somewhere. And that somewhere is almost always in the price paid by the customer.

I would be surprised if anyone could point to a single company that will state that they will be increasing prices as a direct result of the law change in relation to the abolition of credit card charges. It would be commercial suicide to do so.

Just Eat - They introduced a 50p surcharge - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42621989

I strongly doubt it will be suicide for them.

Just Eat - They introduced a 50p surcharge - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42621989

 

I strongly doubt it will be suicide for them.

Interesting. I hadn’t heard about that, although they do state that it was a ‘factor’, not the sole reason. However, look at the criticism they have had from this policy change, including backlash from customers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were forced to reverse their decision. As I have said, all companies will recover these charges somehow from customers, but only the daft ones will do it so overtly!

Just paid on line for our upcoming cruise. The card payment page still showed that the credit card charge would be applied, so we changed to debit card, which was free to use.

We too have just paid the outstanding balance of our cruise. We noticed that in the P&O website they've removed the additional credit card charges on the home page and FAQ page. However, when you click to pay it states that a 1.5% charge will be applied if paying by credit card. We chose to pay by credit card anyway, mainly for the extra protection offered, and would ask for the extra cost back if charged.

However, we were NOT charged any extra for paying by credit card.

Looks like P&O haven't updated their payment page.

Typical P&O IT I'm afraid. They will probably get around to updating their website in a few years time! You wouldn't have been charged for using a credit card, but I can understand the reticence. Thanks for flagging though. I shall phone P&O to pay the balance of our next cruise, as at least the call centre staff are up to date with the law!

Don't agree it's typical P&O. In what way? We've never had any problems

Don't agree it's typical P&O. In what way? We've never had any problems

I said typical P&O ‘IT’ i.e. their IT department. Not P&O in general. It is not their strongpoint. I have even had P&O staff tell me how frustrated they get when customers call them unable to do the most basic things consistently and accurately on their website. To take just one example, on the website booking system, the system suggests specific cabins at your chosen grade. There is a box to select a cabin of your choice to check availability. For two whole years, the system was showing many cabins as ‘not existing’. When you phoned P&O’s fantastic booking staff, they confirmed within a few seconds that the cabin you were after was not only in existence, but available. Hopeless. I could give other examples.

We too have just paid the outstanding balance of our cruise. We noticed that in the P&O website they've removed the additional credit card charges on the home page and FAQ page. However, when you click to pay it states that a 1.5% charge will be applied if paying by credit card. We chose to pay by credit card anyway, mainly for the extra protection offered, and would ask for the extra cost back if charged.

 

 

However, we were NOT charged any extra for paying by credit card.

 

 

Looks like P&O haven't updated their payment page.

I rest my case! Great that you had the confidence to press on regardless and use your credit card, but many will worry uneccesarily and be scrabbling around moving money into their bank account a month or more earlier than would be necessary and lose any loyalty points etc. Perhaps we should start a sweepstake as to how long it will take them to correct the error? I don’t think we’ll be looking at days, more like weeks or months!

I rest my case! Great that you had the confidence to press on regardless and use your credit card, but many will worry uneccesarily and be scrabbling around moving money into their bank account a month or more earlier than would be necessary and lose any loyalty points etc. Perhaps we should start a sweepstake as to how long it will take them to correct the error? I don’t think we’ll be looking at days, more like weeks or months!

With the problems P and O have with their customer relatiuons and replying to complaints, that is the least of their worries. I sail in 2019 and I bet it has not changed by that time.

On the other hand have you thought that it is deliberate? Saying an extra charge will be made may well put people off paying by CC and ude DC that means that P&O don't pay as much in charges and therefore make more money. Are they that bright???

With the problems P and O have with their customer relatiuons and replying to complaints, that is the least of their worries. I sail in 2019 and I bet it has not changed by that time.

 

On the other hand have you thought that it is deliberate? Saying an extra charge will be made may well put people off paying by CC and ude DC that means that P&O don't pay as much in charges and therefore make more money. Are they that bright???

Interesting point, but to be fair to P&O, I would put my money on ‘cock-up’ rather than conspiracy! As I said earlier, P&O has ‘form’ with their IT and often the errors work against them!

I suspect the same place as my reply to Wowzz's #7.;)

Into the P&O complaints machine, never to be seen again.

Into the P&O complaints machine, never to be seen again.

Thanks - Explanation from Mods why would be nice though.

One of the well known internet agents in the UK have notified the customers that they now have a standard £25 "SERVICE CHARGE" for the use of a credit or debit card bur EFT transfers are free. I have 5 cruises booked with them and am seriously considering cancelling all of them before final payment and move to another agent.

One of the well known internet agents in the UK have notified the customers that they now have a standard £25 "SERVICE CHARGE" for the use of a credit or debit card bur EFT transfers are free. I have 5 cruises booked with them and am seriously considering cancelling all of them before final payment and move to another agent.

Sounds illegal to me, the idea is that ALL customers get treated the same. Will be seriously investigating if the big TA is the one I use, but no comment from them so far.

Not cruise related, but I am just about to pay for our holiday villa rental with one of the major villa rental companies, and cc card payments carry no additional fee, as is the new law.

I am wondering if cruise agents are suffering more than most, as cruises tend to be high cost items, and the actual cash impact of absorbing the cc fees is more significant than for other holiday types.

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Thanks - Explanation from Mods why would be nice though.

An explanation is always provided at the bottom. In this instance a barely disguised TA name.