BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime Bait and Switch at Gas Pumps

I posted this here because it should be a crime but unfortunately it is legal. I just saw a video that shows that people are paying more at the gas pumps when they use credit cards and most people do not know this because it is not listed on the pumps.

For instance, VISA charges a 2% fee for using their credit card so if you see gas prices at say, $4.11, credit card users will be paying 4.19 a gallon. That is eight cents more than cash payers.

For those of you who do not know this, the next time you swipe your card at the pump, look at the price and see if it goes up. Also, check your receipt too.

Some stations list both prices for cash and credit, while others do not.

Hmm.. Vance, do you have a link for this? That doesn't feel right to me? Some stations do offer a cash discount, but the stated price should generally always be the credit card price (or only price if nothing else is stated). The fee charged by the card companies (not just for gas) is paid by the merchant.

It is generally a violation of their merchant agreement to "pass on" the fee. They *can* offer a cash discount (again, not just gas), but the credit card price would be the same as debit/check or any other form but cash.

If stations are charging more than their stated price, credit card or no credit card, that certainly would be a crime, regardless of how you pay! I'd be curious to see the video you mention. I'm not clear how they'd be doing this since all the pumps I've used clearly show and lock the price at the pump before you begin pumping.

Nicki

You are correct Nicki.

My mom owned a restaurant for a while (a brief dip into insanity). And we tried the credit card thing for awhile - but the fees were so exhorbitant that we tried to add a "credit card fee" if people used cards - then we were told thast wasn't legal - but it was legal to set all of our prices higher and offer a discount to cash paying customers.

But since a check is coinsidered the same thing as cash - we had to offer the same discount to check users - and that is generally where problems come in.

The reason you pay a fee for credit card charging is for the peace of mind as a merchant.

There is no link. It is on the front page of Yahoo and was featured on GMA this morning. Credit card payers are definitely paying a higher price at most pumps. It was an ABC News video.

This is the headline from the Yahoo page:

This "bait and switch" ploy is costing some unsuspecting customers big at the pump.

Vance,

Just watched the video. It seems like the issue is that the prices are not clearly marked (although in almost all the ones they showed, they did say cash above the price!). It may just be me, but I didn't get the sense though that it was generally a bait and switch sort of INTENT. I more got the sense that some stations don't have the appropriate displays (like the digital one they showed) to be displaying more than one price appropriately. That doesn't make it ok.. if they want to do the cash/credit thing, they need to deal with that problem.

But it's good that you pointed out this is happening.. it's worth knowing that if two prices aren't clearly marked that we need to pay better attention.

The thing is, the fee is a cost-of-doing business sort of thing. When we don't fill up at Costco, where it's debit card and the cheapest thing around, we are actually less likely to choose a cash/credit station, simply because it peeves me! So, they may save the 2%, but could be losing business all the same.

Nicki :-)