Tolltag.ie / Parkmagic - now going to charge €1 per topup

CreepingDeath

email wrote:

Account Notice


Credit & Debit Card Topups

From Sunday May 1st 2011 a topup fee of €1.00 (including VAT) will apply to TollTag.ie Pay as You Toll + accounts each time they are credited using a Mastercard, Visa Card or Visa Debit card. No fee will apply in the case of topups using Laser cards. Tolltag.ie are committed to providing the maximum number of account payment options and will continue to do so, however it is no longer possible to provide some payment options without charge. In order to assist you in getting the best value possible, we have developed a number of options to enable you to minimise or avoid topup fees
Reducing or Avoiding these fees

You can avoid topup fees altogether by changing the card type on your account to a Laser card if you have not already done so. You can make this change by calling us on 0818-220107.

If you wish to use or continue to use your credit card then you can reduce the frequency of incurring topup fees by increasing the amount of your topup such that topups need to be applied less frequently. For example, if you use on average €40 a month on tolls you may wish to consider increasing your topup amount to €40 thereby requiring only one topup per month.

I thought it was against Mastercards merchant terms to charge people for using Mastercard.

Anyways, I fired off this e-mail to see what their response is.
I don't have a laser card, and don't want the hassle.

reply e-mail wrote:

Please note that I am forwarding this e-mail on to Mastercard customer support.
As a merchant of Mastercard, ParkMagic would have to agree to their terms of agreement for merchants.

http://www.mastercard.com/us/business/en/common/faq.html#211

Please read the frequently asked question "Can a merchant charge me a fee to use my MasterCard card? ".

ParkMagic have said that this is a fee for usage, which violates the Mastercard merchant agreement.

regards,
<name>

fletch

I use a Laser card so it didn't bother me too much but I'll be interested to see your reply

Matt Simis

Indeed, Credit Card surcharges are a grey area, with per country differences. I asked them to just implement PayPal and be done with it, much simpler solution than this messy tiered fee structure. They replied and said they were considering it but didnt say more.

zilog_jones

They charge for Visa Debit but not Laser? How am I supposed to change to Laser (as suggested) if my bank no longer offers them? Also is this actually happening with ParkMagic as well? I haven't received an email about it... yet...

fl4pj4ck

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I thought it was against Mastercards merchant terms to charge people for using Mastercard.

they will raise the prices by 1e and change the wording in their offer and give you "a substantial discount of 1e when you top up by Laser"

seen it happen many times before