As of 13th of January 2018 regulations came into place banning businesses from charging customers a surcharge to pay with personal credit cards.
Consumer rights advocates have championed this as an end to 'rip off' charges.
At UK Catering we've always strived to give our customers the best prices possible and offer our products at the lowest price we can. To that end we've always been completely open and honest about what we charge. If customers wanted to pay with a credit card then our costs are higher, so therefore the item cost will be higher. If they wanted the lowest possible price, then payment using one of the non-credit card options that do not incur additional charges retained that. We've only passed on additional costs, not profited from the charges.
These changes mean we can no longer do this.
Our options were to either increase ALL our prices, meaning that even customers who are happy to pay by BACS or debit card would be paying extra, or to stop accepting personal credit cards and stick to our commitment to offer the lowest price to everyone. We think this is fairer and more honest.
We still accept credit cards, but only company and corporate credit cards which are not covered by the new legislation so will incur the surcharge as normal.
So, whilst we agree with the sentiment of the new laws, we don’t want it to result in higher costs for everyone just because some unscrupulous companies profited from surcharges.
Thanks for your understanding.
UK Catering
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