An Australian diner has expressed his frustration after he was forced to pay almost $4 extra in surcharges for his dinner at a restaurant.
The diner was left outraged after noticing that his $36.96 bill from Saturday had received two additional surcharges, increasing his cost by 10.79 per cent to $40.19.
A 0.79 percent surcharge was added for paying by card and a 10 percent surcharge for being a weekend.
The restaurant claimed there was “not a single sign” notifying customers about the surcharges, claiming the trend has become all too common at the venues.
“It seems that nothing actually has the price they advertise,” they wrote in reddit.
‘The rates are never explained or listed anywhere in the store, they just hand you the EFTPOS machine without saying a word.
“I wonder how much money I’m currently spending on fees per year?”
Social media users were quick to sympathize with the restaurant and said they were equally fed up with the hidden surcharges.
An Australian restaurant has sparked fury after revealing an additional 10.79 per cent surcharge on Saturday’s dinner bill (pictured).
“A surcharge for Saturday, (I) wouldn’t go there again,” one commented.
‘“Where’s the extra charge for breathing restaurant air?” a second joked.
One, who was from Perth, said they “naturally had to pay these surcharges” when they recently visited Sydney.
“My deepest condolences to everyone who lives there, it is very expensive to go out to eat,” they wrote.
Some took the opportunity to tout the benefits of using cash, as it doesn’t incur surcharges.
“Insist on using cash… It’s a scam to use the ‘convenience’ of swiping a card,” one wrote.
“I’m back to cash because of all the surcharges… Once you pay attention to them, it’s an eye-watering amount,” wrote another.
Others noted that the 0.79 percent card surcharge was relatively low, with some charging 1.5 percent on Visa or Mastercard transactions.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) prohibits businesses from failing to adequately notify customers of surcharges they will incur.
It is also illegal for customers to pay card fees greater than the business pays to process the payment.
The amount transferred from a company varies and depends on a number of factors such as “the size of the company, the technology used and the payment method.”
Several Australians said they were fed up with the extra costs attributed to paying by card (file image) and have switched back to using cash to save money.
This can lead to some companies charging more than 1.5 percent for Visa and Mastercard transactions, while American Express can cost up to 3 percent more.
Research by Canstar found the average Australian spent around $140 a year on electronic transaction fees, adding up to around $4 billion a year.
Canstar finance expert Steve Mickenbecker said the increase could be mainly explained by the rising inflation rate.
“Most fees are paid as a percentage of the transaction price, the purchase price, and automatically increase with inflation,” he said. 9News .
“This way, the bank doesn’t have to raise your rate, they just charge you more as a retailer, and of course, that gets passed on to the consumer.”
