They charge an additional 3.95% "convenience fee" on all store sales. Uh, what? There's a very easy-to-miss piece of paper on the checkout counter stating this, and the guy had a placemat covering the relevant part, so it wasn't visible when I was checking out. When I asked about the fee on my receipt, he kept pointing to a note that said you get a "discount" if you pay in cash. I kept saying that I wasn't asking about a discount but about the fee on my receipt. After a few of those back-and-forths, he finally uncovered the note stating the fee and rolled his eyes. Seriously? Who is deserving of an eye roll here? A customer surprised to be paying a random additional dollar amount on top of a store's already ridiculously inflated prices ($3 more for a six-pack of hard seltzer here than at other stores in the neighborhood, for instance), or some dude trying to swindle people out of money?
Also, I looked into this further, and their approach appears to be illegal. For instance:
'[A New York Court of Appeals decision] ruled merchants should be allowed to charge you more if you pay with a credit card but only with exceptions.
- You must be told upfront with a posted credit card price and a posted cash price for every single item.
- A flat percentage surcharge is not allowed.
"You must list both your cash price and your credit price in dollars and cents conspicuously," said Attorney David Sieling with Brenna Boyce P.L.L.C.' read more