Originally Posted by cordelli
Merchant agreements are pretty much a joke, everybody ignores the no minimum charge, no surcharges, etc. Merchants know that unless they are huge and get a ton of complaints against them, they usually won't be in hot water.
Well said.
The best thing a consumer can do is report it to Visa / MasterCard / Amex and also place the % of the surcharge in dispute.
I've done it a few times sucessfully, but it just doesn't seem to be worth the time or effort -- especially w/small transactions.
This is why the merchants are getting away with it. Many consumers also don't know that it is against Visa/MC/Amex contracts.
Thankfully most merchants treat credit same as cash (at least in the US -- I see more of the surcharges and such overseas).
SDF_Traveler