Are Louisiana Gas Stations Using the Bait and Switch Technique for Credit Card Gas Purchases?

Question

I saw a story on CNN in which gas stations are advertising one price but charging a higher price if you pay with your credit card, and are not letting you know until you have already swiped your card and it is too late. Is this happening Louisiana too? Has anyone else heard of this , experienced this? If so, where? And what should we be looking for as clues to warn us?

Answer 1

man its been like that for many years.... back in the 70's stores started charging more for cards becasue it takes longer for them to get their money and they need it to buy fuel... what you shoul ddo is use money and not a card a card only takes more money and in more ways than that

Answer 2

The only clues to look for are to check your receipt at the end and make sure that it shows that you were charged the same rate that was posted at the pump.  Also, make sure you look for any indication of a price difference.  I suspect that instances where there is a price difference and they do NOT let you know up front are pretty rare, despite CNN's report which might lead you to believe its more widespread.  So keep an eye out for signs indicating a price difference.  It would be easy to overlook these, as buying gas is a very routine activity for most of us and it would be easy to go through the motions and overlook a new sign like that.

As another responder noted, it is perfectly legal as long as they post a sign indicating the price difference.  I believe in the cases covered by the CNN piece, the issue was not the price difference, but the lack of any signage letting the consumer know up front.  The price difference is there in order to cover the % fee that the gas station pays on each credit card transaction it processes (not due to any lag in cash flow as another responder indicated...the station is paid within a day with most credit cards, its the CC company that carries the lag).  With the higher price of gas, the fees they are paying are going up along with the price.....their markup over their cost is not changing (10 to 12 cents), so some stations are actually losing money on the sale of gas via credit card.  This explains why they are charging a different price, but they do need to let the consumer know up front.

Answer 3

this is not a bait and switch situation. the reality is that notices ARE posted that let you know that if you use a credit card, you will be paying more per gallon than if you pay cash. this is perfectly legal, and fairly widely practiced. since gas stations operate on a thin profit margin on gasoline sales, usually about 4 cents per gallon, when you use a credit card the discount rate on the card wipes out this profit margin. thus federal law allows ANY company to tack on the extra amount to credit card purchases to cover this discount rate. usually companies factor that rate in when they price their items for sale. some gas stations do and offer a discount for cash, others dont and tack on the charge when you swipe your card. either way there is a sign on the pump that tells you what extra you will pay, if any. the problem is that people dont read the signs at the pump when they fill up. if they did this would not be an issue.