Commercial property businesses are under pressure to scrap ‘rip-off’ card payment charges after Cineworld announced it will no longer charge filmgoers payment fees when purchasing cinema tickets over the phone or online.
The commercial property cinema chain has become the first of the big silver screen operators to axe all such charges for customers purchasing film tickets.
It already costs customers no extra charges to book tickets for Cineworld’s Scottish cinemas. It follows Government plans to ban additional charges on debit and credit card payments on a wide range of internet purchases including entertainment tickets, flights, holidays and more, and puts pressure on other commercial property firms to drop the charges before new laws come in at the end of this year. It is estimated the cost to families is more than £300 million a year.
For example, Ryanair, charges a credit card ‘administration fee’ of £6 for every customer per flight, whereas easyJet charges £9 for every booking plus 2.5 per cent. Odeon cinemas enforce a credit card fee of 75p per ticket to a maximum of £4.50 per booking.
Even the DVLA and some councils hit the public and increase their finances with card charges for some services.
Commercial property companies will be forbidden from profiteering on all forms of payment, and businesses will only be able to charge what it truly costs them to process the transaction. 
The issue was first raised by a super-complaint from consumer lobby group Which? last year; this encouraged the Office of Fair Trading to act.
Cinema chain Cineworld, which operates 79 multiplex commercial property cinemas, has previously charged consumers a card handling fee of 70p per tickets, up to a maximum of £4.20 for every booking at most of its commercial property cinemas in England and Wales. It dropped fees in Scotland last year.
The charges involved are generally far in excess of the processing fee actually applied by credit card companies and banks to approve debit and credit card charges. Consumer groups, ministers and The Office of Fair Trading say the stealth charges are a con.
Which? estimates the real cost to the commercial property retailer when paying by debit card is between 10p and 20p, while the retail cost of handling a credit card transaction is said to be no more than 2 per cent of the price. A £10 credit card transaction would cost a commercial property retailer up to 20p, says Which?
Cineworld has no plans to increase the price of tickets as a result, while customers will be given a further 10 per cent off the ticket price when booking online, if they sign up to the company’s free MyCineworld club via the firm’s website.
Chancellor George Osborne has indicated that he would like to follow other countries and enforce a ban by the end of this year.
Executive Director of consumer group Which?, Richard Lloyd, said: ‘Which? has long been campaigning for companies to put an end to hidden and disproportionate surcharges so we’re pleased Cineworld is leading the world and hope other companies follow.”
He further added: “The Government’s decision to ban excessive fees was a victory for consumers but this is just a drop in the ocean. Fifty thousand people supported the campaign to see these ‘rip-off’ charges stamped out, so the Government must stick to its commitment and ensure the ban happened by December 2012.”
Have you ever bought cinema tickets online, or were you put off by the high card payment fees? Now that the fees have been scraped, will you be more willing to buy tickets online?
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