OUR ADVICE: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SCHUMACHER AUTO OR BMW OF COCONUT CREEK. BOTH CIRCUMVENTING CONSUMER PROTECTIONS…
BY: CONSUMER DESK | BocaNewsNow.com
According to our readers and documented in invoices provided to us, Schumacher is assessing a three percent credit card fee for all purchases. The practice is legal but highly suspicious, as forcing customers to use cash or debit cards eliminates a level of consumer protection. It’s easy to dispute a credit card charge if a customer alleges fraud or bad workmanship. A customer has little recourse if payment was made in cash. Even more notable: Schumacher claims the three percent credit card fee is “non-refundable.” If you buy a widget, for instance, and that widget fails, Schumacher claims they’ll refund the price of the widget but not the three percent you were required to pay to use a credit card. Consumer experts suggest that Schumacher’s practice on refunding the three percent is illegal. Attorneys may be preparing to test it in court.
The Schumacher revelation comes just days after BocaNewsNow.com reported that BMW of Coconut Creek, formerly known as Vista BMW before it was sold months ago, is also assessing a three percent fee for credit card transactions. While merchants deal with — and often complain about — credit card processing fees, they’ve almost universally been a cost of doing business. A merchant can deduct the processing fee as a business expense when taxes are filed. It’s also notable that very few processing companies actually charge 3-percent, with most in the 2.2 to 2.8 percent range. It’s unclear what Schumacher and BMW of Coconut Creek are doing with the apparent overage and whether it’s being recorded as profit which would be taxable.
As we reported, BMW of Coconut Creek threatened BocaNewsNow.com after we reported on its credit card fee. We also reported on Friday that BMW Corporate will not publicly say that it supports any of its dealers assessing a credit card fee for customers. As for Schumacher, we’ll let you know if we hear anything. For now, you may want to find other dealers that do not assess fees. In fact, if you are a dealer that does not assess a fee, shoot us note through our news tip section, above. We’d be happy to give you some free press…