Purchasing with credit card (high street not online). How safe in Ireland?

Dinarius

I'm about to purchase a new kitchen. It's being made in Italy, but I'm dealing with a Dublin kitchen company who are agents for these kitchens.

The terms are 50% on ordering, 45% on delivery and 5% on final installation.

My intention is to pay the initial 50% with Mastercard (via Bank of Ireland), for which I'm being charged 1.8% surcharge, and the rest by bank draft or cheque.

In these nervous times, with high street traders closing daily, I'm wondering what sort of security I have by purchasing with credit card, if any?

What would happen if the kitchen shop here went into liquidation before my kitchen arrived?

Thanks in advance.

D.

Max Power1

You are more secure if paying by card than cash tbh. If the product doesnt arrive or the firm goes into liquidation, you can do a chargeback via your bank.

dudara

Probably best suited to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

dotsman

Far, far more secure paying be credit card. You are fully covered should anything go wrong (kitchen is not what was ordered, company goes bust etc).

With regards the surcharge, is it the dublin company is making you pay a 1.8% surcharge? This is very cheeky of them, and I would try to negotiate it's removal from the price.

Redmen Rule OK

Paying for goods in advance is always a risk and as with any risk, you should minimise it. Sometimes an added cost like the surcharge you mention might cost a few euro extra but better to pay that than lose all your money. Pay with credit card or visa debit card, not Laser or Maestro and definitly not cheque or cash. MasterCard cedit cards, and Visa credit and debit cards will give you chargeback rights for goods not received and yes the chargeback rights apply to Ireland.

GerardKeating

dotsman wrote: »

Far, far more secure paying be credit card. You are fully covered should anything go wrong (kitchen is not what was ordered, company goes bust etc).

Not fully covered, but a lot more covered than cash/cheque/draft. For a large "risky" purchase, i might be worth it as a form of purchase insurance.

dotsman wrote: »

With regards the surcharge, is it the dublin company is making you pay a 1.8% surcharge? This is very cheeky of them, and I would try to negotiate it's removal from the price.

Why cheeky, They wont get 100% of what one pays on the credit card, typically banks charge merchants at least 1% of the amount paid, sometimes higher, even as high as 4% in some rare cases.

dotsman

GerardKeating wrote: »

Why cheeky, They wont get 100% of what one pays on the credit card, typically banks charge merchants at least 1% of the amount paid, sometimes higher, even as high as 4% in some rare cases.

It's no different than shopping in Tesco/Dunnes or all the other stores that don't pass on the commission.

For a furniture store, trying to convince the customer that they are safe to deal with and leave a deposit should be of paramount importance.

GerardKeating wrote: »

Not fully covered, but a lot more covered than cash/cheque/draft. For a large "risky" purchase, i might be worth it as a form of purchase insurance.

Not quite sure what you mean by "risky", or under what circumstances you are referring to that a CC would not cover the customer. The Credit card fully covers the customer to the point that the goods/service is complete.

GerardKeating

dotsman wrote: »

It's no different than shopping in Tesco/Dunnes or all the other stores that don't pass on the commission.

Tesco/Dunnes use their purchasing power to pursuade their suppliers to provide goods and services cheapers and i am sure it's the same with whom ever processing cc transactions for them, they would pay much lower rate than a small company supplying kitchens.

dotsman wrote: »

For a furniture store, trying to convince the customer that they are safe to deal with and leave a deposit should be of paramount importance.

True, but it still cost them to process the transaction, effectivilly they are giving a discount to cash customers.

dotsman wrote: »

Not quite sure what you mean by "risky"

The risk of a chargeback on a weekly grocery shopping run to Tesco, compared to the risk of a chargeback on a couple of grand purchase from a company in the building sector, esp since a few furnature/kitchen types places have gone in the past year or so.

dotsman wrote: »

or under what circumstances you are referring to that a CC would not cover the customer. The Credit card fully covers the customer to the point that the goods/service is complete

You are fully covered in the event of non-supply of goods, but the cc would always addrees warranty issues. Also if part of the order is supplied, the chargeback might only cover the part that is not supplied, ignoring the fact that half a kitchen might not be much use without the other half.

Once case i rememer (mighte be in uk now) company delivered all the parts for the kitchen (basically piecies of wood) but went bust before the workmen turned up to install it. When the poor unfortunate tried a chargeback, the bank noted that inthe origional sales invoice that "fitting was free", so the purchase in fact complete once the planks of wood were delivered.

henrik51

Ya cc way better than the other options