Dairy Queen, You Crossed the Line

Dairy Queen has this nasty practice of adding 50 cents to my bill if I pay with a debit card without notifying me in advance or allowing me to authorize the charge. I’ve become acquainted with the practice of charging for a debit card transaction at places such as Taco Bell. They give me a pin pad where I have to specifically authorize the stupid “convenience” charge. Dairy Queen just has a handwritten cardboard sign mentioning the charge. They don’t verbally mention the extra charge, just hand key in the total including the additional 50 cent fee. I suspect their practices are borderline fraudulent, if nothing else for not getting an authorization before charging more than the amount due. I know they can’t charge the extra amount for a credit card though. That’s why rather than paying cash, I make sure I pay with a credit card so they are stuck with a processing fee but they can’t pass that extra cost on to me. My little way of getting even for their unfair practices.

On Friday, I picked up a $3.59 blizzard. The total, including the 8.9% tax was $3.91. I made sure I grabbed a credit card instead of a debit card. The photo below illustrates the problem with their manual system of charging for debit purchases:

My unmistakeable CapitalOne No Hassle Platinum Credit Card was conveniently confused with a debit card. The $3.91 blizzard ended up being $4.41. I was offered a receipt and I accepted. All I got was the receipt pictured. Nice lack of detail there Dairy Queen. You defrauded me. I was even told $3.91 when I handed my card. I didn’t authorize the $4.41 nor did I sign for the purchase.

Here are a couple more images zoomed in:

An ambitious lawyer could possibly turn this sort of thing into a lawsuit. I’m wondering if Dairy Queen’s stupid practices are repeated in areas besides my local Dairy Queen’s. Do other’s charge a fee without warning? Let me know if this bothers you too or if I’m the only irate blizzard eater out there.