Guys "Pay Smart" according to westside. You are not allowed to pay using your credit cards now without incurring a 49rs flat fee mentioned as a convenience fee.
Also before anyone jumps with saying passing MDR to a customer is ok, Mastercard and visa network explicitly mention in their contracts that MDR should not be passed on to customers.
MDR pass on to customers on UPI and debit cards are outright banned in india according to RBI but credit cards don't fall under that rule but also you have network contracts that make it illegal.
I never expected big brands like Westside doing such foolish things. These are expected from small merchants who aren't always aware of the policies, but not from a big Tata brand.
Shop for 10-15k and bring it to the counter and be like, "I was looking to drop a buttload of money but too bad, I am not being a part to this unfair practice." Do this enough times and the management will get the message. Them losing out on your business and the added headache of restocking the items will compel them to remove this.
Another bullshit policy is issuing a paper refund in case of returns that can be used just in store, valid for next 6 months.. lose that paper and it's gets more difficult to get your money back
Would it though? I mean almost every online place has started charging some kind of fees/charge and what not. There is no indicator that their sales got affected due to this.
If you see clearly, Westside has played it very cleverly by stating it as convenience fees and not MDR or 1%/2% extra charges. Like on online websites brands use platform fees/Offer processing fees/fulfilment fee etc.
I think there is a grey area, which these brands are exploiting, till the time the governing body steps in and makes some law or regulations on this.
If this was MDR then if the bill was 1 Lakh, 1/2% MDR would be 1000/2000 but they have mentioned flat 49 irrespective of the amount.
I would just go and have a very big cart and when it's time to pay, I'll ask a manager, make a fuss about the fee and then back off from purchasing until they say that they won't charge this ridiculous fee.
Might work, or might not, but I'll love doing it..
call me a douchebag, but im not gonna stand watching a brand as big as Westside pull this BS
Oh and also, RBI used to have this rule in their master circular as well, about MDR to not be passed onto consumers for credit as well as debit cards, but they recently removed credit cards and only mention debit cards now.
Sucks that RBI silently removes stuff like that, and you know what's funny?
RBI even silently retracted the 3 day grace period, tho its coming into effect from next year, but this was a real guideline until last year or so.
My main issue is that they remove it silently and you won't even know that the guidelines do not even exist anymore.
If you ever need professional douchebag guidance, contact me!
Ive done this at times and its worked. Was at Ather showroom 2 years back, basically finalised everything about my vehicle and when payment talks started, said I will be paying via CC, they said a fee will apply, I just said I'll take my business elsewhere and magically, the fee was waived off.
Same thing happened in Agra at some sweets shop too.
I teach how to be a douche, for r/CreditCardsIndia members, I'll even offer a discounted rate..
Yes all the mental math i could do, but I was at the counter, with the card in my hand with a queue behind when they showed me this.. I will take my business elsewhere from next time.
I tend to patiently hold the line at the expense of the queue behind me.
Ask the staff if they accept vouchers, and get into purchasing a voucher online right in-front of them after checking various platforms which provides the best value, with the omnipresent network in these stores.
Then dictating the code to the cashier, where I accidentally get it wrong twice.
Bonus points: if you make it loud enough for other customers to realise they can get better value out of vouchers over their CCs.
This is how you effectively ruin the mood of everyone else who's there to purchase and think about coming to their store twice or follow the same protocol.
I personally stopped going to H&M from such an experience.
I am having an issue with Canara Bank. Actually I deposited ₹200 note in the CDM machine of canara bank but the machine got an error saying "Sorry, the servers are down. Please try again later...", now I gave an application in the bank but they didn't solve the issue at all. Can I do anything in this case?
Yes , I am a merchant and my console has an explicit section that allows me to pass on MDR as a service fee , this console is of a MC/Visa approved PSP , the contract just forbids a retroactive charge like a fuel surcharge
Flipkart is worst if you want to buy anything which is probably more than 10k and god forbid 50k . They charges around 1k for all those bullshit which was no where before
So there was a supermarket near me which i used to purchase from. I used to purchase around 5000 Rs worth of goods every month. Then when i got a credit i went there with credit card and they said they wont accept credit cards there. Since i was paying through Rupay Upi credit card it would have hardly costed them 1.1%. So i decided to stop going there and never visited them again. Considering a 10% margin for products they lost atleast 500 every month for saving that 1.1%(which is only 50 Rs).
Westside is not a brand which is irreplaceable. You can easily find similar and netter products.
They are so greedy, cloths have such high margins and these stores make a sh*t ton of money, it’s not a petrol pump where 1-2% matters, they easily have a margin of 50-300% here would be my guess and can’t cover 2% mdr
The issue is that majority already pay with UPI, it is the more younger (35 and below) who are mostly CC people
Westside shouldn’t have gone so low, this is peanuts in cost to the business this group brings, now I will go there this week and will on purpose shop and dump at counter if MDR is there. Will do it in multiple branches and mail complaints, will this change it , most probably not, but good to do it as someone has to stand up on principle against this
Losing a sale because you pass on the MDR to customers is real.
I was at my mate’s place, which is undergoing renovations, so we went to a Faber store to buy a hood, stove, and a few other appliances.
They were buying quite a bit of stuff, but when my friend tried to pay with his credit card, the guy at the billing desk said there would be a 3% surcharge.
Since we already had their best quote, we went to a retail chain that was selling the same hood for ₹500 less. They also agreed to match Faber’s prices on everything else, without charging the additional 3%.
The owner of the Faber store later called to ask if we were still interested in buying. We told him the 3% surcharge had turned us away. He said they could have waived it and that the guy at the billing desk probably should have done so rather than lose the entire sale.
In my experience, at least in India, places seem to pass on the fees to consumers in most cases, hoping customers will absorb the card processing costs without pushing back.
In this case, people will still pay the fee. Westside sells stuff that you wont find outside.
Pay via west side gift card (I got via Amazon).. 9% valueback.. for a ₹2K GC value is worth ₹2K +₹180.. Comes to ₹2,180 & cashback on using axis/SBI CB CC.. effectively I earned 14% return
Oooooh, fun!! I live literally next to a Westside.
Gonna walk up to their store this evening, pick up a whole bunch of 15-20 random clothes, go to their billing desk, see the ₹49 sign and be like, “this is nonsense, I’m not gonna buy anything”. 👀
Slim chance. They're not calling it MDR, and online lot of sites like BMS already charge the same. The verdict will be you're free to not buy from them
Are these easy enough to redeem in store? Like do the cashiers immediately know what to do? I don’t want to stand around awkwardly explaining stuff 😭 happened to me once at some store
I really want to understand the legality of calling it a “Convenience fee”, Westside is in the business of selling clothes at a physical store so what possible convenience are they adding here when this is literally their business
I faced a similar thing at croma last month. They had a flat 200 rs charge somthing like platform charge, or convinience fee not sure about the charge name
Westside should know their customer base better. People who are shopping there , are doing so for a reason. If you add even a rupee more, People are gonna flock to other places.
Not sure if network contracts can decide legality.
Anyway, I would be happy if the MDR is brought down to a low level by the government which covers the cost for the network without giving reward points. End of the day it is non credit card customers that are actually paying the MDR while credit card users are enjoying cashbacks and other perks at the expense of non credit card users which is unfair.
As far as UPI is concerned it is pretty hypocritical from the government who refuse to bear the cost even though it is highly beneficial to the country and perhaps helps them collect a lot more tax but expect the merchants to do it and pass on the cost to customers indirectly.
Lol why are they so stupid. They should have just increased the prices lol. Why do people of this sub think that the merchant will pay MDR from their profits lol.
Pay cash no mdr no convenience fee. I guess convenience fee is for their own convenience. Give them cash let them count and check each 500 note if it's genuine and also put pennies to make it more interesting.
Could be unpopular opinion but I feel it's better to charge MDR-like fee for the payment method, instead of raising prices for all payment methods to cover the credit card fees in their business model.
westside apparels used to be great 5 years back, but once they tried to expand their range, they are so shit in quality with double price but people still rush to buy them. It is not worth even paying half the price.
I went to Westside on 10th didn't see any such signs or charges for using credit card. Maybe this is store specific and the franchise owner is going this perhaps?
The timing is so suspicious. Almost as if they want to emphasize look how UPI pe there is no MDR, please use that instead. Also flat 49 is a big amount for a store that sells fairly cheap things too. Basically deterring credit card use. I wonder why? 😏
It's the customer who always pays, it's just bullshit that you don't have to pass on to the customer. Rather, not allowing to differentiate between payment modes actually raise the price for all customers irrespective of payment modes.
Westside is getting worse everyday.
In Kolkata, they close shop at 9pm. Trial rooms close by 8:30.
In billing counter, they don't provide any gift wraps to any of the gift items.
The people in the store are always reluctant to make a sell.
I only buy from them during the b'day month because of the discount; otherwise I go to Other similar brands. They seem much more proactive and professional.
On a high margin product like clothes??? damm this is too much a brand like tata does. then all will follow same path. and RBI will remain silent? banks are the ones who earn from credit cards should enforce that their merchants dont pass on any MDR. but loophole is they call it convenience fee and Banks still remain silent about it. India is cost sensitive market and tbh most will stop using credit card if they see like this convenience fee at the cash counter. Not all use credit card for rewards.
We know it's MDR. But we can't prove it. It's a legal loophole ig. Apps have been charging promise fee, platform fee, service fee, gateway fee, processing fee, etc. since forever. As long as it's not explicitly mentioned that it is MDR fee, it seems to be fine by the government. What's worse is, EVEN if, the govt. did ban all of these additional fees, brands would just simply adjust the cost in the MRP. Like marketplace sites will negotiate a higher % of the sale commission from sellers. This will force sellers to increase the selling price to keep their margins intact. (This is already happening in Zomato/Swiggy, but is currently offset via "coupons").
The sad thing is, people will still buy from these shady sites because of the current discounts it is offering. Ex: Laptop sales in Flipkart. Everyone hates flipkart, but whatever price they're quoting online, even will dynamic pricing shenanigans, it is discounted 5k-10k or more, than whatever I could find offline from retailers nearby.
I recently went to Ownd! Along with my friends, they spent a lot of time trying stuff, ended up not choosing anything but I really liked this one t-shirt and went to crowded counter to buy it.
They said they can’t accept billing single piece, at least 2 pieces need to be purchased. No rational explanation, just said the POS won’t accept single piece due to new policy from yesterday.
Another person offered to add it to their bill? I waited till they removed the security tag and folded my t-shirt then I just left saying keep it yourself..
I would go to shop, spend an hour to try all dress. Get a huge bill and reject the buy aster this convenience fee, do this enough times, they'll realize.
Bought 2 pairs of jeans of WES brand. Wore each of them for less than 10 times (>6 months) and in both of them the fabric tore near the back pocket area. I don't know if Westside clothes are trustable or not anymore
What the F ? Why do they even care ? Anyways all tata business are taking serious hit and now this.
BTW , I do think it has something to do with government trying to insert MDR on upi. Because if bigger brands like tata will start asking for charges then suddenly people would choose cheaper option. What is cheaper than upi. MDR can also be reduced to keep attracting the consumer.
That 49rs extra fee on credit card payments seems unfair....customers should know about these charges before making a purchase not find out at the billing counter
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u/brainer121 6d ago
I never expected big brands like Westside doing such foolish things. These are expected from small merchants who aren't always aware of the policies, but not from a big Tata brand.