JEWELLERS EXTRA CHARGES

[JOHN1F]

I recommended Icmeler as a holiday destination for some friends of mine as I have been going there for years.They have just arrived back after spending 2 glorious weeks there.On arriving back they checked their bank statement and found that they had been charged £70 card charges on a purchase of £740 from a jewellers in Icmeler.
When they made their purchases they were told that the cost was £740 cash. They explained that they had been robbed on their first night whilst staying at the Chateau de Ville and did not have enough cash on them. They were then invited to pay by credit card which for some reasons could not be authorised. They ended up paying by Debit card and this is where they were charged the extra £70 pounds. I contacted the jewellers on their behalf and got a reply saying that if they, the Jewellers, use their credit/debit card machine they have to pay %18 per cent on their sales. In all my time in Icmeler,and the thousands of pounds that her indoors has spent on Jewellery this is a new one on me. I was always led to believe that any goods advertised for sale come with the V.A.T. added and that is part of the price. I have never seen a sign in any shop that says that, if you pay cash you will get a discount of 18%.
I would welcome other members comments on this.

[stevew]

Hi JOHN1F,
We have purchased a few items from jewellers by card and never paid any hidden extras.......we also always pay in Lira as the bank rate is normally higher.
Steve.

[mick00]

Did they really get robbed. In the hotel I mean.

[JOHN1F]

Yes.
First night in the resort. They arrived at 4 in the morning. Went straight to bed in the Chateau de Ville, but forgot to lock the door,woke up a few hours later with his wallet and watch missing from the bedside table. They then spent most of the day with the police who are laying the blame on transient workers at the Munamar Hotel opposite. What a welcome to Icmeler for the first time. I think they were more concerned at being ripped of at the Jewellers, as they did it with a smile on their face.

[JT]

I can't comment on what the jeweller did but I can say that we at ICR would not take a debit cardf payment through the machine as the costs are expensive and always advise the people to draw from the cash machine.

Maybe the jewellers were correct or maybe they were wrong to do that but the receipt your friend received would have shown the total amount taken from the card and the transaction should have been revered there and then if they were not happy with it.

This you would do in any business establishment

[dragon]

Bought quite a lot of jewellery over the years, including presents and also jewellery that others have asked us to bring for them. Have always used a credit card that has no commission charges on it and have never had any extra charges put on it when purchasing jewellery. We once used the credit card and asked for it to go through in sterling so that we could compare prices. Glad that we only did this as a test with one item, as it was a few £s more than if we had bought it in Lira. We also often use the credit card to pay for meals as it can work out cheaper and again we've never paid anything extra.

I think it's the usual story that we are not as careful whilst on holiday as we're in the 'holiday mood' but really as John said we should check our receipts and sort things out straight away, just as we would at home.

As for the theft, we once forgot to lock the door of our apartment one night and were woken by four people who burst out laughing and said a drunken 'Sorry, we're in the wrong apartment' so it's an easy thing to do, the couple were just unlucky as the majority of people are genuine. I just wonder if they were targeted as you're normally shattered when you arrive at that time in the morning. I know its not your fault JOHN1F but you must be feeling awful because your friends' holiday was on your recommendation, but this could happen anywhere, they were just unlucky.

[JOHN1F]

HI Dragon,
Its not the problem of being robbed in the Hotel that has annoyed them ( as you have said this can happen anywhere). What has annoyed them was the excessive charge that they had to pay for using a debit card. They were told that the cost would be £740 for cash ( which they did not have as it had been stolen) so they used their debit card ( which they assumed was the same as cash) and were charged £70 extra.I queried this with the jewellers(Yasmin Jewellers) and their answer was we get 18% added every time we use our credit/debit card machine. On all my many times in Turkey, that is the first sime I have heard of that.The owners wife in Yasmin Jewellers( an English lady called Rebecca)seemingly was very nice with them during the purchase and they did not really look at the receipt until they got back to the U.K. I am sure that this will not put them off going back to Icmeler but they will be very wary in the future about things for CASH and extra charges for using a card.

[MetinTrust]

V.A.T. are included in the prices ; The receipt will tell everything , there is maybe rate diffrence from what the Jewellers used to the bank ... some Banks in UK charge commision , but not 10% - 2-3 maybe.
have a nice day