A class action lawsuit was approved in the field of operating vending machines for the sale of beverages and food products

The Jerusalem District Court has approved the filing of a class action lawsuit against two of the largest companies in Israel in the field of operating vending machines for the sale of beverages and food products. This is because the consumer who pays with a credit card is charged an additional fee for the price of the product displayed on the front of the machine - as opposed to the obligation to present the total price of the product.
Judge Gila Kanfei-Steinitz ruled that the credit card fee is not a payment associated with the purchase of the product that gives the consumer a practical option to waive it as part of the transaction, and therefore presenting it separately and adding it to the product price when paying by credit card is illegal.
The application for approval of a class action lawsuit was filed in 2018 by a number of applicants represented through attorneys Ohad Rosen, Hagai Kelai and Amit Gensin, against the companies Mishkar and Mishket, which operate vending machines throughout the country, including IDF bases, hospitals and train stations. , Institutions of higher learning and more. Mashkar operates about 5,500 vending machines for food and beverage products, while Mishket operates about 1,000 machines.
"I believe that a class action lawsuit is the most effective and fair way to resolve the dispute before me. This is the collection of an unlawful credit card fee, collected from all consumers who paid by credit card in the thousands of respondents' machines (defendant companies - LD). These consumers must file individual claims for restitution, "the judge ruled.
The fact that you charge a fee for a credit card purchase is indicated on the defendants' vending machines using various stickers.
The applicants claimed that the companies made it a habit to display the price of the product in the designated place, but elsewhere in the machine, which is usually small and smart, they state that credit card payment will be charged a fee, which means a 5% to 20% increase in product price. The applicants claim that although there is no legal prohibition on charging the credit card fee, the practice according to which a certain price appears on the product and the credit card fee appears elsewhere, is prohibited.
The applicants argued that according to the Consumer Protection Law, the "total price" should be displayed on the product, including any commission charged by the dealer.
On the other hand, the companies claimed that the consumers of the companies have a number of possible alternatives for making the payment for the products they purchased: payment in cash, payment by prepaid card and payment by credit card. According to the companies, when the consumer pays by credit card, the companies are obligated to pay the clearing costs to the credit clearing service provider for the vending machines, which also charges them monthly rent and installation costs. In order not to increase the price of the products for customers who do not pay by credit card and to avoid subsidizing the consumers who pay by credit card, we charge the credit card fee only from consumers who choose to pay by credit card.