No card accepted

Totally understand businesses setting a "minimum amount" for card payments, given bank charges etc. However a shop or bar/ restaurant saying they are cash only or the card machine regularly "not working" may be a warning sign that they have could be having some problems with getting credit etc. I noted a couple in the area just before lockdown ( naming no names) where going bust was preceded by a number of weeks of " cash only/ machine not working " etc. In such places I certainly wouldn't personally be paying them an advance deposit for anything eg dinner or event bookings or anything I wasn't taking away on the day...

Shiva wrote:Totally understand businesses setting a "minimum amount" for card payments, given bank charges etc. However a shop or bar/ restaurant saying they are cash only or the card machine regularly "not working" may be a warning sign that they have could be having some problems with getting credit etc. I noted a couple in the area just before lockdown ( naming no names) where going bust was preceded by a number of weeks of " cash only/ machine not working " etc. In such places I certainly wouldn't personally be paying them an advance deposit for anything eg dinner or event bookings or anything I wasn't taking away on the day...

You’re right, a sure sign that they are having problems. Perhaps, if we want these businesses to survive, we should do what we can to help them.

My go to Breakfast/Lunch place is cash only.
I don't mind as the prices are so reasonable I am happy to support them.

What concerns me more is paying the fee for tax forms and even a surveyor in cash

What about all the builders and tradesmen who only deal in cash. Some of them ask for thousands in cash!

Even Steve Birket takes cards has his own tiny little card reader

Yan wrote:What about all the builders and tradesmen who only deal in cash. Some of them ask for thousands in cash!

When I ask suppliers for quotes, I find get 2 prices given, one with VAT (IVA)the other without VAT (IVA). Then the expectations of those quotes come: Pay VAT (IVA) you get an invoice or receipt and the guarantee actual paperwork. Don’t pay VAT (IVA) no invoice or receipt & a verbal guarantee.
It normally comes with “ if you want to pay the government IVA that’s up to you” I tend not to use these companies and instead pay the VAT, get an invoice and pay directly into a bank account. I insist the bank account is in the business name. Not the contractors wife’s, sister’s, name who lives in Northern Ireland or Mongolia.

RJC wrote:Within UK, shops perfectly legally entitled to insist on either cash only or alternatively plastic only.

Nobody is saying it's not legal or shouldn't be a choice for the business, it's when it's underhand (machine not working) or without prior notice, or to evade tax, that it's wrong.

It happened to me once in the Punjabi Virsa restaurant in Catral. I don't recall there being any notice saying cash only but during the meal saw other customers being asked for cash.

As I was having the Menu del dia I knew what my bill would be and had enough cash to cover it but when it came time to pay strangely I was a couple of Euros short but they accepted what I had and said "pay the difference next time", yeah right!

Play them at their own game I say!

There are a lot of established business here in Quesada that have this cash only policy. . They also forget that if you have to go to a machine to take out money it will cost you €2.oo-3.50 to take out the cash.

My bank doesn't charge to take money from machine.

If your bank cash point is not near by you have no option but to use another that will charge..