Cash discounts – are they worth it?

Paying in cash is not the great deal it seems to be. We'll tell you why.

Cash-in-hand payments are extremely tempting – so tempting that over half of our customers admit they settle their bills in cash.

In a recent post, Oliver explained why businesses should avoid cash payments. But they shouldn’t be the only ones on high alert; customers should also be wary!

The lure of cash payments is obvious, but it is never without some risk. You may be offered some decent discounts, but the typical trade-off is a receipt!

No receipt means no proof of purchase, which can lead to all sorts of trouble, including warranty issues.

I recently purchased two new ceiling fans for my unit and had them installed by an electrician. Two weeks later, both (!) fans stopped working, and I contacted customer support about my warranty. I was asked to supply my receipt from the electrician who’d installed the fans. It turned out there was something wrong with the censors, but if I wasn’t able to prove that a qualified electrician had installed my fans (via my receipt), the warranty would have been void, and I would have been responsible for the cost of getting my “brand new” fans fixed!

And this doesn’t just relate to trade-based services. A friend recently hired a cleaner when moving out of her rental property. She opted for a cash-in-hand deal to save a few dollars but then was unable to supply the necessary receipts to the real estate agent to prove she’d paid for a professional bond clean service and had to pay for another clean – or forfeit her bond!

A less frequent, although still real concern, is that businesses will demand payment again. You may have paid for the services in cash on the spot, but with no receipts, you leave yourself wide open to fraud!

Convinced yet? Pay with a card – or be sure to get a receipt!