Espresso's overcharging students for using points

Espresso's Pizzeria on Boston Ave. has been consistently overcharging students using the points system, freshman Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Zach Landau revealed at this past Sunday's senate meeting.

"No business on Meals on Points (MOPS) is allowed to charge extra for using points," he said. Nevertheless, Espresso's has been adding on a 15 percent surcharge to all orders if a student uses points to pay there.

According to Director of Dining Services Patti Lee Klos, this is in direct violation of their contract. "They know that they shouldn't be doing that," Klos said.

Espresso's declined to comment on the matter, awaiting an outcome.

Despite the fact that Espresso's has received various warnings in the last several months to stop this practice, it has apparently refused to do so. Several Tufts students have complained about the surcharge to Dining Services since the beginning of the term.

Landau discovered the additional surcharge in mid-October, and he has been pressing Klos to take stronger action ever since. "I believe at this point she is planning on contacting the manager," he said. It was brought to his attention by Tufts students who are employed at Espresso's.

"As a patron, I will not go back until the charge is dropped from their billing, and then only after seeing an apology of some sort," Landau said.

Freshman Christopher Duerrmeier was shocked to hear that Espresso's was overcharging its student patrons. "It just seemed like such a convenient way to get food," he said. "I can't believe that a business that relies so heavily on Tufts students for business would do such a thing to us. I refuse to go back until they've stopped swindling us," Duerrmeier said.

Many students echo Duerrmeier's sentiments and some plan to boycott Espresso's until changes in the policy are made.

Klos plans to set up a meeting with the manager of Espresso's.

"I think that if this is a violation of their contract, we would have a right to terminate the contract, but I hope that it doesn't come to that," Landau said.

TCU President Chike Aguh condemned Espresso's secretive actions. "Espresso's is a popular restaurant for students on campus but their popularity, no matter how great, does not allow them to charge Tufts students 15 percent extra because they are using points," he said.

There are three other local businesses that have contracts with Tufts that enable students to pay for food using their Tufts ID cards -- Panda Palace, Pizzeria Roma, and Wing Works.

Although they are allowed to add a delivery charge to a student's bill and change menus without notice, the contract states that no charge can be added for the simple act of using points as payment.

TCU Treasurer Josh Belkin fears that Espresso's overcharging might have a negative impact on the MOPS program as a whole. "Obviously, if this increase is sustained, I wouldn't be surprised to see a drop off in both points transactions and overall patronage with Espressos," he said.

Belkin added that "charging more reduces the incentive to use the convenience of points, and I feel they are taking advantage of students because many see points not as 'real money.'"

Though the future relationship between Tufts and Espresso's is still unclear, Landau remains optimistic for a quick, painless end to the problem. "I would like to see the problem resolved in a way that allows us to keep Espressos, minus the 15 percent fee," he said.