A Sykes Diner charge on your credit card statement almost always reflects a purchase at Sykes Diner in downtown Kalispell, Montana, a long-running restaurant, coffee shop, and market open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If the amount roughly matches what you ordered, the charge is legitimate. If it’s higher than the menu prices you remember, the most likely explanation is a credit card surcharge added at the register.
Because Sykes operates a diner, a coffee shop, and a small market under one roof, a single visit can also produce more than one line item on your statement if purchases were rung up separately. That’s worth checking before assuming something went wrong.
Why the Total May Exceed the Menu Price
Many restaurants now add a surcharge or service fee to credit card transactions to offset processing costs. Montana has no state law prohibiting the practice, so a Kalispell restaurant is legally permitted to pass those costs along, provided it follows the card networks’ rules.
Those rules cap how much can be added. Visa limits any surcharge to the merchant’s actual processing cost or three percent of the transaction, whichever is lower, a ceiling Visa reduced from four percent effective April 15, 2023. Mastercard still allows surcharges up to four percent. Both networks prohibit surcharging debit and prepaid cards entirely, even when the customer selects “credit” at the terminal.
What Disclosure Rules Require
If a surcharge was added, it should not have been a surprise. Visa requires merchants to post clear notices at both the entrance and the point of sale and to itemize the surcharge as a separate dollar amount on every receipt, identified as a merchant-imposed fee. Mastercard’s rules are similar: the surcharge percentage and dollar amount must appear on the receipt, with clear disclosure at the point of interaction. Both networks also require merchants to notify the network and their processor at least 30 days before they begin surcharging.
Sykes Diner does not publish a credit card surcharge policy on its website or menu page, so if you were charged a fee, it should have been disclosed at the counter and itemized on your receipt.
What to Do If the Charge Looks Wrong
Start with the restaurant. Call Sykes at (406) 257-4304, ask for a copy of your itemized receipt, and confirm whether a credit card surcharge was added and at what rate. If a surcharge was applied to a debit card transaction, that violates card-network rules regardless of Montana law.
If the restaurant doesn’t resolve it, you have two further paths:
- Dispute the charge with your card issuer. The issuer will investigate whether the transaction was authorized and whether any surcharge was properly disclosed.
- File a consumer complaint with the Montana Office of Consumer Protection, which investigates unfair or deceptive business practices. Complaints can be submitted online through the Montana Department of Justice’s consumer portal or by mailing the office’s complaint form. Include copies of your receipts and a written account of what you’ve already done to resolve the issue with the business.
If the charge matches your meal and no fee was added, there’s nothing to fix. The Sykes Diner line on your statement is just breakfast or lunch.