Imposed Minimum Purchase Practice w/ Plastic...

Ugh there is nothing more annoying than these signs you see up at some small establishments. I was at a deli, my lunch came up to $7 and some change and they refused to swipe my card because it didn't meet their minimum purchase for using a credit/debit card. I went and purchased another item but I was livid. It's price gouging. When I complained, they could care less and I vowed never to patronize them again. This is against the policy of Visa & MasterCard. American Express seems to have more of a liberal view. Before I started calling to report this, I wondered why so many merchants are allowed to do this. Visa clearly states the below on their website:

Can merchants set a minimum purchase or charge a fee for using my Visa card? Visa has certain regulations that all merchants that accept Visa cards must follow. One of those rules is that Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum transaction amounts, even on sale items.
If you run into a problem like this with a merchant, please notify your Visa card-issuing bank. Visa member banks have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations as well as to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms which should be used by the bank to document and file merchant complaints.

I called them @ 1-800-VISA-911 and they transferred me to my bank to file a complaint. I was transferred around about 3 different times and no one knew how to handle my complaint. Any consumer calling would be discouraged and may not move forward with their complaint. Is this the ultimate goal?! Visa, like the others make billions of dollars on transaction fees and percentages based on all sales that are swiped with cards that carry their logo. As the world quickly moves from a cash/check to debit/credit, these issues should be taken seriously. If Visa really wants to enforce this policy they need to accept complaints directly and carry out fines to merchants who don't comply. But I guess that would be too simple.