Getting stuffed on foreign holiday booking

beergander_2

Hello, Looking for some advice.... (hope this is the correct forum?)

Last week we booked a ski chalet in France (£2196). The English owner based in France quoted us in £'s. I opted to pay via my TESCO Mastercard so I got the extra protection in case of a problem (1.5% extra charge). However the final amount on my CC statement is £199 more than the original quote. I reckon I'm getting stuffed because the owner is converting to Euro's. (Can she do this when she quotes in £'s ?) and I've found out Tesco then add 2.75% and give me a poor rate of 1.0573.

I'm thinking of asking for a refund and paying another way though I'm not sure my Barclays Premier A/C is much better! I also have a Nationwide Gold VISA.

Any ideas....

Thanks

chattychappy

If you were quoted in GB£ you should have been charged in GB£. Are you sure it doesn't say somewhere in the contract that you would be billed in the Euro equivalent? From the statement/receipt it should be possible to work out the Euro amount that was put through. You could use oanda.com to see if the rate the owners used was fair despite not being in £ as you expected.

Yep on your figures Nationwide would have worked out about £70 cheaper.

Sounds like the owner doesn't have the facility to bill in £. If you really have lost out (the Tesco's fee is your problem) then I would work out by how much and ask her to credit that much. Ultimately you could dispute the whole amount, but in the end I'm sure you want your holiday so best to keep it friendly.