Warning Payment by Card!!!!!!!!!!

lemontree

I have been on Holiday to Spain and paid by Visa Debit Card 800 pounds for one transaction.
I told the Shopkeeper that I would pay in Euros as Nationwide give me a far better rate than the one offered.
I repeated this before I was asked to sign through a window in the machine.
When the receipt was printed off I noticed that both Euros and GBP were printed.
When I queried this I was told that by Spanish Law both currencies had to be shown but the transaction would go through in Euros.
Looking at my Online Banking I saw that this was not the case and I had lost about 50 pounds.
I have spoken to Visa Charge back scheme but they say that as I had signed, and therefore agreed to the transaction, they cannot help.
This is a Scam so please beware!!

stilltheone

lemontree wrote: »

I have been on Holiday to Spain and paid by Visa Debit Card 800 pounds for one transaction.
I told the Shopkeeper that I would pay in Euros as Nationwide give me a far better rate than the one offered.
I repeated this before I was asked to sign through a window in the machine.
When the receipt was printed off I noticed that both Euros and GBP were printed.
When I queried this I was told that by Spanish Law both currencies had to be shown but the transaction would go through in Euros.
Looking at my Online Banking I saw that this was not the case and I had lost about 50 pounds.
I have spoken to Visa Charge back scheme but they say that as I had signed, and therefore agreed to the transaction, they cannot help.
This is a Scam so please beware!!

Doesn't only happen in Spain and the salespeople/vendors are quite prepared to lie and feign ignorance.
I insist that the void it and start again. They try the lie lie that you were told and then that they can't void it or pretend that they don't know how to do it. I just smile and tell them to do it. They always do.

The scourge of DCC.

zagfles

I tell them I work for VISA and they'll get their merchant facilities withdrawn if they impose DCC without asking first

VISA rules clearly state that the customer must be offered the choice before DCC is applied.

lemontree

Nationwide states that as I signed the receipt I have agreed the transaction but I insisted that I would pay by Euro. If they can get away with lying they have a very easy and profitable way of cheating. I feel Visa should have backed me.In future I will withdraw money from an ATM.

zagfles

lemontree wrote: »

Nationwide states that as I signed the receipt I have agreed the transaction but I insisted that I would pay by Euro. If they can get away with lying they have a very easy and profitable way of cheating. I feel Visa should have backed me.In future I will withdraw money from an ATM.

VISA & MasterCard don't like DCC, as it denies them the small currency exchange markup in their rates, wonder if it'd be worth writing to them about the lying merchant? Doubt it'd do any good though - they'd probably refer you to your bank.

You have to be careful at ATMs as well - they now usually offer the option of DCC and sometimes phrase the question in slightly unclear language.

moonrakerz

lemontree wrote: »

In future I will withdraw money from an ATM.

Using a debit card overseas, other than in an ATM, is just asking for trouble !

Think yourself lucky he didn't clone your card - then he wouldn't have had £50 off you, he could have emptied your bank account !!!

poet123

I have used my debit card all over the world without trouble, so I think that is a sweeping generalisation. Twice my account has been accessed unlawfully, both times through transactions less than 2 miles from my home (in a leafy northern suburb) one an Indian restaurant, once a petrol station.

Ilovecubbage

Sorry to sound dumb, but what is DCC and how do you recognise that they put it on top?

stilltheone

poet123 wrote: »

I have used my debit card all over the world without trouble, so I think that is a sweeping generalisation. Twice my account has been accessed unlawfully, both times through transactions less than 2 miles from my home (in a leafy northern suburb) one an Indian restaurant, once a petrol station.

Still wouldn't use it.

stilltheone

Ilovecubbage wrote: »

Sorry to sound dumb, but what is DCC and how do you recognise that they put it on top?

Here is an example from Thailand:

This is before they introduced the 150 baht cash withdrawal charge.

The exchange rate at the time was 34.87.

poet123

I always use my Nationwide Flex Account though, into which I transfer monies from my primary current account to use for travel purposes. So, worst case scenario is that they would hit my O/D limit which I purposely keep small.