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

luci

It was Ross near the MGM. I posted about it on the Vegas thread when it happened.

I went back and complained, but they wanted me to take back everything we'd bought before they would reverse the transaction which was kinda difficult seeing as I was wearing some of it...........

Never had a problem at Macy's and never bought anything from Dillards.

zagfles

luci wrote: »

Regardless of whether the terminal shows the amount you should be paying in euros or dollars, it is AFTER you have entered your PIN or signed that they press a button on the terminal to charge it in euros/dollars or GBP. We found this to our costs at a place in Spain. The terminal stated the amount in euros and only after we got the receipt did it state that we had "been offered to pay in sterling and accepted it". Like others, it was never mentioned.

That is unbelievable - it's like altering a contract after you've signed it. Once you've signed/entered your PIN they surely can't change what you've agreed to pay??

VISA/MasterCard ought to have an online facility to report these thieving merchants.

iceburn

Think cause the retailer is not following the visa / MasterCard rules one can claim a chargeback which one bank have to process if don't contact MasterCard / visa fraud / retailer complienance line. In other words other direct debit guarantee with banks again

lemontree

Nationwide have refused chargeback as they say when I signed I agreed to pay GBP but I did not!! I say they lied when they told me that by Spanish Law they had to show both currencies.
Checked at Hotel and they said this was true but transaction would go through as Euros. Nationwide do not agree that they lied, they say I was misinformed!

zagfles

lemontree wrote: »

Nationwide have refused chargeback as they say when I signed I agreed to pay GBP but I did not!! I say they lied when they told me that by Spanish Law they had to show both currencies.
Checked at Hotel and they said this was true but transaction would go through as Euros. Nationwide do not agree that they lied, they say I was misinformed!

This was a hotel that lied was it? (your OP said a "shopkeeper"??) or did you just ask the hotel? It's rubbish anyway, if the transaction is processed in Euros there'll be no need to know the GBP equivalent. I've paid in Spain by card loads of times and GBP has never been shown on any receipts or during the transaction.

If it was a hotel suggest you write a review on somewhere like tripadvisor.com mentioning this so others are aware.

lemontree

Asked at the Hotel if the shopkeeper's explanation that both currencies had to be shown by law was correct and they reassured me that this was the truth. Do you think Trip Advisor would print this condemnation of the Hotel?

iceburn

You review the hotel lemontree on that site and other people reading the review are forewarn and might even book elsewhere. Hence logic here they might made say £3 from you but now will lose £4k in future sale. Hit them where it hurt the most

Si67

The DCC scam is prevalent in Spain, but if you make it clear to the merchant that you wish to pay in Euro, then usually they will oblige. Not always though. We've just returned from Lanzarote. Most places were OK, but in a few places (particularly restaurants) the hand-held card machines were actually set up to apply DCC automatically. In one instance the waiter demonstrated to me that there was no option to pay in Euro. It kept switching to pounds and there didn't seem to be a way to stop it. We called the manager/owner over, but he just said that it was the way the machine was set up and that was that. He even tried to convince me that it was a good rate, which it most certainly wasn't (cheeky git!). In the end I paid by cash, didn't leave a tip, and didn't go back there (so they lost out because otherwise we'd probably have used the place several more times during our stay!).

The point is that many merchants are blatantly breaking the rules, ripping us off, and getting away with it. The more they get away with it, the more merchants will do it. It does need to be stopped.

view

We always just use a Travelex card which has been pre-paid with whichever currency before we left. Only option is to use the currency that is loaded on the card and the rate is whatever you bought the currency for in the first place. You can't select a currency when you go to pay. It's a VISA but not a credit so can be used anywhere you see VISA.

view

Here's some info from VISA online
What is dynamic currency conversion?

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), also referred to as Cardholder Preferred Currency (CPC), is a service offered by merchants – not Visa - in some countries when you are traveling abroad. If you choose to use the DCC service, the merchant will convert the purchase price of goods or services at the point of sale from the currency in which the price (i.e., the merchant’s local currency) is displayed into another currency (i.e. your home currency) using an exchange rate that typically includes a service fee.
Here’s an example of a DCC transaction:
A U.S. Visa cardholder is in Singapore and decides to purchase a box of chocolates priced at SGD 20. At checkout, the merchant offers the cardholder the option to pay in USD using a DCC service.
The merchant dynamically converts the SGD transaction amount to USD 15.80. The DCC transaction amount and transaction currency (in USD) are disclosed to the cardholder. An exchange rate of 0.79 (1 SGD = .79 USD), which includes a 2.5% mark up (over a wholesale exchange rate) and the 2.5% commission/fee/mark up are also disclosed to the cardholder.
The cardholder actively chooses DCC by checking a box on a printed receipt or pushing a button on an electronic screen and agrees to pay USD 15.80 for the box of chocolates using the exchange rate provided by the merchant that includes a 2.5% fee for the DCC service.
If you do not want to use DCC when making a purchase, then you have the right to refuse the offer and have your transaction billed in the merchant’s local currency, which will then use Visa’s conversion rate. If you did not agree to DCC, but see it on your bill, then you should ask your issuing bank to contest the charge.