Do you want to pay in gbp/eur in supermarkets

Stevefromdonny

I got a Halifax clarity card recently and took it to fuerteventura.

No complaints about the card. Though we only got back last night so all I've done on it is spend so far.

The only issue I had was really the language barrier / clarity of the messages on the card payment devices.

Most of the places i used it had standalone card terminals which they key in the amount. Most of these were touch screen, which made selecting GBP/EUR very easy and clear. You touched the appropriate button on screen or asked to pay in euros when you handed the terminal back.

However I used it in a hiperdino express supermarket. Here the chip n pin device was linked up to the epos and was a standard ingenico contact less unit as used in most uk supermarkets. When I paid here, because the unit wasnt touch screen it presented a list of two options requiring key presses to select. Because it was entirely in spanish and actually quite a lot of information on screen, i couldnt work it out. I asked the cashier what to press for GBP.

Now I went here twice. The first time the cashier said press yellow. This worked. The second time, not being entirely sure what I pressed the last time, I asked again and the cashier reached round and pressed green. Im not sure she understood that i wanted to pay eur, or understoodthe message on the screen. This produced the "you have chosen not to use Mastercard's conversion process" reciept and a hideous rate of 1.07. Thankfully it was only for about 7 or 8 euros so the damage was minimal.

You'd think that as the unit has recognised a british card and had to dial out to produce the message and the current rate, it could produce a message in English.

Why is it even an option? As far as i can see its just a money making scam to get money out of people who dont know better / don't use MSE. People using foreign cards in the uk dont get the option as far as I'm aware.

richardw

DCC is a con.

pompeyrich

richardw wrote: »

DCC is a con.

It can be but before I had a Clarity card it was sometimes better to pay in £s and avoid the foreign transaction and currency conversion fees, especially for smaller amounts.

I once got cash from an atm in Spain on 2 consecutive days, chose £s one day and €s the next and the final cost was a few pence different and this was due to exchange rate fluctuations.

Biggles

pompeyrich wrote: »

It can be but before I had a Clarity card it was sometimes better to pay in £s and avoid the foreign transaction and currency conversion fees, especially for smaller amounts.

No, it's rarely better to pay in GBP, even with a 'normal' card, as DCC (dynamic currency conversion) is a scheme to make the merchants more money and the main difficulty is, you can never know what rate they are going to charge you until it's too late. At least you know your card will charge you 2.75% (or whatever).

I once got cash from an atm in Spain on 2 consecutive days, chose £s one day and €s the next and the final cost was a few pence different and this was due to exchange rate fluctuations.

ATMs are a bit different, as they tend to be operated by banks, so probably charge a similar rate to the cards.

firefox1956

I have a house in Spain that we use quite a lot.
Over the last year or two this is happening in more & more of the shops & supermarkets etc.
In fact it seems to be in most of the places that take credit cards now.
On several occasions I have had the sales assistant look at me, realize I am not Spanish then press the GBP without passing me the terminal.
Its then rather difficult to argue that they should not really have done that !!

Biggles

firefox1956 wrote: »

On several occasions I have had the sales assistant look at me, realize I am not Spanish then press the GBP without passing me the terminal.
Its then rather difficult to argue that they should not really have done that !!

I imagine most of them don't know about the DCC scam and just think they're being helpful.

It makes it even more important to check the figure on the terminal before putting the PIN in (or tapping it if contactless).

elsien

Getting cash from the ATM in Spain last week it was giving a conversion rate of 1:1.01. :eek:
Fortunately I'd preloaded the card at a better rate beforehand.