MSE News: Paying by card on holiday? Here's why you should keep hold of the terminal

Jannibee

Another one to beware of is Ryanair. If you try to book a one way flight priced in euros the site changes the total into pounds AFTER you´ve entered your card details. Their online help assistant could not help. Eventually I found a little box to untick if you did not want their DCC, but it is not at all obvious.

Ptpole

I'm surprised that this has only just been reported This problem has been common in Poland for at least the last four years. I use my card in Poland every year and every year I have had to complain to master card about this rip off practice by petrol stations and restaurant. The worst place that I know of, is resturants in Krakow town centre. I specifically asked to pay in Polish Złoty but when I entered my pin I held onto the card reader but I did not even get a choice the payment was automatically completed in pounds when I complained they said it's all automatic and nothing they could do. When I got back I complained to master card, I told them the address of the restaurant, they did refunded the difference but claimed they could do nothing about it. In August this year I paid for a stay in the Arkas hotel near Opole in Poland. I told the receptionist that I wanted to pay in Złoty they said yes, I entered my pin and again the card reader processed the payment in pounds with no choice. They did cancel the payment but then had to go on line to find out how to reconfigure the reader so that a choice was given. I then paid in Polish Złoty. The difference was £36

Schofip

It is not just credit cards doing this sort of thing. I recently booked a holiday accommodation on Booking.com. The accommodation was in France and the price quoted was in pounds stirling so I paid with my Capitalone credit card. When my credit card statement arrived it turned out booking.com had actually charged me in the Euro equivalent price making it a foreign money transaction which added a 3% transaction cost of £15. Nowhere did it state that I would be charged in euros. As the price was quoted in Stirling I assumed booking.com had done the conversion from Euros. Annoyed as I could have used my Halifax Clarity card if I had known. Wasn't lying down so contacted booking .com and got them to refund the £15.

MattW93

Both Mastercard and Visa should clamp down on this fraudulent abuse of DCC by unscrupulous banks and merchants who access their platforms. If banks are supplying merchants with equipment that can be configured to effectively change a transaction after it has been authorised then they should be fined or denied access to the MasterCard / Visa platforms. Similarly, merchants who habitually practice this abuse should suffer chargebacks on all transactions where they have changed the currency after the PIN has been entered. Surely it is within the capability of Mastercard and Visa to change their processing algorithms to identify and block these transactions.

I read an article a while back that claimed Amex does not allow DCC on its platform. If this is true, maybe one solution is to use Amex for hotel and car rental payments instead of Mastercard or Visa.

hadenoughapologies

Thanks eDicky wont go down that route then.
Use my credit cards and cash then as before. If it isnt broke dont fix it

vintner55

We had this problem in India. I hadn't heard about it before so was surprised the first time it happened. After that I made a big deal every time of insisting that I wanted to pay in rupees and noticed that on some occasions they took away the card reader and brought out a different one. I presume one was set up for DCC and one wasn't. Even so I still got caught out, perhaps by the language barrier or perhaps by deliberate misunderstanding. The common explanation was that tourists "preferred" to pay in their own currency.

avqs43

I was caught out in a supermarket in Fuerteventura. I specifically asked in Spanish to pay in Euros and, as has already been said, I entered my PIN and passed the terminal back. It was only when I returned to the hotel that I looked at the till receipt and discovered that I had been charged in pounds. Fortunately, the difference was less than a pound, but I will know for next time.

DCC has been a problem for years. I had a Nationwide card that I used in 2005 and this was the first time I encountered DCC.

It is when you have been to the same place often and have had no problems that you let your guard down. I will certainly take the advice of others and keep hold of the terminal until the end of the transaction.

firefox1956

vintner55 wrote: »

We had this problem in India. I hadn't heard about it before so was surprised the first time it happened. After that I made a big deal every time of insisting that I wanted to pay in rupees and noticed that on some occasions they took away the card reader and brought out a different one. I presume one was set up for DCC and one wasn't. Even so I still got caught out, perhaps by the language barrier or perhaps by deliberate misunderstanding. The common explanation was that tourists "preferred" to pay in their own currency.

This happens in Spain.
Some retailers, & small ones at that, have 3, 4 or 5 credit card terminals on or under the counter !!

Roger1

Dewpoint wrote: »

The thread is entitled "Paying by card on holiday" isn't it.

'MSE News: Paying by card on holiday? Here's why you should keep hold of the terminal'

adriansaggers

I had an unpalatable experience at a branch of Cafe & Tapas in Madrid. I kept hold of the cash machine but still I was charged in sterling. I asked for the transaction to be voided but the trader refused. To add insult to injury the receipt from Comercia Global Payments had a declaration printed on it saying 'I accept that I have been offered a choice of currencies for payment etc'. The staff at the outlet said they were acting under instructions and I should make a complaint on their website if I was not happy. Guess where we I didn't eat anymore in Madrid!