Spanish banks and currency conversion

jonesMUFCforever

The best thing I can suggest then is to check the receipt when it is given to you.

Over and out.

msallen

Chomeur wrote: »

Beyond what I mentioned in the intial post it says

"Transaction Currency
GBP 105.40

111 euro"

One of the companies has now responded to me saying that there is nothing they can do about it and that in future I should just pay in cash! Shame they couldn't have told me before. I think a bad review is coming their way.

Is this the retailer's own receipt or the credit card receipt that says this? If the retailer's receipt mentions GBP then that is what you have agreed to unfortunately.

zagfles

msallen wrote: »

Is this the retailer's own receipt or the credit card receipt that says this? If the retailer's receipt mentions GBP then that is what you have agreed to unfortunately.

The OP did not agree. That's the whole point. the retailer imposed DCC without consent.

jonesMUFCforever

zagfles wrote: »

The OP did not agree. That's the whole point. the retailer imposed DCC without consent.

.........But he did not check the receipt did he?
If he had he would have been able to challenge it.

zagfles

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

.........But he did not check the receipt did he?
If he had he would have been able to challenge it.

People can and do successfully challenge DCC imposed without consent, and get refunded the difference (though sometimes the bank just refunds and takes the hit rather than charging back I believe).

I know people who have and lots of people have reported doing so here, so don't try to persuade the OP he/she can't. You are wrong. They can.

Re the receipt - transaction is complete by then. Also the receipts are often not clear - often they have the EUR amount in big font with the GBP amount (together with the supposed "agreement") in small font.

Chomeur

One of the companies involved has now recredited the difference to my credit card after I gave them a bad review on tripadvisor. They said:

"Yes, we select the payment in pounds but the exchange rate is set by your own bank and we have no way to check it at the time of the transaction. Anyway, we note that the exchange rate is not adjusted to reality and you end up making a charge of around € 5 more.

We will keep this in mind so as not to select this payment option in the future.

We are very sorry for all the inconveniences caused."

So it seems clear that even if I select euros, the merchant can override this, which is ridiculous.

I'll mention this story when paying in future and that should be enough to stop other merchants from doing the same.

zagfles

Chomeur wrote: »

One of the companies involved has now recredited the difference to my credit card after I gave them a bad review on tripadvisor.

Excellent, well done.

They said:

"Yes, we select the payment in pounds but the exchange rate is set by your own bank and we have no way to check it at the time of the transaction.

This is utter bull. The exchange rate is set by their DCC provider, not your bank. And the rate is displayed so it's clearly available to check.

Anyway, we note that the exchange rate is not adjusted to reality and you end up making a charge of around !!!8364; 5 more.

We will keep this in mind so as not to select this payment option in the future.

We are very sorry for all the inconveniences caused."

So it seems clear that even if I select euros, the merchant can override this, which is ridiculous.

I'll mention this story when paying in future and that should be enough to stop other merchants from doing the same.

Merchants do it because they usually get a cut of the DCC commission. See for instance these sites aimed at merchants and stating they'll get commission if they use DCC:

https://www.worldpay.com/uk/sme/other-services/dynamic-currency-conversion

https://premiertaxfree.com/business/dcc/for-merchants

Chomeur

zagfles wrote: »

Excellent, well done. This is utter bull. The exchange rate is set by their DCC provider, not your bank. And the rate is displayed so it's clearly available to check. Merchants do it because they usually get a cut of the DCC commission. See for instance these sites aimed at merchants and stating they'll get commission if they use DCC:

https://www.worldpay.com/uk/sme/other-services/dynamic-currency-conversion

https://premiertaxfree.com/business/dcc/for-merchants

Thanks. This is interesting:

"Best rate guarantee
We guarantee the best exchange rate for international credit card payments. If customers choose to pay in their own (billing) currency with Visa or MasterCard, we guarantee they will get the best exchange rate, ensuring they use our Dynamic Currency Conversion solution with confidence and peace of mind. If international Shoppers can prove they paid more by paying in their home currency using a Fintrax rate of exchange, we will refund them 150% of the difference."

but I suspect it's not worth the trouble of claiming - the amounts will be small and how would I know if Premier Tax Free is behind the conversion or whether it's someone else? I bet almost no-one ever claims on this, though I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has.

Incidentally I just went to Portugal and had no problems in this regard. It seems to be more of a Spanish thing.

zagfles

Chomeur wrote: »

Thanks. This is interesting:

"Best rate guarantee
We guarantee the best exchange rate for international credit card payments. If customers choose to pay in their own (billing) currency with Visa or MasterCard, we guarantee they will get the best exchange rate, ensuring they use our Dynamic Currency Conversion solution with confidence and peace of mind. If international Shoppers can prove they paid more by paying in their home currency using a Fintrax rate of exchange, we will refund them 150% of the difference."

but I suspect it's not worth the trouble of claiming - the amounts will be small and how would I know if Premier Tax Free is behind the conversion or whether it's someone else? I bet almost no-one ever claims on this, though I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has.

Exactly - are customers told about this "guarantee" when they pay? With details about who to contact to claim it? It sounds like marketing drivel aimed at convincing retailers they're doing their customers a favour by offering DCC rather than ripping them off.

Incidentally I just went to Portugal and had no problems in this regard. It seems to be more of a Spanish thing.

Yes it's more prevalent in some countries than others. I've never had a problem in France. Spain and Ireland seem to be the worst.

Chomeur

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

.........But he did not check the receipt did he?
If he had he would have been able to challenge it.

So it happened again, also in Spain. I entered my PIN in a supermarket and the check-out assistant snatched the terminal off me and selected currency conversion without saying anything. She then gave me a lengthy form to sign to say that I agreed to the conversion. I refused to sign it and they then made me unpack all my purchases, take them to another till, and have them rescanned. The assistant then spent 20 minutes on the phone to the bank and her boss asking for instructions for how to reverse the initial charge. She couldn't figure it out. I couldn't keep waiting forever, so I just walked out, and on my return find that I have of course been charged in GBP, at a bad rate of conversion.

So it's useless to challenge the conversion with the merchant once it has gone through - it will simply be too much trouble to have it reversed.