Help, Halifax Clarity used in Hong Kong today (receipt attached)

fewcloudy

Hi there,

In Hong Kong, and used clarity card to pay for breakfast in a restaurant. Paid by credit card, entered PIN in handheld machine, and then given slip to sign at bottom. No choice but to NOT use the MasterCard exchange rate, it seems to me.

Hopefully you are able to see photo of credit card receipt below; my understanding is that all this means is that I have received a less favourable exchange rate, right?

https://i.postimg.cc/dQ79VNtW/IMG_0370.jpg

Many thanks

stevenhp1987

Did you tick the HKD box?

If you do, then it will use the Mastercard exchange rate regardless.

If you select GBP, then that comment will make sense.

etienneg

Yes, with DCC the exchange rate is likely to be much worse than the Mastercard rate.

What did it say on the screen before you entered your PIN? Was the amount in HK dollars or GBP? If it was in GBP then the machine had already been set up for DCC, so you could have refused to enter PIN at this point and insisted on it being set to HK dollars first. Local currency is all you have agreed to pay by buying the goods.

Also, if you had agreed to DCC (amount in GBP when you entered PIN), there's no need to sign anything additional. If you hadn't, there's no reason to agree it afterwards by signing.

bd10

Hi, I think you got shafted a little bit. For the 9th of Oct, the GBP/HKD trading range was 10.2081 (low) to 10.2649 (high), taken from Reuters. Mastercard would most likely have converted it to around GBP 17.24 at the high. The missing option to decline DCC is most annoying!

fewcloudy

Steven, it didn't look tickable. That might just be me not paying attention, and I will pay more attention if I am presented with something similar again.

Etienneg, thank you for those wise words, and I will be aware for the next time. Cannot remember exact on-screen wording, but I will keep my eyes peeled next time.

bd10, I agree, almost certainly. Insignificant sums of money, in this case, but it's a game and I need to better understand the rules

thank you all, much appreciated, will update thread if I experience any other credit card related woe.

bd10

Don't get me wrong. Insignificant or not, it's a question of principle, I hate being cheated. Was in Southern Spain over the weekend. Every handheld POS device was running DCC. But in every single instance I told the shop keeper, or hotel reception, etc I am paying EUR. The POS menu was in Spanish but the merchants told me what it said. The transactions are still pending but all look OK (=non-DCC). Checked and kept all receipts. Worst case, you can always tell them to void the transaction or get a charge back. BTW, hotel rate was also off by the same 4.5% as yours.

aj23_2

ALWAYS select the local currency, even on a foreign spend specialist card.

glider3560

fewcloudy wrote: »

Steven, it didn't look tickable. That might just be me not paying attention, and I will pay more attention if I am presented with something similar again.

I've seen very similar examples posted elsewhere from HK and China.

The important line is "MARK[X]Transaction Currency". It's basically telling you to put an X in the box next to the currency you want the transaction in.

To clarify it even further, you could also write "0.00" in the tip line, then "176.00" in the total line.

Ben8282

glider3560 wrote: »

I've seen very similar examples posted elsewhere from HK and China.

The important line is "MARK[X]Transaction Currency". It's basically telling you to put an X in the box next to the currency you want the transaction in.

To clarify it even further, you could also write "0.00" in the tip line, then "176.00" in the total line.

But there is no x in either box.

glider3560

Ben8282 wrote: »

But there is no x in either box.

The customer is supposed to mark the box by hand. If they don't, they are at the mercy of the retailer (who will probably do DCC, since that will be the default option).

chattychappy

I've generally not had a problem avoiding DCC in Hong Kong.

But frankly, I just withdraw a load of cash on Clarity. For small amounts I just pay cash. It just saves time and worry messing around avoiding DCC.