Dynamic Currency Conversion without consent: what are my rights?

Voyager2002

So I bought a bus ticket from a machine last August; agreed payment in Euro and it was only when I saw my card statement that I found that DCC had been applied. My card issuer (Cumberland) completely failed to understand my concern, and the Ombudsman seems fairly clueless and is now saying that responsibility for dealing with the matter rests with the merchant's bank in Spain, not with my card issuer. Surely this cannot be right.

Could someone please let me know what ought to happen, and who I should contact about my concerns?

eskbanker

An interesting question and one where it's not clear to me where the responsibility and burden of proof lies - by virtue of the DCC being applied, your card issuer will presumably have seen a transaction authorisation request in £ so won't know that you only gave the go-ahead for €, unless perhaps you can demonstrate that (e.g. via a series of screenshots)?  Have you tried taking it up with the merchant?

Voyager2002

eskbanker said:

An interesting question and one where it's not clear to me where the responsibility and burden of proof lies - by virtue of the DCC being applied, your card issuer will presumably have seen a transaction authorisation request in £ so won't know that you only gave the go-ahead for €, unless perhaps you can demonstrate that (e.g. via a series of screenshots)?  Have you tried taking it up with the merchant?

Yes: I took it up with the card issuer, who did not understand the issue at all and gave a nonsense reply. What is more concerning is that after I made a complaint to the Ombudsman service they also did not seem to understand the problem.

The merchant is in Spain and I bought the ticket from a machine, so communicating with them is not really feasible.

Neil49

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Voyager2002

Neil49 said:

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Under normal circumstances the merchant has some evidence that the customer agreed to the conversion. In this case they do not.

Anyway I cannot communicate with the merchant. My concern is that I would expect the card issuer to take some action.

born_again

Voyager2002 said:

Neil49 said:

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Under normal circumstances the merchant has some evidence that the customer agreed to the conversion. In this case they do not.

Anyway I cannot communicate with the merchant. My concern is that I would expect the card issuer to take some action.

In what way. Banks have no control over retailers.

Could it be that, that are how ticket machines are set up to work?

Doshwaster

Probably one of those situations where someone is in the wrong but there's nothing you can do about it. It's not going to be worth an international legal battle over the conversion difference on the price of a bus ticket.

One way around it would be to use a currency card which is denominated in Euros so that DCC isn't possible.

Voyager2002

born_again said:

Voyager2002 said:

Neil49 said:

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Under normal circumstances the merchant has some evidence that the customer agreed to the conversion. In this case they do not.

Anyway I cannot communicate with the merchant. My concern is that I would expect the card issuer to take some action.

In what way. Banks have no control over retailers.

Could it be that, that are how ticket machines are set up to work?

As I read the rules that visa international publish, the appropriate response is a chargeback. 

The ticket machine was entirely in Spanish (a language I understand) and evidently had not been designed for tourists. Probably that is why it had not been set up to offer the option of DCC. In which case it should not have converted the currency.

eskbanker

born_again said:

Voyager2002 said:

Neil49 said:

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Under normal circumstances the merchant has some evidence that the customer agreed to the conversion. In this case they do not.

Anyway I cannot communicate with the merchant. My concern is that I would expect the card issuer to take some action.

In what way. Banks have no control over retailers.

I was going to post something similar but changed my mind as the principle of banks holding liabilities despite not having such control is established in various other scenarios (s75, reimbursing unauthorised transactions, card use between loss/theft and reporting, contactless fraud, etc).  Having said that, it's not clear to me that the card issuer does have any liability here, but not specifically because of lack of retailer control as such?

eDicky

Presumably you lodged a formal complaint with Cumberland BS, what was their response?

bagand96

eskbanker said:

born_again said:

Voyager2002 said:

Neil49 said:

The reaction of the merchant in Spain is probably going to be that you made a mistake and unless you can prove otherwise, with a series of screenshots, that is where the matter will end as far as they are concerned. 

Under normal circumstances the merchant has some evidence that the customer agreed to the conversion. In this case they do not.

Anyway I cannot communicate with the merchant. My concern is that I would expect the card issuer to take some action.

In what way. Banks have no control over retailers.

I was going to post something similar but changed my mind as the principle of banks holding liabilities despite not having such control is established in various other scenarios (s75, reimbursing unauthorised transactions, card use between loss/theft and reporting, contactless fraud, etc).  Having said that, it's not clear to me that the card issuer does have any liability here, but not specifically because of lack of retailer control as such?

I did a S75 claim in a circumstance like this.  Paid an airline via their website for some extras after booking. Everything was quoted in GBP through the process, and even the confirmation email.  Airline then charged the card in Euros (converted from the GBP amount, at not too bad a rate).  Got hit with a loaded exchange rate and fees from the credit card provider which cost a fair bit!  Was stupid because I have fee free cards I could have used.

Initially wondered if I'd made a mistake and the displayed GBP rate were a guide. Luckily I'd taken screenshots, and the confirmation email definitely all stated £ GBP amount only.  Airline were hopeless.  In the end I made a S75 with my credit card.  Uploaded all my supporting documentation that it should have been a GBP transaction. Initial response was a patronising fob-off about exchange rates and charges in the T&Cs of my card.  Spoke to someone who finally got my point and agreed that I'd lost out by the load/fees and refunded me.

Not sure this helps the OP though as I had proof, I'm not sure the OP could provide any here. Spain has become bandit country for DCC (and ATM fees).  Even the most clued up travellers need to keep a keen eye out.