Virgin Money - dispute transaction?
Comments
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It's not that obvious. There are places which don't give you a choice and they charge you in card currency. I had it at petrol station in Poland. I said that I want to pay in PLN Staff told me that terminal doesn't offer choice and I can't do anything about it. It's not like I could return petrol which was already in my car and resign from purchase. Had the same thing happened at different petrol station in supermarket. I wrote complaint and only thing they said, is that they agree, that I should have a choice, no refund of charges.Ultimately I would say you're going to be lucky to dispute these charges, as ultimately it is your responsibility as the card holder to ensure you are using it correctly and you entered your PIN to denote that you approved the transaction, which includes the currency conversion method the store holder chose. If you had any concerns about the shopkeepers integrity, you should not have completed the transaction.
I always say that I want to pay in PLN, yet there are places which don't give you choice and you can't resign from transaction and walk away. Chasing the owner of some non-chain petrol station for refund will be waste of time. I just remember to avoid it now.
DCC charges are even more widespread in Europe now. Every cash machine is trying to convince you to choose conversion and some of them ask you this twice.0 -
Designated travel cards which don't charge for transactions abroad mean to address this issue. My point is that it should be "what you see is what you get", if you enter your PIN authorizing amount in PLN and see PLN on your statement + foreign transaction fee, it's OK. If you authorize payment in GBP and see PLN in your statement (or vice versa) it's not acceptable.Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »I always say that I want to pay in GBP, yet there are places which don't give you choice and you can't resign from transaction and walk away. Chasing the owner of some non-chain petrol station for refund will be waste of time. I just remember to avoid it now.0 -
If you want to avoid DCC you need to pay with your card in the local currency. If you try to pay in GBP you are asking for DCC - do you want every small trader to join in the scam..?Penelopa.Pitstop wrote: »I always say that I want to pay in GBP, yet there are places which don't give you choice and you can't resign from transaction and walk away. Chasing the owner of some non-chain petrol station for refund will be waste of time. I just remember to avoid it now.
DCC charges are even more widespread in Europe now. Every cash machine is trying to convince you to choose conversion and some of them ask you this twice.Evolution, not revolution0 -
To claryfiy, my previous post should say, that I always want to pay in local currency, not GBP. I see where your answers came from. I edited the post now.
I know what I'm doing, I have Nationwide card which I use everywhere. I was just saying, that it's impossible to avoid DCC in certain situation
On petrol station nr1, they gave me terminal which had amount in GBP. I told them again that I want to pay in PLN. They said, that they can't change it on terminal, it was disabled by owner. So what I was supposed to do? No cash to pay that amount and you can't return petrol which is already in a car. How do you fight something like this? And to add insult to injury, on receipt there was statement that I was offered choice and I agreed to DCC. My bank statement showed amount in GBP, so I couldn't exactly claim refund of fx charges as they weren't charged by them. Chasing owner of single petrol station is rather waste of time, especially when you 1000 miles away. I contacted VISA to complain on the owner of terminal but it didn't really get ma anywhere.
On second petrol station I paid in PLN, but after returning terminal, they must have chose GBP for me, withouth asking. It was booth style till, so you can't see what they do after taking terminal from you. Again, got receipt saing that I was given choice of currency.
I always say I want to pay in local currency if terminal asks this. It's my mantra at every till.0 -
My current plan isPenelopa.Pitstop wrote: »I know what I'm doing, I have Nationwide card which I use everywhere. I was just saying, that it's impossible to avoid DCC in certain situation.
I always say I want to pay in local currency if terminal asks this. It's my mantra at every till.
1. Write to the CC provider requesting a chargeback
2. If they refuse, refer to (past) financial ombudsman decisions (available via Google)
3. Get a final response and refer to financial ombudsman (this is going to cost CC provider more than refunding me the difference)0 -
My current plan is
1. Write to the CC provider requesting a chargeback
2. If they refuse, refer to (past) financial ombudsman decisions (available via Google)
3. Get a final response and refer to financial ombudsman (this is going to cost CC provider more than refunding me the difference)
It isn't a matter of "requesting a chargeback". You are disputing the transaction as unauthorised (to the extent of the currency) - therefore they cannot hold you liable for it. Whether they chargeback or not is a matter for the CC and not your problem.0 -
chattychappy wrote: »It isn't a matter of "requesting a chargeback". You are disputing the transaction as unauthorised (to the extent of the currency) - therefore they cannot hold you liable for it. Whether they chargeback or not is a matter for the CC and not your problem.
In my experience it always helps to tell the other party what would you like them to do in order to put things right for you. If they agree that your suggestion is sensible, the matter will be resolved faster. Otherwise they are free to explain why they can't do what would you like them to do and to offer an alternative solution.0 -
That may be a good idea in general, but this is a complaint about DCC being imposed without choice. Card issuers usually just refund the difference themselves without bothering to charge back the merchant, unfortunately. So its probably best to stick to the main issue only, in the hope that Virgin staff can manage to understand it. You have seen already how ignorant they can be...In my experience it always helps to tell the other party what would you like them to do in order to put things right for you. If they agree that your suggestion is sensible, the matter will be resolved faster. Otherwise they are free to explain why they can't do what would you like them to do and to offer an alternative solution.Evolution, not revolution0 -
Card issuers usually just refund the difference themselves without bothering to charge back the merchant, unfortunately. So its probably best to stick to the main issue only, in the hope that Virgin staff can manage to understand it.
Indeed, you are quite correct - VM just refunded the difference.
Oh well, my ultimate goal was not to make the retailer unhappy a handfull number of foreign transactions really doesn't affect them whatsoever and I am glad they started to accept western cc but not to be out of pocket myself.0
This discussion has been closed.
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