Just thought I would update a little, as I complained to AVIS. The last two exchanges (in the first exchanges, AVIS denied that they applied DCC!) are below:
(I don't understand the reference to budget.com - suspect the agent had just migrated from there to AVIS)



On 24 May 2011 19:41, Avis Customer Service <[email protected]> wrote:


Thank you for contacting us at www.budget.com regarding the rate charged
and currency conversion.
We apologize for misinformation which you received. We do show that the
currency was converted at the
Avis counter --

EXCHG AMOUNT : 92.97 CHF EXCHG RATE : .914500


If you use a credit or charge card that is issued by a financial
institution outside of the United States and your charges are billed to
us in a currency other than U.S. Dollars, the full amount of your charge
will be converted to the card account?s billing currency unless you
submit a written request in advance to have the currency conversion
performed by your card issuer. The conversion will be based on a
conversion rate published by Reuters and will incorporate a processing
charge no higher than 3% applied to all amounts relating to the
transaction.

Again, I apologize for any misunderstanding and misinformation.

My response:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I thank you for your clear response.
However I am astonished by the response and the lack of respect to the customer which it implies.
When I book a car with you, I do so on your website, or very rarely by phone, not in a written form, yet you imply that I have to write to you to request payment in local currency!
On your paperwork, you state that I have been given a choice of currency in which to pay, when that is, by your own admission, not correct.
I would suggest that you have changes to make to your process to be honest with your customers.
1) When I am making a reservation, you ask for my credit card number. You therefore know where the card is based. If you are going to bill in foreign currency, you should quote your rates in the foreign currency, so that I am billed what has been quoted to me.
2) Maybe the easiest option is for the reservation process to include an option to choose the billing currency - there is plenty of opportunity to do so in the reservation process.
3) Do what you say on your paperwork - ask your clients how they want to be billed.
Regards,
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