Agoda have made a couple of changes to their website when you check out for the purchase now but are STILL forcing all customers into their Direct Currency Conversion "service" and charging them an extra 3% for the privilege.
Interestingly when you go to pay at the final step they no longer say "FINAL PRICE" and infact they do not even tell you how much you have to pay or how much they are going to charge your card, which I think id very deceiving.
They will state the room rate per night, and Hotel Tax and service fees per night but will not actually tell you how much the payment is for!
In my case the room charge was USD 218.26 per night + USD 52.07 hotel tax per night, less USD 90.00 of "rewards", so the total is USD 450.66, right? You'd think that's how much I'm going to be charged right, but NO.
Once I clicked on the "Continue" I then found out that I hadn't been charged USD 450.66, infact I hadn't even been charged any USD. I now see I have been charged NZD 594.65!
And if I had been charged the correct amount of USD 450.66 then it would have worked out the same anyway, right? NO. At the time of purchase USD 450.66 was equal to only NZD 577.09.
So Agoda have charged me an extra ~3% commission for their "service" of converting the currency. They don't tell me of this service nor give me the opportunity to opt out of it (like they used to). They don't even have the decency to tell their customers how much they are being charged!
Yes I have emailed then about this situation numerous times and no matter who replies to you, their M.O. is always the same, they will not actually answer your concerns or questions, but they will provide irrelevant information you didn't ask for and quote different amounts and issues unrelated to the actual problem. They pretend to not know what you are talking about. If you email them 3 times they will suddenly offer to refund you the ~3% commission they have forced upon you, but at no time will they ever answer any of your questions or engage into discussions regarding their billing practices, DCC issues, or lack of transparency.
I used to think they were a reputable site offering good hotel rooms at reasonable prices, but their deceptive billing practices and ignorant customer service has seriously dented any respectability they might once have had!