Originally Posted by
3galsontour
When I am travelling and offered a choice of local country or amount converted to $US always choose local currency. Now I also know to argue it until that is the outcome. Has anyone had experience as to whether Amex or Visa make this an easier process when there is a dispute?
Another thing to look for is on the receipt, somewhere near your signature line but not directly above is the statement: "I have been given a choice of currency and chose to be charged in US$". If you see this but actually want the local currency, DO NOT sign the charge slip! It's done very cleverly. They show the local currency and its US$ "equivalent". I was told that was for info purpose only and not that I was being charged US$. Liars!
I missed the "I have been given. . ." statement on the first receipt and noticed only on review afterwards. The next time it was tried on me, I refused to sign the receipt. They refused to charge in the local currency. They said they could only do it that way because I had a US CC. I crossed out the statement, wrote "no choice offered" in big block letters on it. The clerk got upset but suddenly "remembered" how to do the charge in the local currency.