Originally Posted by
moondog
I used to play the chargeback game myself, but have long since given up because I was wasting lots of time and I don't think the merchants/acquirers actually cared (for every squeaky wheel, there are 100 other people that generate substantial bonus profits). The idea of boycotting DCC establishments is all well and good, but you'd have trouble eating in Shanghai if you maintained this policy. I usually simply pay cash or use Unionpay these days.
Given that the poster actually had to pay his wife's *doctor*, I don't think boycotting the merchant was an option in this case. I would have just given them the card and warned about chargebacks if they used DCC.
Originally Posted by moondog
Regarding your point about chargebacks being annoying for my bank, you're probably right, and they are certainly far more costly than the amount of most disputes (i.e. I used to flood them with batches of 100 receipts at a time and let them figure out the differences between the DCC and spot fx rates), but it's not like BoC, HSBC, or 交行 would ever care about Charles Schwab Bank's opinion.
But wouldn't Visa/Mastercard threaten to pull business from ALL of said banks/merchants if they get too many chargebacks? That's what you're really after: either make them pay higher fees, or get their ability to accept CCs pulled entirely, due to being sleazy.