Originally Posted by JEFFJAGUAR

That's one of the great lies about dcc ("The amount in USD is only shown for your convenience. You are being charged in euro." Of course it might be unfair to blame either the cashier, probably some 18 year old student who doesn't know better or even the manager who might be 19 years old. This is the policy but you did right. But our pal kebosabi san is absolutely right. We ought to be able to produce a stamp with a red ink pad satating local currency option not offered as well as a template for a form letter in Microsoft word where we simply fill in the date, the oanda.com rate and what the amount should be and request the charge be charged back with a paragraph that we requested the charge be written up in local currency and the merchant refused to abide by the merchant's agreement to give you the choice of currency.

I don't think in this instance of "forced" dcc the banks are the guilty parties. I remember reading of a decision by an Australian court prohibiting the banks from prohibiting the use of dcc. And a always, one must continue to understand that the vast majority of people who travels don't know the difference (otherwise they wouldnt be using a credit card with a ftf or allow themselves to be dcc'd. As a matter of fact, many probaly think of how nice it is they don't have to whip out a calculator to figure out what the item cost in their currency and what a neat service the merchant is providing and even if you tell them they're being ripped off, they really don't care and throw out some trash like "I'm spending hundreds (or thousands) for this trip of a lifetime and what's another $50 or $100 for the convenience and peace of mind of knowing what I'm spending. If it weren't for that, dcc would have dbeen stillborn years ago.