Originally Posted by
JEFFJAGUAR
I think what happens with many processors who support dcc and want the merchnts to try to push it is when an out of country card is either swiped or dipped, as soon as the system recognizes the card's currency is not the local one, it prints a preliminary slip listing the amount in the currency of the card. This is supposed to be shown to the scamee to make his decision as to whether he wishes to be scammed or pay in local currency. What sometimes happens is, of course, the cashier simply fails to offer the choice and chooses for himself or herself that the sucker in front of him or her wishes to be scammed and has one of the lies all ready in case the scamee notices.
Yeah, I firmly believe the entire setup is deliberately designed to get you to take the bait. And sometimes there is just the illusion of choice but no real choice is available (locked down terminals, uncooperative merchant, etc.). It's also brain games because even if you're in Ireland for instance and the merchant says, "That'll be 83 dollars and 42 cents." most people don't even pause to question... huh... what? wait a minute? Why are you quoting me in dollars? This country uses the euro. Then they sign and implicitly agree to the DCC amount without realize they just got ripped off.
It's also like the terminals that give a choice of payment currencies the default is always the DCC currency. ATMs make it seem like the world will end if you don't lock in the exchange rate. "Caution. If you use the networks exchange rate we have no control over how much you'll be charged. Do you agree to not hold us liable and use the network rate?" I'll take my chances, thank you... I think I'll be just fine. POS terminals also are designed to default to DCC and require counterintuitive steps to disable. You have to press no/cancel, and how many times have you seen cashiers repeatedly press the Accept/OK green button compulsively? Again, this is all designed to get people to accept DCC by default.