Originally Posted by
Happy
Here is the update on my dispute of an involuntary DCC by a restaurant at Dubai.
...
7) Bottom Line - it is still the US banks eat the DCC disputes, not the merchants. It might be easier in the future just call to dispute the difference as online, there is no space to fill out the reason when the dispute amount is small. Chase online only gives the space to fill out reasons when doing the full amount dispute - but that has proven to cause A LOT OF WORK for the US Banks. While the Acquirer still gets away with it.
A friend has a DCC dispute on a Citi card. The front line rep has no clue on what the friend is talking about. He asked for a supervisor who immediately understands. The supervisor gives $9.xx credit - the overcharged amount caused by DCC, immediately over the phone.
So from now on I would handle DCC dispute over the phone instead.
8) The response from the merchant is not really from the merchant, but from the Acquirer, under the Acquirer's letter head. This makes me wonder - WHO benefits from the DCC? May be it is the Acquirer, not the merchant. I dont know.
Thanks for the follow up,
Happy. For the package from Chase with all of the notes from the acquirer, it seems like Chase contested the charge. What was the reason given for contesting? Were they pursuing a Reason Code 76 chargeback (incorrect currency transaction code), or was there other language?
It certainly is possible to rerun the transaction in local currency, so what the Chase rep told you was incorrect. In fact, there have been a couple of cases in the past of Chase doing exactly that. Regardless, you weren't out any money on this one, and I'm glad you pursued the chargeback even if the outcome is less than ideal. Perhaps with enough complaints from customers and chargebacks to the acquirers the issuers and acquirers will take some action.
As far as this transaction goes, Chase issued a courtesy credit, so Chase ate the loss. The acquirer is the one who makes out well here, but certainly the chargeback inconvenienced them. From the merchant's perspective, it doesn't matter whether your charge was in dirhams or dollars. They're getting paid in dirhams. The only thing they potentially stand to lose by a chargeback and rerunning in local currency is whatever their cut is for performing DCC. Usually the acquirer and merchant split the profits on the spread between the DCC offer and the real exchange rate.