Question about refund
May 28, 2018, 2:29 pm
#1
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Question about refund
Need advice from the gurus. I was victim of the last "great offer" of AF La premiere, and after back and forth managed to get refunded. However, I just noticed that due to the currency conversion I have lost around 50 EURO. Can I complain about this or should I just swallow the pill ??
Last edited by toastedcafe; May 28, 2018 at 2:33 pm Reason: wrong amount
May 28, 2018, 3:27 pm
#4
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Need advice from the gurus. I was victim of the last "great offer" of AF La premiere, and after back and forth managed to get refunded. However, I just noticed that due to the currency conversion I have lost around 50 EURO. Can I complain about this or should I just swallow the pill ??
That is quite a significant amount of money.
May 29, 2018, 2:51 am
#5
Join Date: Mar 2016
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It is, but when you consider the ticket was probably in the range of 1000s of Euros, it probably is a very small percentage.
I once lost around 20€ for booking a ~2000€ ticket in ZAR and asking for a refund within 24hrs, and that was a well known risk for me when I booked the ticket.
I once lost around 20€ for booking a ~2000€ ticket in ZAR and asking for a refund within 24hrs, and that was a well known risk for me when I booked the ticket.
May 29, 2018, 5:17 am
#7
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You can sometimes ask your card issuer to refund the difference. You can always try... I suppose the result depends on whatever insurance is attached to the card.
Some would argue that Air France (or Delta, if they issued the ticket) are liable for the rate difference as well, but that's an uphill battle.
Some would argue that Air France (or Delta, if they issued the ticket) are liable for the rate difference as well, but that's an uphill battle.
May 29, 2018, 6:29 am
#8
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Some would argue anything.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
May 29, 2018, 7:00 am
#9
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Some would argue anything.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
May 29, 2018, 8:16 am
#10
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May 29, 2018, 8:35 am
#11
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Even with a 3% fee it still beats most typical routes of getting foreign currency.
May 29, 2018, 8:43 am
#12
Join Date: Mar 2016
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Some would argue anything.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
OP chose to pay with a card issued in some other currency. Unless there is some fraud by the merchant vendor, e.g. AF, or the card issuer (bank), an individual's choice to play currency arbitrage is not something I would expect either AF or the bank or either's insurer to cover.
Put another way, if the conversion had worked in OP's favor, would he come here to ask what he ought to do with the extra funds? or would AF be justified in refunding less because it all works out to what OP paid in another currency.
Same is for Amex, and over the years more than once I received a refund which was therefore more than the original transaction.
May 29, 2018, 9:53 am
#13
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OP didn't specify why he received the refund, but if there was some fault on AF side, he could ask for them to issue an extra refund, I once had that done with Hertz when they charged me twice for a pre-paid rental and the difference was around 10€.
Same is for Amex, and over the years more than once I received a refund which was therefore more than the original transaction.
Same is for Amex, and over the years more than once I received a refund which was therefore more than the original transaction.
Analogies almost never work.
May 29, 2018, 9:58 pm
#14
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That's not strictly correct, the cards use the Visa/Mastercard rate (not sure for AMEX) which is pretty darn close to the interbank rate. They then add their own exchange fee, typically 0-3%, however if a refund is processed then the fee they added on gets refunded.
Even with a 3% fee it still beats most typical routes of getting foreign currency.
Even with a 3% fee it still beats most typical routes of getting foreign currency.
It is indeed cheaper than cash transaction but still a "fee".
My usual VISA credit card does not have the mechanism you describe. It use an exchange rate without a fee, but that rate is 1+% away from the mid-market rate. No other fee. AMEX is much worse. As an aside, my VISA card adds a transaction fee of 1% when the transaction is in its base currency (HKD) but processed in another country (for example on some internet website purchase). But that does not involve a foreign exchange transaction. I believe that VISA cards throughout the world can have different arrangements.
There are special arrangement for cancellation of a transaction (say he paid in USD but his card is in EUR). But in the OP case, he paid and was subject to the "bad" exchange rate. Then he later got a USD fund transfer of the initial USD amount that the credit card transferred in EUR at their ongoing exchange rate..
May 31, 2018, 10:02 am
#15
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Not on every card in every country. There are some Visa or Mastercard cards on the UK market that do not add their own loading to currency exchange so that the exchange rate that you get is the Visa or Mastercard wholesale rate. Now the Visa and Mastercard wholesale rates may well themselves include some element of remuneration for Visa and Mastercard but I would be very surprised if it were anywhere near 1%.