Scammed with DCC by Avis
 

I returned my rental car at ATL normally, the agent printed out the receipt without asking me anything and announced a total of 101.62, which was correct.
On looking at my credit card statement I found that I have been charged in CHF at a very poor rate. On looking closely at my receipt, I see in small print:
"I had an option to pay in USD but chose CHF."
That is a lie. I was not asked anything at all.
Avis applies a 3% commission on the exchange rate, whereas my bank applies only 1.5%.
OK it's only about 1.50 USD, but it's downright dishonest.

It happens all the time when we europeans travel....especially us Brits to Euroland.

It peeves me as well, especially when I have a zero Forex fee card. In this instance, I bet the 'receipt' guy just pushes yes...he has nil to gain I guess. In spain, you often get given the CC machine/ATM machine and have to actively decline the higher FOREX rates.

It's not worth calling for $1.50 but in my experience I always ask/email to be billed in the local currency...I think the real villains are the banks that provide the CC machines, not the merchants.

Unfortunately, this isn't just Avis or Europeans in the US. I've gotten this in Europe many times. Now, whenever I give my card outside of the US, I am explicit that I will be charged in the local currency, as I have a FOREX-free card.

Just thought I would update a little, as I complained to AVIS. The last two exchanges (in the first exchanges, AVIS denied that they applied DCC!) are below:
(I don't understand the reference to budget.com - suspect the agent had just migrated from there to AVIS:D)



On 24 May 2011 19:41, Avis Customer Service <[email protected]> wrote:


Thank you for contacting us at www.budget.com regarding the rate charged
and currency conversion.
We apologize for misinformation which you received. We do show that the
currency was converted at the
Avis counter --

EXCHG AMOUNT : 92.97 CHF EXCHG RATE : .914500


If you use a credit or charge card that is issued by a financial
institution outside of the United States and your charges are billed to
us in a currency other than U.S. Dollars, the full amount of your charge
will be converted to the card account?s billing currency unless you
submit a written request in advance to have the currency conversion
performed by your card issuer. The conversion will be based on a
conversion rate published by Reuters and will incorporate a processing
charge no higher than 3% applied to all amounts relating to the
transaction.

Again, I apologize for any misunderstanding and misinformation.

My response:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I thank you for your clear response.
However I am astonished by the response and the lack of respect to the customer which it implies.
When I book a car with you, I do so on your website, or very rarely by phone, not in a written form, yet you imply that I have to write to you to request payment in local currency!
On your paperwork, you state that I have been given a choice of currency in which to pay, when that is, by your own admission, not correct.
I would suggest that you have changes to make to your process to be honest with your customers.
1) When I am making a reservation, you ask for my credit card number. You therefore know where the card is based. If you are going to bill in foreign currency, you should quote your rates in the foreign currency, so that I am billed what has been quoted to me.
2) Maybe the easiest option is for the reservation process to include an option to choose the billing currency - there is plenty of opportunity to do so in the reservation process.
3) Do what you say on your paperwork - ask your clients how they want to be billed.
Regards,
=====================

This scam is very much for Europeans travel to the US as well. I shopped in Ross and I paid with my Danish credit card and when I didn't even have any choice for choosing currencies! It automatically chose for me, it was a shame that I didn't realise until I got back to Europe. Since then I'm extra aware when I pay.

I also scammed by Avis once. I rented a car at TLS and I told them that I don't want to pay in SEK but in EUR (Mr Nacho works in Denmark and we live in Sweden). Good that I kept a copy of the contract (got the hotel to make a copy of me). The bill was in SEK and I used my CC from Denmark, which means that I was robbed 2 times - once from Avis and once from my Danish CC. Avis refused to refund me the extra transaction costs, but since they reimbursed me enough for the wrong fuel charge I decided not to take the case further.