Do you have a phone number that I could call?

Thanks in advance!

I just posted on Avis FB page, at least I hope someone will read it.

There was no special phone number. I had to call regulard Avis Preferred customer service (that was listed on my card), explained that I wanted my Preferred account changed to always bill in local currency, and then they forwarded that request (not my call!) onto the approprirate department. Weeks later I got the voicemail that the change I'd requested had been done, but it didn't supply any "secret" callback number. It was quite a long time after that that I did my next international Avis rental, but then indeed it did bill me in local-enough currency.

(Please note that "local-enough" may not be totally local always. Some Euro-adjacent countries have car rental firms, hotels, etc, that bill in Euros, even though that country itself has not adopted the Euro. That was the case with Avis Hugary, as well at least one of the hotels I stayed at in the Budapest area. Hungary officilaly uses the forint, its own currency, not the Euro. But I'm based in the US, and I was not converted to USD, so I don't think of this as conventional DCC, and since this seems to be a local "tradition" in the travel industry in the Budapest area, I can't blame it on Avis specifically.)

I got a reply from Avis on FB:

At least they claim that they know that it's their problem - another support for my charge back if I have to. I'd love to sort it out with Avis, even though I have filled in all the charge back forms and have all the documents ready.

You mentioned that Avis Sweden is referring to para 10. The para 10 Avis Sweden is referring to is the para 10 of the European version of the Avis Preferred agreement you quoted

http://www.avispreferred.com.au/Pref...ms.pdf#page=63

"10. You accepting these Terms and Conditions hereby constitutes authority for the relevant Avis Licensee to compute and debit the total charges under each Avis Preferred Rental Agreement against your account with the specified card issuing organisation, on completion of the rental. Any terms and conditions notified to you at the time of reservation relating to the payment method chosen by you for any rental will be incorporated into the terms and conditions of that Avis Preferred Rental Agreement. If you have chosen to pay in a currency other than that used by Avis or the Avis Licensee when the quote was prepared, the exchange rate used is based on the Citibank wholesale rate plus 4%, with this currency conversion service being provided by the Avis Licensee."


Para 10 does not authorise Avis to use DCC because it includes the wording "If you have chosen", and you have not, either in the Avis Preferred agreement or the actual rental agreement.

However, looking through that PDF above, I see a term from the US agreement that Avis US somehow decided was applicable to you, maybe based on the fact your actual car rental is a US rental (despite your country of residence being Sweden):


http://www.avispreferred.com.au/Pref...ms.pdf#page=17

"[22]C. 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. This charge will replace the currency conversion processing charge applied by your card issuer. You understand that your card issuer has a currency conversion process; that you have chosen not to use your card issuer’s currency conversion process; and that you will have no recourse against your card issuer with respect to any matter related to the currency conversion or disclosure thereof."


Even if it is applicable, I do not think 22C meets Visa's requirements:

http://corporate.visa.com/_media/vis...s.pdf#page=553

"Dynamic Currency Conversion Priority Check-Out and Express Return Requirements (Updated)

Before initiating Dynamic Currency Conversion for a Priority Check-out Transaction or an express return car rental Transaction, the Merchant must complete a written agreement with the Cardholder that specifies:
...
• Effective 1 October 2010, Cardholder expressly agrees to DCC by marking an "accept" box on the written agreement"

22C requires an opt-out action which is not compliant with the Visa International Operating Rules and can be charged back against; it is Avis US's responsibility to obtain your opt-in consent before they can apply DCC on your US rental.

I would submit the chargeback form to your Swedish bank, citing Reason Code 76, quoting the above page of the VIOR and claiming Avis relies on both para 10 of the European agreement and para 22C of the US agreement, but neither meets VIOR's requirements which are applicable globally.

My home currency (Hong Kong Dollar) is also linked to the US Dollar but I will beat any cashier over the head until they are dead with my iPhone if I got DCCed for USD.

Competition among credit cards here is very strong here; we've a Mastercard that earns 1 mile per HK$2.67 (roughly 2.92 miles per US$) for foreign currency transactions for example. But the transactions must not be subject to DCC. Even with a 1.5-2% rate, foreign currency spending on HK$ is a very good deal. HK FTers who get DCCed go homicidal (I'm sure it's not just me).



Amex is DCC free in the way Visa and Mastercards are DCC vulnerable http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072900927.html

Maybe Avis can arrange for foreign currency billing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic...ncy_conversion but they have to prepare an agreement in the foreign currency involved.

Just noted Visa has issued new Visa International Operating Regulations on 15 April 2012.

The Dynamic Currency Conversion receipt requirements appears to be identical to the previous 2011 manual. A lot of transitional regulations that have been spent are now removed from the VIOR, so it's a lot easier to read.

http://usa.visa.com/download/merchan...n.pdf#page=614

Still reiterates the requirement to mark an explicit "accept" box "on the written agreement" - so some term hidden in verbage as para 10 Avis Europe agreement/para 22C Avis US agreement is still not compliant.

Also noted (page 579 of the VIOR):

"An Acquirer that participates in Dynamic Currency Conversion must pay an annual program fee, as specified in the applicable regional fee guide. This fee will not be pro-rated."

So Visa is incentivised to push out DCC as much as it can - and perhaps to turn a blind eye when acquirers abuse it.

I am Avis Preferred. It appears that the only way to avoid a DCC to your credit card currency is to tell the agent when returning the car. The agent will give you a slip to take to the counter. Hopefully, there is not a long queue. The agent at the counter can manually process the check-out without the dynamic currency conversion and charges you the local currency to let your credit card company to do the conversion. It's a pain and there is no way around it. You just have to allow an extra 15~20 minutes. I have called the Preferred tel. no. to see if they can change my profile and the answer is no. It apparently is the standing policy of Avis.

Really? Five out of five times, the agent at the counter has told me that there is nothing that he/she can do...

Yes, definitely, based on a Avis rental at MCO about 2 weeks ago.

It was a pain though. The agent at the car return gave me a slip to take to the main counter in the terminal. Queue up. Then the agent did it for me without any problem. Need allow an extra 15~20 minutes to be on the safe side.

The Preferred profile cannot be changed to reflect this "preference". Must be done manually when you return the car.

Any chance you can use Amex? I'm using Amex for my rentals:

http://www.avis.co.uk/blog/2012/07/

I used a Canadian Visa Infinite.

I think Avis accepts Amex.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

Amex will definitely stop DCC, even if u've given Avis explicit authority to apply DCC. Dunno whether you like its rewards or exchange rates tho.

I used the Visa Infinite because it came with an Auto Rental Collision/Loss Damage Insurance if I paid with the card, and I would not have to buy the insurance from Avis.

I also have an Amex card and shall check what coverages it has.

So far, I have no problem asking the Avis clerk to not do the DCC. Just an inconvenience.

AVIS Dynamic Currency Conversion... LOL:

http://cyan.rrx.ca/img/screenshots/avis_dcc_lol.jpg

In fairness to Avis, my credit card was charged the correct amount and not the erroneous one in the receipt above. But seriously Avis, what the heck?

Visa gets sued by Australian regulator *for not allowing more* DCC http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...cy-policy.html

direct currency convertion
 

Hi, sorry if it has been asked earlier. How do I remove DCC from my Avis profile? Recently I rented at Germany and they are tagging a whopping 4% for DCC.

thanks in advance.

I'm going to merge this with the other DCC thread. I can't offer any help with this, but hopefully someone can!

In my case I called them, and it took a couple calls back and forth before it was clearly resolved. (But I rented with them overseas rarely enough that it was taken care of before the next time I had an overseas rental.) I called their general number, and then a specialist at some other number called me back some time later, which is what I mean by the "calls back and forth".

My case was several years ago.

I have complained about DCC to the President's Club office and they state;

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

Do they know what they are talking about (what DCC is)?

Is there an "office"?

They call themselves 'GB HQ Corporate'; this from a 'Corporate Customer Experience Specialist'. You could not make this up.

Nearly scammed by Avis again
 

I rented a car at NCE and fortunately returned it 2 hours before my flight. On the receipt I discover that Avis have applied DCC and that it clearly says that I have been given a choice of currency and that I chose to use Avis' currency conversion scam, when I was never asked anything of the kind.
So I go back to the desk to have it corrected and discover that it suddenly cost me 10 € more than what my reservation says. On questioning, I am told that Avis applies a 10 € fuel surcharge on all rentals less than 120 km, unless I prove that I filled the tank. I show the credit card receipt of the filling station at the airport and the poor lady spends about 5 minutes removing the surcharge.
The counter lady was friendly and helpful about doing the corrections, but I guess Avis counts on people being in a hurry, long lines in front of the counters, to discourage customers having the corrections made.
Why on earth do they bill in a currency different from that on the reservation? If I wanted to be billed in my home currency I would have reserved in that currency in the first place (pre-pay). And the fuel surcharge would have simply been lost and forgotten in the currency conversion scam if I hadn't insisted on getting it corrected!

It also counts on people not visiting the Avis forum on FT until they've had an issue.

These practices have long been discussed in this forum, including here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/...argebacks.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/...el-charge.html

Preferred
 

Also just to note, if you are Preferred you wont be asked to opt in/out from DCC during pick up. You have to set DCC settings on Avis' website in your Preferred account settings!

Though the easiest way to avoid it is just to use pre-pay option.

You can't rely on the pre-pay option always being available, though. It depends on many factors, including possibly things like far ahead you're reserving, and which exact location your reservation is at. I only see it up come up on a small fraction of the Avis rentals I'm looking up (most often the ones I'm looking far far in advance).

Thanks, I didn't realize they'd added that on their website. (Years ago, when they starting using DCC, you had to call to get it turned off, if it got turned on somehow.)

Joining Preferred is free, so that may be easier, in that it works for all rentals, no matter how soon before the rental start you make the reservation (which may be a case where prepaid rentals are rarely if ever available).

Also, speaking of Avis Preferred: The next step is Avis First, but you can't qualify for that with pre-pay rentals, according to:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/...l#post20938318 (link to start of discussion at post 21)

Where is that option hidden?

View Account -> My Saved Information -> Credit Card

Uncheck the following option

"I choose to have Avis bill all my future rental charges in the currency of my Avis profile credit card. "

Well in my case when I usually rent only just in the US as a non-US resident there is ALWAYS a pre-pay option, but this is only cause as I said I am not a US resident and I get totally different rates then a US resident.

It is quite different if you are a US-redisnet and renting in Europe or even in the US but then DCC wont matter:).

That statement is not in my Credit Card box... Mine just lists the credit card I have linked, and even if I press Edit, that option does not display.

Mine is there, but only when press Edit.

It looks like this before I press Edit:
It looks like this after I press Edit:
In my case, that was checked! (I got billed in local currency the last time I rented internationally, which was in September 2012, so I presume they added this online and made it opt-out after that!)

I just unchecked it, of course!

Thanks a lot for this information, makos and piyush!

That's for Avis in the US. Avis in Sweden doesn't allow that! Now I just have to stuck with that rate - it's like a fee for using Preferred.

Loyaltylobby piece on DCC this week http://loyaltylobby.com/2013/09/25/w...cam/#more-9721


Although the piece is on Malaysia, Ollila has apparently avoided DCCed in China before (related post http://loyaltylobby.com/2011/11/02/d...lways-decline/ ). The DCC perp was BoC in both cases, merchants Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel and Sheraton Chengdu hotel respectively. At that time there were no tick boxes, so he correctly realised he's being DCCed. He got managers involved who voided his charges and processed them in different terminals at the hotels.

An Avis Scam
 

Just want to make people aware of a scam that Avis has in France and probably other countries. Without informing the customer or getting customer agreement Avis chooses to do the foreign currency exchange themselves instead of allowing your credit card company to do it, as is the usual practice, and CHARGES A HEFTY SURPRISE FEE FOR THE "SERVICE".

I recently rented a luxury car (BMW, automatic, diesel) for 16 days in Montpellier, France. The rental fee was substantial but I am happy to pay the agreed upon charge. I used my Capital One MasterCard specifically because Capital One has no foreign exchange fee for purchases. For ALL other purchases in foreign countries around the world the credit card company always does the foreign currency exchange when preparing the monthly statement. In this case, I found that my credit card had been charged an extra, unexplained 7%.
After many email exchanges, Avis "customer service" sent me a copy of section 28 of some UNDISCLOSED Avis "rules", that I was never informed about (and not part of the rental agreement) which contains some amazing, blatant stuff. "Charges will be converted --by us unless you submit a written request in advance to have the currency conversion performed by your card issuer." Unless you submit a written request in advance to something you are totally unaware of!!
Further this section 28 says " Our conversion --- will incorporate a processing charge no higher than 3% ---" Well, I guess I'm special; they charged me 7.03% instead of "no higher than 3%".

The point is this: Hotels and restaurants might adopt a "policy" undisclosed to customers that they will do the currency conversion and then surprise their customers with charges of ...(why stop at 7.03%? ) ... 15% or whatever.

Avis must not be allowed to continue to get away with this scam.

Avis has been doing this for years - I had exactly the same problem. I even had a copy of the contract that I DIDN'T check the I'll pay in my local currency box. They still refused me and charged it in my local currency.

I don't care how much but this act is simply a scam. I have contacted Avis but there is nothing I can do.

Next time - you may consider using your CC to draw cash and pay cash upon return - that's the ONLY way to avoid DCC by Avis.

I only have a Wizard account, I have no idea what Preferred will do to me.

I realised an old card was on my profile when a rental last weekend got booked against the wrong card.

I fixed the rental, but I also updated my Wizard profile to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The above options do not appear for Visa/MC against my Wizard profile. Must be a Preferred "privilege"

Yes - 'Preferred' customers in the US, but in Europe (at least) we are forced to DCC in our 'home' currency.

I was told at LAX Avis that the only way I could avoid the forced DCC is to settle the bill in cash upon returning the rental.:mad:

Unfortunately that doesn't help, I picked up a car in London and even though
I had made sure to uncheck that box I got a contract which said that I had choosen to pay in local currency :mad:

You want to pay in local currency. :confused: