Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) and Chargebacks
 

Hi

2 days ago i rented car from Avis Miami USA ,upon rental Avis agent preauthorize my credit card in my home currency which is Saudi Arabian Riyals ,this process called dynamic currency conversion in which Avis will get more money by exchange rate conversion ,the agent didn't tell me about this and i am not agree to this process i am in USA i want to be billed by US dollar.visa company regulation says

from here http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_v....html#anchor_4

so i am wondering big company like Avis doing these this which is usually done by small hotels to get few extra dollar , i will return the car 2 days later and i will fight to be billed by US dollar , any advice please.

more about dynamic currency conversion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic...ncy_conversion

When you return the car, tell the check-in agent that you have a billing issue. They'll give you a temp receipt to take to the rental counter. Go to the counter and tell them to bill you in USD and it shouldn't be a problem.

Currency Conversion
 

Based on your post, it seems that you went to the counter for your car hire. I travel quite often on business and see Dynamic currency conversion quite a bit. I also rent from Avis Budget and can tell you that when you go to the counter to rent and you have a credit card in a different currency they do ask. Perhaps you missed it. I know I often miss half of what they are saying simply because I am in a rush and not paying complete attention. I also looked at some of my rental agreements from past rentals and it is included in the details and we are asked to initial various parts of the agreement and to sign it. Since I do travel quite often I like the ability to pay in my own currency. Sure, the companies charge a fee but I am not aware of any offering by any company including my own bank or any credit card company: Visa, Mastercard, American Express or any currency exchange service: bureau de change, Travelex that offers this service for free. World currencies fluctuate on a daily basis much like the stock market. Companies need to charge a fee to cover their expense and any fluctuation in the market. I am fine with this because if they do not do it, the credit card company or my own bank will and they will charge me a fee. I prefer to know what that cost is up front and make the choice instead of finding out when my credit card decides to tell me what it is after I return. I can tell you that you should be mindful of the exchange rate before you agree or disagree. Like all businesses, there are good guys and bad guys. Most big companies like Avis provide good service because they are looking for you to continue to rent from them. This is more of a customer convienence service. If you do not want it, then simply say no. Since you say you were not asked or maybe you did not hear them (you did agree based on the agreement you sign at the counter) you can simply go into the office when you return the car and tell them you would like to be charged in US dollars instead of Saudi Riyal. They will change if for you as they have form me when I requested. If for any reason the person cannot, simply ask for a manager and they can do it no problem.

thanks

i will try, but i have checked the agreement and i discovered i was agree to this process sadly it is first time to happen to me.

thanks

i did the reservation in advance through orbitz.com in us dollar, the man in counter was very busy and hurry saying there is lot of jobs today, he didn't tell me at all about this but i signed to agree to the process as i checked the contracts after that, i know it was my mistake but i think he should tell me,

actually Saudi Riyals is linked to US dollar and the exchange rate are fixed for years, and my credit card bank is giving excellent exchange rate,i rented a car from tomorrow for ten days and i avoided Avis and i choose Advantage rent a car,no more Avis it's not only a matter of money is how they should deals with us.

feedback:

today i return the car and i went to avis counter complaining about what happened, they void the Previous contract and made new one and billed me with USD ,NEW CAR TODAY RENTED FROM ADVANTAGE and i told them bill me in USD.

What's really dishonest with AVIS is that they say on the rental agreement that "you have been given a choice of currencies and that you agreed to be invoiced in your home currency". Well if you book on their website, are a preferred, you go straight to your car and the first time you see anything is the contract in the car. They don't ask you when you're doing the booking, you aren't given any choice at any stage in the booking process and the only way to resolve it is to go back to the counter when you return the car. That deletes one of the main advantages of being preferred and requires you to add 15-20 minutes to your return time, whilst the agent figures out how to cancel the bill you never agreed to in the first place and bill you according to the rate you did agree to.
For heaven's sake if I am quoted a rate in USD, then bill me in USD. It shouldn't be that difficult!

100 % agree, it's annoying that they even rip-off their preferred customers like this. I don't care which insurances, extras and currency conversions they sell at the counter, but it's annoying for a regular customer.

Again, there's a historical for this: Until a few years ago, it would have cost you more to be billed in USD than in your home currency, because credit cards tended to charge for foreign currency, not foreign transactions.

That's when Avis instututed this and lots of people loved it.

The problem is that now many cards (but I don't know if all cards) charge for foreign transactions, not foreign currency (or else a few don't charge for either). So it's no longer any help to be billed in your home currency.

But Avis is known for their IT problems. So you have to contact them, and they have a special office where they do this. It took a few weeks when I requested it, and I got a call from special office to confirm that it was what I wanted.

But this is far from the only thing their IT system makes unfriendly. If you choose to decline insurance coverage, it's enormously difficult to include insurance coverage on particular booking. If you want to use one credit card for business and one for personal rentals, it's so difficult that people who want to do that have left Avis (or else use Avis only for personal and some other rental company for business, or vice versa)!

So all sorts of things that "shouldn't be that difficult" are indeed difficult at Avis.

Btw, I just watched an Undercover Boss episode about Norwegian Cruise Lines. The guy who's CEO there now bragged about his previous task being that he intergrated Avis and Budget into the Avis Budget Group. (Btw, they're so integrated that at Kansas City Airport the Avis WhereTo GPS directs you to the Budget entrance instead of the Avis entrance! And there are no signs at the Budget entrance pointing you to the Avis entrance, or vice versa. That's integrated??? :td:)

This very annoying issue was discussed before in this thread. I investigated with Avis and it seems that they (sneakily and unfairly) set all foreign credit cards used at US locations to DCC by default, and you have to opt out manually.

While possible, this is tedious and it's a very poor example of customer-friendiness.

The credit card I have to use for my car rentals (because it's the one with the insurance) still carries a 2.5% foreign currency fee, which I find quite high. But my experience shows that those 2.5% are still significantly less than what I end up paying if I accept the DCC exchange rates that Avis would like me to accept. :mad:

or you can use AMEX, there's no DCC with AMEX



You can ask CS to remove "signature on file" so that you have to sign the contract every time, Prefered will of course be pretty pointless then but...

This is exactly what annoys the H out of me. And it's even worse than described above, I have had three different Avis branches tell me on return that they can't change billing currency, it must be done before the rental. If it's a lot of money, and you are angry enough, you can get it back from Avis, but it's a nuisance.

This doesn't work as AVIS doesn't use the standard DCC facility of Mastercard or VISA, they rather convert the amount at some fantasy rate they make up on their own and charge any CC with it, ancluding AMEX.

I agree, most times it's a fairly small amount, couple of dollars or so, so I guess most of us can't be bothered. However if Avis are nickel-and-diming all their customers for a couple of dollars, that adds up to a significant amount. That's why I systematically claim it back. Indeed, the last time it happened to me at ATl, the Avis manager actually gave me a 10$ credit for the inconvenience. However I just wished they would change their practice and be honest.
As to going to the counter each time, what's the point in being "preferred" in that case? Don't Avis value my custom:D