Using Credit Cards in China - The Great CC Rip Off (dynamic currency conversion)
#1156
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,408
DCC now a shanghai pudong T2 arrivals duty free
just to let you know I got DCCed tonight at shanghai duty free. first time it has happened so might be new (no DCC four days. ago).
staff reluctant to cancel.
staff reluctant to cancel.
#1157
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Irvine CA & PEK
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Qantas Platinum, United S
Posts: 664
Yeh, DCC at shops and restaurants is so much worse than hotels.
Did you see which bank the terminal belongs to?
My experience with Shanghai is there are quite a lot of 银联 machines. They don't do DCC. If those are bank machines, which print slips with bank logos on the top, the chance of DCC is almost 90%. ICBC is the only bank which I can pretty sure it has no DCC, at least in Beijing and Tianjin. Whenever I see ICBC machines, I use my CSP. If it's BoC or others, I just use my Discover.
Did you see which bank the terminal belongs to?
My experience with Shanghai is there are quite a lot of 银联 machines. They don't do DCC. If those are bank machines, which print slips with bank logos on the top, the chance of DCC is almost 90%. ICBC is the only bank which I can pretty sure it has no DCC, at least in Beijing and Tianjin. Whenever I see ICBC machines, I use my CSP. If it's BoC or others, I just use my Discover.
#1158
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,804
My experience with Shanghai is there are quite a lot of 银联 machines. They don't do DCC. If those are bank machines, which print slips with bank logos on the top, the chance of DCC is almost 90%. ICBC is the only bank which I can pretty sure it has no DCC, at least in Beijing and Tianjin. Whenever I see ICBC machines, I use my CSP. If it's BoC or others, I just use my Discover.
#1159
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Irvine CA & PEK
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Qantas Platinum, United S
Posts: 664
It's so much an uphill battle for the cardholders. Using Discover in China is so much easier and worry-free. You may want to put a 银联 sticker on the card in case some merchants refuse to swipe because of the lack of 银联 logo.
#1160
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Irvine CA & PEK
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Qantas Platinum, United S
Posts: 664
Here is the list of hotels I've reviewed. All hotels located in China and listed in this list can turn DCC off. (If any hotel uses mandatory DCC, I will definitely give it a very harsh review)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/zyxlsy
Hope this helps.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/members-reviews/zyxlsy
Hope this helps.
#1161
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Irvine CA & PEK
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Qantas Platinum, United S
Posts: 664
Today I stepped into another mine field of CCB machines and got a pretty good result.
It was 胜博殿 at Parkview Green (侨福芳草地). I saw the CCB machine (haven't seen them for years), and tried my CSP. Got a slip with RMB denomination. The interesting thing is that in the bottom half of the slip, there is information about DCC, with rates and stuff, but the "[ ] Accept" is un-ticked.
During the process, I didn't get any thing on the keypad, not even the request for PIN, so I asked the cashier whether there were any options shown on his terminal screen. He told me the POS asks whether to use DCC, and he took the liberty and chose NO for me (smart guy). He seems to know things about foreign cards and DCC.
Anyway, this is the type of POS machines that quite "complies" with Visa rules. I feel (for the first time in China) that "I was given the choice of currency". No hitting-the-cancel-button-game! If the cashier can actually ask for the choice of DCC when prompted by the terminal (although a no-brainer one), it would earn an perfect score if this is a Visa rule test.
It was 胜博殿 at Parkview Green (侨福芳草地). I saw the CCB machine (haven't seen them for years), and tried my CSP. Got a slip with RMB denomination. The interesting thing is that in the bottom half of the slip, there is information about DCC, with rates and stuff, but the "[ ] Accept" is un-ticked.
During the process, I didn't get any thing on the keypad, not even the request for PIN, so I asked the cashier whether there were any options shown on his terminal screen. He told me the POS asks whether to use DCC, and he took the liberty and chose NO for me (smart guy). He seems to know things about foreign cards and DCC.
Anyway, this is the type of POS machines that quite "complies" with Visa rules. I feel (for the first time in China) that "I was given the choice of currency". No hitting-the-cancel-button-game! If the cashier can actually ask for the choice of DCC when prompted by the terminal (although a no-brainer one), it would earn an perfect score if this is a Visa rule test.
#1162
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,804
Please continue discussion in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...er-thread.html