I won't go that far. My newest SOP is:

1. Tell the cashier to bill in [local currency] (speak deliberately slowly to emphasise the point). I don't care whatever the DCC offer is.

2. If the cashier still presents a DCC slip, tell them to

a. Void it and ask for a DCC-free slip

b. Ask the cashier for a reprinted slip (akin to Rainbow Lamma Island)/merchant courtesy copy (akin to Taj Exotica Maldives) to verify local currency billing has been selected

c. Void it and present Unionpay or Amex or cash (in descending order of preference)


One thing HK cardholders should be thanking the Mainland for (I admit we are at times ungrateful bxstards) is for Unionpay access. Unionpay ATMs beat V/M ATMs every time not only due to DCC-free but also lower fee structure.

Of course you don't get the same coverage as Plus/Maestro so I have a backup Mastro card in my travel wallet at all times.

I still bother with V/M outside HK due to 1. miles earn rates (V/M > Unionpay) and 2. holding deposits (HK Unionpays can't do this) and 3. card-not-present transactions (HK Unionpays can't do this).

I miss my HK$2.5/mile SCB AE, which I can use at suspected DCC locations without much procrastination...now the best HK AE only earns HK$4/mile.

Percy, you're even more hooked up on miles than I am :D

By the way, I'll be in HKG in May, care for a drink and some exchanging of DCC knowledge? :cool:

Well cash cost me fees. Even with the worst AE rates it'll still beat cash plus ATM fees (and the cost of having to exchange currency back if we overestimate the amount of cash needed).

This won't work in Argentina though, I'm forced to change into cash at the Blue Rate.

PM me closer to date. We might have another crack at a DCC-unavoidable merchant (Greyhound and/or Coyote).

This I'm quite surprised about. I would've thought there would be a bigger push for HK to go UnionPay by allowing the same things that people with mainland-issued cards can do. Holding deposits are a given, and for card not present, BEA up here has asked me if I want to allow card-not-present/Alipay transactions on my debit card (on the other hand, they suddenly turned off out-of-mainland withdrawals and required me to come to a branch in person to re-enable that function, so I'm a bit annoyed with them), as have a couple of others (Standard Chartered has the least annoying online payment procedure so I usually use their debit card for Chinese online purchases). Or is the issue on the merchant side?

By card not present I had two types of payments in mind - online payments and fax/mail/phone order payments.

Unionpay cannot perform fax/mail/phone. Even PRC-issued Unionpay cards cannot do that right?

We know PRC-issued Unionpay cards can be used online. But when we try our HK-issued Unionpay cards, we either get rejected or - there's a payment gateway operated by Unionpay - sometimes get accepted. But even on that Unionpay-operated gateway, the exchange rate is out of whack - I know a guy who got a ridiculous exchange rate on qatarairways.com with Unionpay (something like HK$16/GBP two months ago) and is still disputing with CCB HK.

Phone transactions are happening now. Kind of. I was given the option when purchasing a plane ticket with Juneyao and paying with my ICBC card. It's just a pain since it also involves a couple rounds of back and forth SMS to verify your info, and my attempt didn't work because it wouldn't accept my passport number when it asked for a Chinese ID number.

percy: my UnionPay credit card (not debit card) can pay by phone. I did that with China Southern Airlines.

The UnionPay portal can handle some online payments. It even has the ability to distinguish credit vs debit. They have different fee structure in China.

For getting cash, now I have this Schwab card which gives me the unbeatable Visa rates (UnionPay rates suck...) and much increased acceptance coverage. It charges no FTF and even rebates the ATM fees. The bad part is that I have to constantly moving some of my money in China to Schwab. My UnionPay debit cards charge no FTF, but don't rebate the ATM fees. Last time I compared in Korea, the UnionPay rates are 0.5% higher than Visa.

If you have a Citigold debit card issued in HK, can't you get the similar benefits like what I get from Schwab??? I thought banks in HK also like pampering big clients.

Currency code "CNX" with 4.54% markup (not CNY nor CNH)
 

http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=13819&p=4

Screenshot describes a thousand words. On the CNY transactions, applicable DBS HK Foreign Currency Conversion fee is 1.95% (so the applicable MasterCard rate is 1.2491, and the CNX rate is 2.545% above that).

http://www.hongkongcard.com/webedito...2037_27910.jpg

Is CNX some sort of new institutional scam V/M is letting Chinese online merchants get away with? Anyone else have CNX currency code?

What's HOLIDAY ZNN???

Probably related to Shanghai Hills Hotel

Ctrip also uses currency code "158"
 

Since this is also coming out of Ctrip online, 158 may be related to CNX (the official ISO 4217 currency code for Renminbi is "CNY" or the number 156).

http://www.hongkongcard.com/webedito...3926_72455.png

Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel

While waiting in line for check-in, I saw this familiar sign and knew I had to remain vigilant:

http://i.imgur.com/f0yUGUmt.jpg

I requested to be billed in HKD upon check-in, and the receptionist made a note of it on my account. I handed them my Chase Marriott Visa card, and they proceeded to do a PREAUTH with DCC. Of course, I can now maintain my composure knowing that the PREAUTH doesn't mean anything, and it's only the final charge upon checkout that matters.

I was given the option of checking out in the lounge on the 12th floor, but I decided I would be better able to resolve any potential DCC issues by checking out at the front desk. The receptionist had kindly circled HKD before handing me the receipt, having made note of my file. I then remembered the best practice that percysmith outlined of asking for a courtesy copy of the receipt. The receptionist was happy to oblige:

http://i.imgur.com/qe7nCttt.jpg

The DCC offer was at a 4.4% markup

The transaction posted on January 9th using the Visa exchange rate of 0.128966 USD/HKD, and the posted amount was $198.61.

Money saved by avoiding DCC: $8.77

Didn't the code CNX predate CNY?

I cannot find CNX online

Been in Vancouver for several days. Good to see that DCC is quite non-existent here.

Interestingly, guys north of the border have fully adopted the chip and pin system.

One bad thing is that now you have to type the tip amount on the pad, and their 15% suggestion is always calculated using after-tax amount.

O-H-I-O!