The only country where DCC was a better deal was in Kazakastan. In China DCC has reduced. In India DCC has become very bad now. In Turkey I did not face a problem. In known problem places I use Amex. From next month my employer is making it mandatory to use their credit card so I will care two hoots for DCC. But their card is Visa and that will be a limitation in China.

How is DCC a better deal if you have a 0% card unless the spread was far below the Visa/MC rate? Would you say India is worse than China now in terms of how common DCC is or inability to offer a 'choice' of currencies?

I wouldn't be as inclined to fight DCC if required to use a Visa in known forced DCC situations - think Greyhound Cafe in HK - but if the opt-out isn't hard I would still choose local currency to avoid actively participating in perpetuating the DCC scam. I've only had one employer that required use of a corporate card. Since that was an AmEx, DCC wasn't an issue.

Put it this way - will any employer penalise an employee on business travel for accepting DCC? Can't imagine any...

It may matter on the margins if your employer has maximum daily limits for stuff like meals.

No, and this is a stated 'benefit' of DCC, reconciling expense reports in one's own currency. However, if the DCC opt-out is easy, I'd prefer to be billed in local currency simply because I don't want to be willingly complicit in furthering the scam.

Just an agency problem then in this case - if it's a business expense where we are points-neutral we won't fight it. If it's our own money the merchant better be prepared for a lot of arm waving for DCCing any of us.

Whoops, I thought Japan was a participating country, and egged my barista to accept or at least try my recently-reissued Starbucks HK card, and she kept shaking her head. And the POS kept beeping.

Just experienced DCC in Mexico, from American Airlines
 

Had some issues with incompetent agents at SLP (wanted to use 500 mi certs for a companion, they said not possible and made us pay. Would not even downgrade to coach to issue boarding pass, but I digress).

Anyway, they charged 1020 MXN for two 500 mi certs. I gave them my card, and a few minutes later got back a receipt with DCC. Told them that I wanted to pay in Pesos, and was upset they never asked me if I wanted to pay USD. Said that I would not sign unless they fixed the issue, and they claimed it was not possible. Needless to say I had to sign to get my companion's boarding pass, but I did not tick the box. Also have picture of receipt.

Of all places, would not have expected in Mexico let alone from an AA Agent! :td:

Did it mention the DCC surcharge? Was it a standard receipt issued on an AA cardstock ticket or a credit card style receipt with the DCC verbiage? I know in certain cases - the arrivals lounge at LHR comes to mind - AA charges in US but it's not DCC. I'm wondering if the same thing happened here?

I just got a corporate visa travel card. I am done dealing with DCC. I lose out on my 3% Sams cash back, but I am not going to sweat out on DCC. If US corporations want to do something let them figure it out. I think as the scam grows in size there will be big penalties from FTC or class action suits. I expect Europeans to strike first because their citizens are ripped off when they come to the US through DCC.

A first one for me:

I thought Indonesia was DCC-free by law, but on my recent trip there, I got asked at the hotel if I want to pay by Rupiah or my own currency - I chose Rupiah, and it was all fine, so I don't have a problem with that kind of DCC, but it's a new one for me that Indonesian terminals are now having DCC enabled..

(Also, their ATMs sucked and wouldn't work with my Fee-free Visa.. luckily had enough cash to exchange with me..)

I've mentioned my experiences a few times up-thread. I've been travelling down to Mexico City for work frequently over the last couple of years, and have noticed a large increase in the instances of DCC all over the place.

I have come to learn that if the POS terminals are new and from Santander or BBVA, you are likely to be faced with DCC.

Understandable. I think companies were one of the primary reasons some places in China such as large hotels finally offered a DCC opt-out. However, I would still check the box for local currency whenever possible only for the reason that DCC scammers can't use the statistic, "Look! Our customers prefer this!" However, with no financial stake in the game, I certainly wouldn't spend the effort fighting forced DCC or doing chargebacks.

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment that Europeans are ripped off when they come to the US through DCC. My sister-in-law did many purchases at all sorts of tourist places and department stores and only faced DCC twice. Both times the DCC offer displayed on the signature pad, and the cashier offered no input over the process. The first time I was fumbling to get my phone out to take a picture for about 15-20 seconds, so the screen remained the same. Furthermore, we didn't see DCC at Macy's, Bloomingdale's, or Nordstrom. I'm not saying that the US is completely free of DCC because we saw some examples, but both times DCC was easily avoidable by those in the know. It's usually not like some other places where they just had the receipt DCC receipt, even if you tell them. I think the one case where someone couldn't avoid it was with an Avis car rental.

They gave me two receipts:

- I have an AA cardstock receipt with the charge in Pesos (no mention of DCC)
- Also have a standard receipt with typical DCC verbaige and the tick box stating "I agree...." along with the exchange rate and statement of 3% markup on the rate

The POS system was through Santander Bank just as FYI to other travelers. I travel to Mexico several times per year to visit family - have never seen this before and I use my cards a lot.

Thanks, good to know. Perhaps it is just starting to spread to smaller cities...