Do you specify that you want to be charged in local currency from the beginning of the transaction? Most of us here try to pull out all the stops to prevent DCC from occurring at the point of sale. Only when everything fails with the merchant do we initiative the chargeback. Finally, what are the implications of signing the receipt as "Local currency only" vs. providing your signature and writing "local option not offered" elsewhere on the receipt while crossing out the DCC amount?

I do wonder how common DCC actually is. I've been in London for two days and I've had three Visa transactions where Amex wasn't accepted. Haven't even been offered DCC yet.

Not very common in the UK based on my experiences there.
In some places they have also tried to surcharge for CC use so I have some £ ready whenever I am there.

It highly depends on the country. The worst offenders universally seem to be department stores and duty free shops. International hotel chains commonly impose DCC in certain geographies but not in others. In places where DCC has spread like the plague (Mainland China), expect to find it at every corner. I've heard through others it's nearly as bad in Ireland and Poland.

Some hotels in the UK (Marriott) will DCC you and claim there is no way around it. I have never used anything but an AmEx in the UK for hotels, so I haven't encountered DCC. It will also happen at upscale department stores such as Harrods, but you can specify pound sterling in advance and avoid DCC. Back in late 2011 I remember charging a bunch of things on a Chase Visa and not seeing any DCC charges. I charged at: SIM card vending machine at LHR, Heathrow Express, Kensington Palace, Wagamama Tower of London, London Eye, Sainsbury's, Tower of London, Hiba Express, St Paul's Cathedral, McDonald's, and Harrods at LHR x 2. That trip we stayed at the Grosvenor House on points, so I wasn't able to test DCC at a Marriott property.

In February my wife, a friend, and I were in Barcelona, and he got hit with DCC at a souvenir shop near Parc Güell. Hotel Arts made mention of DCC on its receipt but I watched what I was signing at check-in as well as upon departure like a hawk and made sure that the bill was in euros instead of USD. El Corte Inglés also supposedly uses DCC, but they can disable it if you ask them to want to pay in euros. I didn't buy anything from ECI this trip, so no data points there.

In March 2013 I spent about 30 days in a combination of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. I made many purchases at restaurants and hotels, and I was only unwillingly hit with DCC at the Frankfurt Marriott. I sent a complaint to the general manager who more than made up for it with a equivalent amount of Marriott Rewards points. ^ I've heard that Starwood properties in Germany are also notorious for DCC, but I only stayed at the Sheraton at FRA and paid in a combination of euros and my AmEx. (I don't like using my Chase Marriott card at Starwood properties. :D)

In the seven trips to Australia over the last four years I've only seen DCC at a coffee shop in a mall in Brisbane and at the duty free store at the Brisbane airport. This is across multiple hotels, restaurants, fast food chains, supermarkets, convenience stores, tickets for tourist attractions, etc.

In Taiwan, HK, and Macau DCC is relatively common, but in most cases it's easy to avoid. I was unwillingly hit with DCC at the Venetian Macau, but I was able to opt out of DCC elsewhere. In Taiwan you'll usually see DCC at hotels and department stores, but they will always give you an option. In HK and Macau you need to specify more proactively or you will get ripped off. I've heard Singapore and Thailand mirror the experience in Taiwan, but I have yet to visit either country. I didn't see any signs of DCC in Japan, but I have few data points as it's mostly a cash economy.

I have not yet visited Ireland, Poland, or Mainland China, but these seem to be the worst offenders. In Ireland and Poland even small purchases like Burger King or cafes will hit you with DCC. Since the purchase amount is so small, you'll fall victim to DCC without even being able to deface a receipt or say "local option not offered". China is by far the worst with lots of non-compliant POS terminals and DCC at every turn.

Is a CC surcharge legal there? I know it is in Australia but it's rarely charged and I've never come across it anywhere else.

I don't approve of a CC surcharge, but it's more honest than DCC. OT, but at the moment Virgin and Jetstar are being taken on by the regulator in Australia for being sneaky about the CC charge.

Grey area...but I think airlines do it (Ryanair in UK?)?

I'm with you on that. I don't like surcharges, but I can live with them as long as they're used to recover fees only. The reason I don't approve of DCC is the way it's implemented almost 100% of the time doesn't conform to the rules established by Visa and MasterCard. People don't understand that they're being ripped off, or there would be far more outrage. DCC rarely provides a better rate, and it doesn't avoid foreign transaction fees on cards. However, if merchants universally provided the exchange rate quote and allowed customers to choose freely each and every time, I would have less of a problem with DCC. (I'd still have a problem because most people would be ignorant of the exchange rate or think it's "cool" that they can pay in their home currency.)

Majuki - same. The vigilantism behind this thread owes much the underhandedness and cynicism behind these DCC perpatators' activities.

Plus that of Visa/MC Int'l (not care, boost merchant acceptance and turnover) and vested interests like the Chinese state (do nothing to curb non-compliance, boost their home-grown alternative)

Yeah it never was before (Harrod's is the only place I can ever remember it being offered and declining was easy) but for some reason I had got the impression it had became rampant over the last year or two. I used my Visa at H&M, Clarie's, and some bubble tea place all without DCC offered. I was surprised Claire's didn't take Amex. H&M I knew thanks to reclusive, but it is still strange. All my other credit purchases have been Amex. No DCC and according to reclusive - it is actually cheaper for the merchants.

A good analogy is the body scanner controversy in the US compared to Canada. Compare the way things are handled between the TSA in the US and CATSA in Canada. In the US, most airports use MMW scanners as a primary screening device to clear passengers. In Canada, use of the MMW is random and mostly in the transborder terminals for flights to the US to placate the US. Think of being selected for the body scanner as being confronted with DCC. In the US, the TSA rarely informs you of the option to opt out and receive a pat down. CATSA is required to disclose the options available to you and allow you to decide between using the body scanner and a pat down. In the US, many acquiesce to the body scanners and don't know that a pat down is an option. In Canada, the opt out rate tends to be higher. Furthermore, in the US there are sometimes comments TSOs make to discourage you from opting out. "It's going to take a really long time to find someone to do the pat down." "The pat down is invasive vs. this." It's similar to how some merchants/POS systems/ATMs make it seem like the world will end if you don't accept the DCC exchange rate. "Lock in the exchange rate of xxx/yyy right now. Warning! By declining this option you will be subject to an unknown exchange rate by the network processing the transaction, and we won't be able to help you!"

I would be able to live with DCC if all transactions were to abide by the following rules:

• Having the cashier inform the customer of the option to pay in local or the card's issued currency
• Showing the customer the offered exchange rate should the customer accept DCC
• Demonstrating to the customer the steps necessary to opt in to DCC (currently DCC is greatly biased toward an opt-out process and is usually the default option; with the "ideal" DCC I would have the default be to opt out)
• Confirming the currency choice to the customer
• Not trying to coerce or influence the customer into accepting DCC
• Handing the customer a final receipt that confirms the total amount and denomination charged (no quote slips or tick boxes allowed on the final receipt)

This way most people who don't know about DCC would probably not opt in. Those who really want to use DCC still have the option of doing so.

Well, AmEx doesn't support DCC - not yet anyway! - so your sample size is small with the Visa. Not having DCC at those merchants doesn't surprise me. I think the only places running the DCC scam in the UK are Harrods, Marriott properties, and some other high end stores. At Harrods it's easy to opt out. At Marriott it's like pulling teeth.

Actually if Apple can do it, wouldn't it be too hard for Visa and MC to certify the firmware used in each DCC processor's implementation and only accept DCC transactions from terminals with certified firmware?

An unauthorised firmware that always DCC should be banned from a system under such a system, just like MDM software stopping jailbreaks?

I think it is technically feasible. However, Visa and MC couldn't be arsed to do it I suspect - bad for their business. They just want the antitrust immunity whilst boosting their top line as much as possible - they don't give a rat's arse about the cardholders.

Claires doesn't take Amex in some stores but does in others here. It's a bit of a mystery but I'm guessing some of them are probably franchises.

I've never been to Marriotts in UK, and this July when I will be in London I will stay at the IC. Just being curious, how difficult it is to opt-out DCC at Marriott properties in UK? Is it even harder than China, where you have to inform the experienced front desk agent to press the cancel button?

I don't know enough about the payment protocol between the point of sale equipment and the acquirer, but even if it is technically feasible I suspect you're right about Visa and MC being reluctant to enforce proper DCC for the above reason. Think about how it used to be in the US where card issuers would build in the 1% interchange fee making things more nebulous. It took a lawsuit to stop that. Unfortunately DCC is rare enough in the US - I think there was one complaint in Florida about Avis - where we would need enough foreign cardholders getting ripped off here in order for there to be any movement. I believe it took a lawsuit in Taiwan as well before terminals there became compliant.

It's pretty bad from what I've read. I can't cite any recent FlyerTalk examples that I've found here, but I know it happens. For instance, it happened to me at the Frankfurt Marriott, and I was livid in my comments to the general manager of the hotel. Specify clearly at check-in that you want to be billed in pound sterling, watch any authorizations or receipts that you sign like a hawk, refuse to sign anything other than rates quoting GBP at check-in, and deface any receipts at check-out if they've been naughty and take photos of the defaced receipts. Finally try your best to get them to avoid DCC upon checkout with the knowledge that if they refuse you will be disputing the charge. When you get home, request a Reason Code 76 chargeback if you used Visa or Reason Code 4846 chargeback if you used a MasterCard.

Thanks. I do have a reservation at Renaissance Art de Triomphe. Will report back in the mid July.

As an aside, some issuers still do this. My Simple debit card didn't separately break out the 1% they pass on from Visa when I used it to buy a high-speed rail ticket in Taiwan (apparently my EasyCard would've been fine for non-reserved seating but I wanted a reserved seat and Taoyuan to Taipei isn't really all that much). Neither, apparently, does my Barclaycard Ring- I never see a separate foreign transaction fee for any of my international transactions.

Oh, I wasn't commenting about getting the reserved vs. non-reserved ticket. We always do reserved too, but in a pinch you can use the EasyCard if you don't want to wait for the next train. Even then the cadence is at most every 30 minutes, so you're not waiting too long. The Taiwan HSR stations are well equipped and not a bad place to spend some time getting a bite to eat. ^

I really thought all banks break out the 1% now? I guess that's not the case. I know that Fidelity stopped charging it because I compare a foreign withdrawal to the Visa exchange rate on the posting date of the transaction, and it matches exactly.

I would pay money for a wallet-sized booklet with instructions to the cashier on declining DCC in multiple countries and languages.

No use. In some countries (e.g. China), you just can't. Not even with the most helpful of cashiers and staff. The terminal is set to DCC even if you take it down to its components.

You don't need a Berlitz Phrasebook on "Please charge me in your local currency", you need a chip reprogramming handbook. And a solder iron.

Or a hammer. :p

Are there any other places where there are hard-coded non-compliant terminals even with a willing cashier? I know in Ireland and Poland you can get screwed, but I think this is more of an artifact of everybody knowing what's up but deciding not to be helpful.

My understanding of DCC in China is that nearly all terminals are beatable. The bad part is they all have their uniquely different ways to turn DCC off, and all of the ways are totally NOT straightforward. In no way a human being can intuitively figure out how to do that unless someone teaches the how-to.

Some terminals require the "cancel-button" trick, and some terminals have a menu of settings which is guarded by passwords only known to the banks. So unless you are sure how to do that on a particular terminal, there is no way you can do that just by telling the cashier you want to be charged CNY...

However, ICBC terminals in Beijing really don't have DCC at all. So if you see ICBC terminals (which produce slips with ICBC “中国工商银行" on the top), just swipe your Visa/MC as many times as you want.

About the situation in Ireland, is it like China that you have to know the trick to turn DCC off, or is it straightforward like Singapore and HK but the cashiers guard the keypad so they force DCC on you by not letting you key-in your choice?

I can't comment on Ireland from firsthand experience, but many have complained about even places like Burger King doing DCC. I doubt Burger King would even use signature verification on a small purchase. (I found that McDonald's in Australia does though. With their changeover to PIN, it always creates a mad scramble to find a pen for me to sign the receipt.)

If we end up going to Xiamen, I'll keep a lookout for the various credit card terminals and follow some of the best practices here. I can let my spouse do most of the talking. 我說中文不好。:D

I will say this about Ireland. The situation has improved somewhat over a couple of decades ago when Ireland essentially introduced this cancer to the travelling world. In most cases, now, merchants ask if you wish to pay in dollars (assuming you have a USA denominated card) or euro. Sometimes, people ask which is better and I've heard clerk respond with things like well you can lock in the rate. But for the most part, they do ask today (and of course there is not a big language problem in Ireland with residents from the USA or actually there might be).

I brought up the Burger King thing from a few years ago. Now I don't know if this was a corporte policy. The so called manager was a year or two older than the clerk. Neither wa Irish. One seemed to be from Rumania and her English was not all that great (remember eu regulations mandate that any citizen of the eu can work in any other eu country, something you see more and more in Ireland and England causing language problems even for people such as myself totally fluent in English; they're not). In any event, she said when I said that pulling the dcc scam was contrary to mc regulations, she answered me maybe in the USA but not in Ireland. Of course she was some low level stooge who probably didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.

But like I said, that was really an exception. Ireland had received a lot of bad publicity about this and I sense the Irish Tourst Board has had something to say about this.

Never been to Xiamen myself. My wife says it is a good city.

When making small purchases, I suggest just use Amex or cash to avoid the hassle. The loss in points and miles are really small.

When making large purchases, like in a hotel or something, just request repeatedly about turning-off DCC, and prepare to do a chargeback if it doesn't work out~ Only these large transactions are worth the extra work.

Are there any articles that you could cite? I'm just wondering where the bad publicity has been other than a few disgruntled people on traveler forums.

It's not about the miles or points. It's about contesting the scam that is DCC. The fights aren't about the miles, points, or small absolute value of the DCC scalp. It's about creating a hassle for banks and/or the merchants each and every time they don't follow Visa/MC policy.

So much as I suspected, the dcc scam pulled on me in Germany was quickly resolved by Bank of America. The charge was for €7.47 which according to Oanda.com when converted to USD on the next business day should have been $10.19. Instead the piece of slime merchant billed me in USD for $10.76 a difference of 56¢. I know many here will say what's the big deal but it's the principle of the matter. I was not given a choice in the conversion as the merchant never gave me a charge slip to sign and the statement on the charge slip you are supposed to sign starts out by saying I accept that I have been offered a choice of currencies for payment...I surely wasn't.

In any event, I wanted it charged back to the merchant but much as I suspected would happen if though the disputes person I spoke to had no idea of what I was talking about, they gave me a 57¢ credit.

No wonder this scam is allowed to continue. Nobody wants to punish the merchants who pull this garbage.

This is why I suggest we stick to the technical terms instead of a regular dispute. Say you want a Reason Code 76 chargeback for Visa or Reason Code 1846 chargeback for MasterCard. You can calculate the exact amount of the markup from Visa or MasterCard directly based on the date the transaction posted and any FTF fee your card levies. (I assume everybody on here is using 0% FTF cards.)

I don't dispute what you said but the people I spoke to at disputes today (maybe they only have novices in on Sundays) really had no idea of what I was talking about. Did I make the charge? Absotively. Does the merchant deserve €7.47? Yes even though I didn't sign anything.

I do agree with those here who say it's visa/mc's fault for allowing this scam in the first place. How to make visa/mc get off their collective rear ends and end this garbage once and for all.

Your questions didn't continue...

Did you make the charge? Yes.

Does the merchant deserve €7.47? Yes.

Did the merchant charge you €7.47? No. You were overcharged, and the transaction occurred in a currency you didn't agree to use.

You need to start saying exactly what happened. The merchant overcharged you. Even if the customer service rep doesn't understand chargeback codes or DCC, the person will understand, "The merchant overcharged me." Now, the credit card company may choose to absorb the loss, which is fine with me. I'm hoping with enough calls they'd finally look into it. This is why I relish being able to dispute a large transaction where I was forced into DCC because the bank will be forced into a chargeback situation.

But really what jeffjaguar did is the next best thing to chargeback - educate issuers to learn about DCC and fight it at the Visa/MC international level.

It's difficult to do when you're dealing with some low-level customer service rep, possibly in an overseas call center, and trying to educate that person on DCC. The management probably provides them with a flowchart about disputes. This is why I was saying to state that he was overcharged, which is true.

So, I googled "Reason Code 76" and up popped a link to an entertaining publication titled: Chargeback Management Guidelines for VISA Merchants (2014). RC 76 is covered on pages 67-68, which includes the following advice to the merchant owner/manager: "If your outlet is actively involved in the offering of DCC to cardholders, ensure all sales staff know how to correctly offer this service...It is also essential that employees know how they can reverse a transaction."

JJ - at the conversion rate you cited, I make that extra $0.57 a DCC penalty of 5.59% on the correct amount - pretty sizable.

Well I suppose such "I (BoA) can't be bothered to deal with it properly" ex-gratia payments go into some exception report. Once the payments get frequent enough and large enough I am hoping someone at BoA will take a fire axe to swing at Visa.

Yep. I've linked to both the Visa and MasterCard chargeback manuals in the wiki for this thread under the heading "I got duped by DCC already before I found this thread. Is there anything I can do?"

That's my hope too. I do think they will take notice after enough people are calling in with the same complaint. The best satisfaction, however, is still sticking an unscrupulous merchant with the paperwork of a chargeback for forcing DCC upon you. I think they'd learn faster than a large issuer.

Personally, I think the hopes expressed here are in vain. Too many people, as a matter of fact the majority of Americans (not FTers) are very very naive about travel and a whole lot that goes with it. After all our country is so big that you can travel thousands of miles and still be in the USA. So many are shocked that at their first stop say in Europe or even in Canada, people don't want US dollars (well many Canadians do but that's another story) and all the other horror stores. How daare they use euro? And when the merchant says the price is €7.37 but that's equivalent to $10.76 and I will write the charge up for $10.76 so you'll know just how much it costs, the naive American jumps at it and says, would you do that. Or if the person understands that nobody usually gives you something for nothing, you are told trust me it's a better rte than the bank will give you. Naive American believes it.

I'll give you an analogy. It was 43 years ago during my first visit to Italy. I went to a newstand to pick up the Herald Tribune. It cost 180 Italian Lire. I handed over 2 100 lira coins and was given 2 pieces of bubble gum. Boy how nice these people are, I thought. You buy a newspapers and they give you a gift. Then it suddently dawned on me. Where was my 20 lire? I asked and the person pointed at the bubble gum.

You live and learn.

20 days ago I ran up a 720,000 dong taxi bill in Danang to eat at the InterContinental Sun Peninsula. I paid 500,000d on the way there. I didn't have the change and my Missus was running to our own hotel's reception after we we dropped off. I figured why bother and gave the guy another 500,000 dong bill inside the car (no lights). He gave me two bills and sped off.

I thought one was a 200,000 dong and another 100,000 dong . Of course not...when I trying to pay the next cabbie I realised I only got two 20,000d notes...I've been shortchanged 240,000 dong .

I started breaking big notes (you only get big notes at bank ATMs) like a crazed maniac and started exact changing all cabbies thereafter.

(This is on top of a Vietnam cabbie in our first trip who had a 145,000 dong (US$7) per 200m meter which we flagged off the street in 2008...we've been having hotel doormen and restaurants flag us cabs ever since).

DCC isn't something that affects only US cards. It affects a UK issued card in Ireland or euro area issued card in Poland or HK issued card in China. I have no problem with people paying dearly for their ignorance. If you don't know what the EUR/USD exchange rate is and get duped into accepting DCC plus use your 3% FTF card, it's your own fault. Getting shortchanged in a taxi? Again, it's not limited to Americans, but it is your own fault.

Nobody likes to feel cheated, even if the person allowed himself to get cheated. Creating a similar mentality for the naive travelers will go a long way to help our cause. I've educated a few people in this category asking how they felt paying a total of 5-8% more for their items when using a card than I did (FTF + DCC). I then educate them on which 0% FTF cards are available and then how to avoid DCC. People aren't mad about the small amount, but they're upset because they feel like the merchant pulled a fast one on them.

In the future you better believe they'll be hypervigilant about making sure they're charged in local currency just like you now make sure you get proper change or that the meter is displaying the correct tariff.

I'll stick with Americans because I know how naive so many are (I don't mean to exclude any travellers from that category) but believe me, many many if not most don't have a clue about these things. Can't comprehend why they don't take dollars (or have it hammered into their heads the dollar is king) or think when they see the rate on the windows of a cash exchange that the $/€ rate is $1.50 = €1 that is the "official" rate when in reality the interbank rate is $1.35 = €1 and so when in a dcc transaction even if they suspect something isn't right (rarely) and the merchant tells them the rate being used is $1.45 = €1, they are getting a great rate (of course many are stupid enough to use cas they acquire at home or exchange places and not use credit cards). Look at how many continue to use credit cards with foreign transaction fees when there are many free cards available without this fee. Again I am talking about Americans hwere because they are the people I have the most contact with. I'm not exluding other nationalities from this stupidity or the suseptibility to being ripped off.

But it is probably more likely to occur with Americans because of all the brainwashing that goes on.