Originally Posted by Sintaku (Post 27411931)

Also an interesting data point today. I paid went back to the same hotel which charged me in USD even though I requested INR. This time I got the same choice slip, but the lady was playing with the card machine as I was signing and choosing INR and then out popped a really long slip. Which showed that she had billed me in INR, she pointed at it and said she had charged me in INR.

So it seems there is a bit of fiddling to be done to get charged in local currency. I believe it was HDFC bank.

I'm heading to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Japan and Australia over next two months so I'll let you know how DCC is at those places. I doubt there will be much DCC at my Maldives hotel because they charge everything in dollars as their standard.

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 27412341)

No DCC is possible in the Maldives if you have a USD denominated card. It will process USD natively.

Did the receipt have the thermal X check on INR something like:

[ ] USD
[X] INR

Originally Posted by percysmith (Post 27412529)

Majuki shoot I forgot Maldives is USD and you can't DCC a card of your own currency...

Originally Posted by Sintaku (Post 27419450)

Actually they have MVR but the hotels all charge in USD, I only noticed MVR because I was looking for a sim card since Project Fi doesn't provide coverage in Maldives.

Originally Posted by lamphs (Post 27382580)

Has anyone had any success with challenging an 'overcharge' with the card issuer. Both recent cases for me (last two weeks)...

1) Barclay's Arrival + - Thailand - an elephant 'rescue' - made a gift shop purchase; was advised there was going to be a fee; my purchase, in Thai Baht, included the aforementioned fee. Then the credit card was charged in Baht, but converted to USD, at a poor exchange rate. I was not given the choice of Baht vs. USD - the staff just did it. And I signed the receipt, shame on me, and then read the fine print indicating that I CHOSE this method of payment, which I did not. Questioning it, the previously communicative staff, in English, suddenly became mute. I e-mailed the manager of the park, who has insisted, including on TripAdvisor, that it ALWAYS charges in Baht. My credit card statement indicates otherwise.

2) Chase UA Club - Poland - a reputable restaurant. Placed my order and handed her the card for payment. I was not asked what currency I preferred, I did not insert the card myself and chose a currency, I did not sign a receipt nor did I enter a PIN. The entre transaction took place before I even thought about it. Same fine print on the receipt...'I accept that I have been offered a choice of currencies...'. That is clearly not the case. I asked, but the rather young staff told me that this is how they are told to process credit card transactions. I am going to dispute this charge.

(Note that in the grocery store last night, in Krakow, the cashier, I quote, 'Zloty, correct, it is cheaper for you', so these establishments know exactly what they are doing.)

Originally Posted by lamphs (Post 27438066)

Resolved...sort of...

The difference between dealing with Barclays/MC and Chase/VISA was day and night. Barclays - person #1 had no idea what I was speaking of; put me on hold and conferred with person #2 - the answer was that there was no way of disputing the charge - 'it is what it is...the transaction was completed and it is the merchant's choice as to how to process the card'. Eventually spoke with person #3, who questioned why I would even be familiar with the MC reason code and she still would not accept the dispute. After pushing more, she asked me how much I thought the difference was between THB and USD. I estimated 5-8%. She told me to give her a number, and I did. She credited my card 'as a gesture of goodwill' for the number I gave her. She was not pleasant at all about it.

Chase - rep immediately knew what I was referring to (without providing a reason code); recognized the practice as being against VISA rules; and credited my account (two transactions). The entire call took less than 4 minutes.

Originally Posted by Duke787 (Post 27391024)

I've always gotten the Thai bank cartel fee refunded (in addition to any other standard ATM fees) when withdrawing with my Schwab debit card in Thailand.

I wasn't expecting it the first time, but it's always appeared.

Originally Posted by Majuki (Post 27438585)

I think enough of us on here have raised complaints with Chase that they now know. For Barclaycard, that would be enough for be to cancel the card on principle (after getting the credit). I would definitely encourage you to file a complaint with MasterCard not only for the merchant (if it requires a selection perhaps select the one about the merchant adding a surcharge) but also the card issuer. I would say that Barclaycard was adversarial in your interactions and could benefit from some remedial training on the issue. While I haven't raised a complaint with the network about a card issuer, I did raise a complaint about a merchant requiring ID for a properly signed MasterCard as a condition of card acceptance. Within two weeks the signs/ID requests went away at that merchant.

Originally Posted by oliver2002 (Post 27445325)

Paid with my CSR at the LeMeridien last week and encountered DCC. Luckily the agent asked me what currency I would like to be charged in a pushed the right button. ^