Yup but I've seen clerks tell customers after they say that in whatever is the language of the day, "of course we bill you in euro (or whatever). The amount shown in your currency is just a convenience to help you understand approximately what it costs."

I am capable of unleashing a string of obscenities in a foreign language and taking on the ugly American role if necessary. I will call them out on it if they say it's just FYI. I always refuse to sign if not billed in local currency.

1. Generally with a thermal slip, if DCC is present, you can tell the cashier to take it back (latest example: BoC in Hainan http://flyformiles.flyday.hk/%e7%a2%...on%ef%bc%89-2/)

1a. If it a Harrods/Galleries Lafayette slip where the cashier said the only way to void it is to refund it, deface it "Option to charge in [GBP/EUR] not offered by merchant", photo, sign and charge back.

1b. Bank of China and other mainland banks have an insidious thermal slip that has the "Mark[X] Transaction Currency". Its a masterpiece of Chinese cynicism along the lines of "Serve the people" (= people keep out) at the door of Zhongnanhai - you've already been DCCed. Ask the cashier to void and do it without this language as it is useless (I did phone my bank in the latest instance I got this - but as a piece of counter-cynicism I suppose the rest of you can *pretend* to), escalate if they refuse, and make CNY, photo and sign if they don't.

2. I can't say the same with a carbon slip. I had a Westin Macau slip that charged me in MOP when I selected that. You can't really ask a thermal slip to skip the language. Besides chargeback is pretty easy.

How do you deal with hotels where there is a pre-authorization? One of the few times I got hit with DCC was at the Venetian Macau, but I had no idea it had happened until it was too late.

So with Harrod's and associated merchants it'll be an uphill battle to get them to avoid DCC? Do they not know how or are they simply unwilling to disable DCC?

Finally, from what you've indicated, you're screwed once you see the DCC quote slip in Mainland China. I don't know if HK or Macau are any better. As I've stated here before, I've always had the selection on the quote slip honored in Taiwan and have been successful in preempting the quote slip by asking to be charged in Taiwan dollars before the cashier runs the card.

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Majuki:

I had a DCC pre-auth in Taiwan too. The hotel involved was mai hotel Taipei Zhongshan, but on enquiry they said I can present a different card on departure and when I did, I asked for no DCC and it was charged correctly in TWD.

Harrods/GL cashiers have the option to avoid DCC, but harrods cashier forgot to ask once (our first transaction there of three or four), and neither harrods or gl can void a slip once issued (VIOR box ticking rules don't seem to apply in Visa Europe). So don't try to refund it, but deface the slip and dispute them.

HK and Macau are getting worse (see lcpteck and fortress, and moondog with coyote bar and grill for HK cases. I also remember a galaxy case in hongkomgcard.com). I suspect many are importing DCC firmware - one country one system

I've only had a "forced" DCC in Taiwan at the Novotel for the pre-authorization. I didn't put up too much of a fight because it was only a hold. Upon checkout I was able to pay in TWD.

I'll have to be vigilant this time around in HK and Macau. I usually use cash for small purchases in that part of the world, but I'm more worried about the reception at the hotel trying to pull a fast one on me. We're looking at Marriott properties in HK, and I haven't decided in Macau. The Courtyard HK didn't charge DCC in July 2011 but the Venetian in Macau did.

I really do not believe that Harrods does not have the ability to void a sales slip. What if a cashier punches in a wrong amount? There has to be provision for that. If it happened to me, if they gave me that lie, I would write local currency not offered and dispute the charge of course. But I would also write to the chairman of the board that I didn't believe that a sales cannot be voided; there has to be somebody in authority with the ability to do so. I resent being taken for a sucker.

I refuse to play into these games too. I've gotten burned too many times in the past. I don't buy into the line, "Oh, no no... that's just for your convenience. It will be charged the correct amount." It's equivalent to the rental car places where they say, "Oh, that's damage is small. Don't worry about it." Then you go to return the car and they try to blame you for the damage. People say I'm being paranoid with some of these things, but I like to cover my bases. It's no different with DCC.

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"I really do not believe that Harrods does not have the ability to void a sales slip. What if a cashier punches in a wrong amount?"

Refund. But harrods and gl can only do so in GBP and EUR respectively. Not in USD, HKD or your card currency

Absolute, utter nonsense. I'm not asking them for a refund, I'm asking them to void the transaction. Big big difference, btw. But it any event, that too is a bs answer. If they can charge in USD they can refund in USD. Just another of the lies merchants keep using on dcc. The reality is mc and visa should simply not allow it. Period. End of problem.

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I looked. I don't find any visa document that says terminal must have void button.

Today checked out of InterContinental Beichen in Beijing. The front desk person is new to the job and didn't know DCC, and the first Auth-Completion is DCCed. It shows "DCC Completion".

I asked for the manager, she ran the completion again. This time it shows "Auth Completion". The first completion was voided.

The machine is BoC. Now I've been 100% DCC-free at all hotels of Mainland China I've been to (around 30), in both cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

I've never had problems getting transactions voided (whether or not there is a void button).

Look. People make errors. Let's take dcc out of the equation for just a second. Clerks can enter a wrong amount (accidentally although it almost always seems not to be in favor of the customer. I wonder why). Common sense would suggest absolutely positively there has to be some kind of void mechanism to undo an error. MC/visa obviously does not have to put in their operating manual a way to void a transaction improperly done. Perhaps the clerk put in some other wrong information. Now I do understand that technology has soared well beyond what all these procedures were once written for. For example, a credit card transaction itself is now instantaneously transmitted to the acquirer, not batch deposited at the end of the day with the receipts for the day (I used to do that for a company decades ago). When DCC first started in Ireland, the merchants had two or more accounts set up for each currency they wished to dcc and deposited the slips directly into each account after manually applying the day's dcc rate they wished to rip their customers off with. Merchants used to have to at the very least enter a number representing the merchandise's code if not the price. Today in most cases a bar code is scanned either on the packing or on a price tag. But what if the price tag is missing? Provision has to be made to correct an error.

I am sorry. There is no way that Harrods or Galleries Lafayette have registers that are incapable of voiding a transaction. It may well need a supervisor's key or code or something to do so but it absolutely 100% guaranteed has to be there. The fact the transaction is written in USD should be irrelevent. The transaction is beind voided based on the transaction number on the sales slip. For reputable retailers such as Harrods and GL to pull this garbage is much beneath them and nothing will convince me they're simply too lazy to bring over a person to authorize a void.

Of course, it shouldn't come to this. The stores have no business even trying to pull the dcc SCAM and it is a scam on their customers in the first place.

moondog, jeffjaguar: I tried

In Harrods, I spoke to both a supervisor and a Harrods Black Card concierge. Both confirmed no HKD reversal http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...-currency.html

In GL, I even thucked youed the GL customer service rep to his face in front of my dotted line manager http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/franc...lafayette.html

All I got were apologies (Harrods) and advice to see my issuer bank (GL) (for which I thucked the rep).

Perhaps you need to see one of those POS terminals to believe it - it's one of those where the register spits out the sales invoice and card slip in the same thermal slip. There is no stand-alone card terminal (as commonly seen in HK/Macau/China).


Two other indicators that these terminals can run a refund only:

- at my first DCC at Harrods, I asked the junior cashier to void the whole slip and charge it again. She confirmed she can only refund the whole slip, then with my permission proceeded to so in GBP and recharge the whole purchase in GBP. All I achieved was to incur the GBP MC spread.

- on a subsequent purchase (no DCC) I bought seven items and very shortly returned one item. Instead of voiding the charge and replacing the invoice (as shops would in Hong Kong) I was given an additional slip for the refund of one item (and the card refund printed underneath).