Costa Coffee being as high-end as it is, that kinda surprises me. I was going to say I remember using my Bluebird to pay at one just fine, but that was in China.

Speaking of which, it's starting to worry me that my only no-FTF AmEx is a Bluebird card. On the other hand, I don't want to change my Costco card or apply for a new AmEx CC. I wish issuers in the US did multi-currency cards like in China- if I could get a card that was coded in US$/C$/€/£/JP¥/etc at once this wouldn't be such a pain. ICBC offers a ten-currency MC but they won't let me convert my single-currency UnionPay CC- I have to apply for a new one and I know exactly how well that'll go over without solid proof of income in China. The other problem is that their rewards scheme sucks.

I'm wondering: Does DCC pop up when card holders from the USA, Panama, Bermuda and the Bahamas use their cards in each of these other countries? Or is the system smart enough to automatically not DCC because everyone knows the four currencies are actually the same, pegged 1:1.?

I experienced a new breed of DCC upon checking out of my hotel in Shenzhen last week. When I review my expenses later today, I will try to send images to Percy Smith so he can sanitize and post here.

But, here's the quick summary:

1) acquiring bank = 建行
2) hotel = Green Tree Alliance, Sea World
3) the charge was presented to me in CNY (i.e. no USD option at all)
4) AFTER signing, I was given a second receipt advising me that DCC had been offered (and accepted!)
5) the amount that posted initially was based on Visa's (good) fx rate, but 3 days later this was replaced with a new amount based on 建行's exchange rate (3.1% mark up)

This was really easy to fix with my bank because the non-DCC amount was tracked in their system.

Reading a DCC manual for merchants - looks quite compliant and warns of card association audit http://www.elavon.ie/welcome/~/media...g%20Manual.pdf

Does anyone run DCC in Panama, Bermuda or the Bahamas? Quick Google search suggests no DCC providers in those places yet (but a Bahamas CC can be DCCed by Elavon per its manual).

Also what currency do their credit card terminals use? Local currency or USD (like Cambodia)?

Loosely tied currencies like MOP-HKD, HKD-USD certainly can and frequently will be DCCed, but they're not a 1:1 link.

This is a pretty good one! Says heaps about this bank's ethics.

I haven't heard reports of DCC being common in those locations, but you never know. It happens in Macau for HK issued credit cards, and the Pataca is a fixed exchanged rate with HKD (1 HKD = 1.03 MOP). You can extrapolate to the USD:HKD exchange rate too since that is more or less pegged. There should be no reason to lock in the exchange rate because it's not going anywhere.

I imagine charges in such places would be subject to foreign transaction fees if the card has a FTF even if prices were denominated in USD. If a FTF will be levied anyway, why does it ever make sense to accept DCC? :D

I like how one of the first things the manual says is that it provides the cardholder with CHOICE. :p

hahahahahaha....

Benefits You...
• Reduced disputes and chargebacks

Cardholder Benefits...
• Very competitive exchange backed by Elavon’s Best Rate Guarantee, no “exchange rate surprises”
• Dual currencies printed on their card receipt
• Their card issuing bank should not apply any additional fees

Yes. I was simply amazed. I will try to email you pictures of both receipts during our 午休 (afternoon nap period) today.

Are you a foreigner working in China? How did you get your current ICBC card?

I am interested in this card too. I wonder whether they actually have 10 currencies, so you always are local when in different countries, or they just convert the other 9 currencies to say, USD without charging you the 1%.

Dude, you got the same thing I got a few months ago. I had a post about this, but I couldn't find it.

Anyway, it was a 建行 machines too. The amount was shown in CNY, and there is a un-ticked tick box under, with "Accepted" on the side. One would assume the DCC was not accepted, but it was.

But yours is more unique that DCC happens on the second slip. Mine was on the same slip, with rate, USD amount and everything in very small print at the bottom.

Don't forget, 建行 rhyme with the Chinese word ".....".

Also, I wouldn't try to use my foreign CC at 格林豪泰...

No. This was a complete first for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered posting here. While the fact that 建行 sucks has been well established, they've reached a new low in this case because they don't event bother to present the facade that a choice is available. By the way, I usually pay cash when staying at the GTA-Sea World, but since are no ATMs close by, and I had a flight to catch, I had to use my CC to settle the bill.

I guess I'm going to have to photograph all of the receipts if I make it to China. Wouldn't this be ripe territory for a chargeback since the merchant would be unable to produce a receipt that indicated anything except CNY had been charged?

It is, but that's assuming:

1. the cardholder complains about it
2. (if cardholder comes from burden-of-proof on cardholder jurisdiction like HK or Singapore) the cardholder has the foreknowledge to go photo a CCB slip even if no verbage is present, or go gets the signed slip back from the cashier for photo-taking
3. the issuer follows through on the chargeback instead of paying it out of pocket.

Certainly, if no local compliance audit from Visa/MC, CCB will be financially motivated to DCC with no opt-out and as much deceit as possible. CCB owes no loyalty to cardholders.

I rarely go the charge back route, but I did so in this case because I was shocked beyond belief.

Net result:

1) I gain $7 (at an opportunity cost of 30 minutes on the phone)
2) CCB spends $50 to sort things out
3) Merchant no longer has my money (they will get it eventually)
4) CCB is okay with the occasional $50 waste of time because very few people notice DCC, and even fewer are willing to make a stink out of $7

I don't care if it's 10 cents for 30 minutes, I will still dispute it. My hope is that once more people become aware of the DCC scam that more people will fight it. It's amusing to watch how people behave when they feel like they have gotten cheated. Most will go to great lengths to fight back even if it means giving up more than the dollar value in time, effort, and cost to do it.