3 bad oranges? :)

OTOH, Chase completed the charge back on What The PHO in Tuen Mun and they have re-run the charge in HKD.

Happened pretty quickly this time around.

Did you get the contact information of the CSR who helped you in the Greyhound Cafe case? Perhaps we could have a direct line to Chase in all things DCC. :D

I actually asked the CSR if he could give me that info, but he said he couldn't see who it was. I actually had the same thought.

12 EUR payment at a cafe at dublin airport:
I received no choice to pay in EUR or USD, bill said 14 something USD. I told them to cancel it and recharge in EUR. He refunded and tried to charge in EUR, but they couldn't make this work so I had to go with USD charge.
However, I saw later that they did the refund in EUR for the USD amount (14 instead of 12), so actually I was better off.
Kind of funny that they can't charge in EUR, but they can refund in EUR

Trips this month

Sydney and Brisbane (not using my AUD cards due to exchange rate): DCC exclusively encountered on ANZ chip and pin terminals, press CLR to avoid.

Wakayama (Kansai), Japan: I don't think we were asked to charge in HKD throughout the whole trip.

Seoul: Lotte supermarket offered a choice on the signature pad, very clear. Two upmarket restaurants also offered a choice, one also on the pad and another one by operator input (the waitresa came back to specifically take our selection).

DCC'D in Delhi
 

So, I stayed at a Hyatt (ITC Maurya) in New Delhi. I made clear while checkout that I will only pay in the local currency. I got the USD choice. I asked to rerun, the employee said, there is a problem with the system. Anyway, I checked rupee option on my credit card slip. But on my statement it shows USD. I have never done a "chargeback". It is a Sams Synchrony Master Card. How do I do go about doing this?

Call customer service and file a dispute about a transaction. When they ask which transaction and the reason say that you were refused the option of paying in the local currency and want to do a chargeback based on an incorrect currency transaction code.

Just checked out of IC Ruijin in Shanghai. Two years ago if you wanted to avoid DCC there, they had to use another terminal which would cause problems with IHG MC's 5X points.

Now they can just select the currency in their system and send the correct currency and amount to the terminal/pad.

Neat!

BTW, it is a very lovely hotel in a historical building/yard, located in the heart of the old Shanghai. You'll never believe you can find that kind of tranquility in Shanghai's city center.

Heading to Shanghai this week. I am carrying my Discover card and also my UNFCU chip and pin in case I have problems. Did you have any problems using your US credits cards at smaller restaurants etc.?

I used my CSP and Citi Premier in all sorts of restaurants. Usually for Shanghai, they either accept all kinds of credit cards, or they are cash only. For the restaurants that Americans would go to, I would say Visa/MC are widely accepted.

Using Discover at UnionPay-only places can always generate understanding problems, so be aware, even though any place accepting UnionPay technically can swipe Discover.

BTW, most of the terminals in Shanghai are as I guess direct-linked to UnionPay, and I also guess that UnionPay handles the gateway to Visa/MC networks. Therefore I don't see a lot of DCCs there, since DCCs usually happen with terminals supplied by the banks. You always see "银联商务" on receipts printed in Shanghai, but in Beijing you usually see logos of the banks like BoC, CCB, ICBC (ICBC ones are hard-DCC free though), and etc.

Hongkongcard.com has a discussion on new ICBC (Mainland, not ICBC Asia in HK) multi-currency Mastercard:

http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...p?id=14902&p=1
http://www.icbc.com.cn/ICBC/牡丹卡/卡片世界...2;卡.htm

Sounds similar to Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Travel Money Card. Can't find the exchange rates ICBC will apply on this card.

However some hongkongcard.com members already cited Mainland forum posts that this card gets DCCed in Euros in Apple Store HK...

We had a blatant DCC attempt at the Ibis Alster in Hamburg last Xmas. The check-in desk verbally quoted the price in Euros and then put it through in GBP without saying anything or offering us the terminal to select the currency. They looked pretty annoyed when I insisted that they cancel and re-run the transaction.

Was this at checkout or the preauthorization at check-in? I'm glad you held firm and we're able to get them to process in local currency.

At check in but I think that I was just paying there and then. It threw me at the time as the only other occasion where I wasn't given the option was at a beachside restaurant in Majorca. I didn't challenge that one as I realised that they'd charged me for the wrong meal so it worked out about the right price anyway.

Cashier tried to dcc me in BKK airport. She argued but voided and reran the trans. Terminal is compliant but i think its silly that if the customer never sees the actual terminal to make a choice the cashier just tends to hit the green button which defaults to dcc.

Sigh...

I have to take a proactive stance when in known DCC locations. The terminal is not compliant if you never got to make a selection. In many cases, I think cashiers are inclined to press the green/OK/Accept button repeatedly when waiting for a signature slip to print out, without regard to DCC.

This happened to me last month at the Renaissance Tower in Zurich. I was charged in USD, but the clerk immediately voided the charge and reran it in CHF, a much better deal on my foreign transaction fee-free card.

They also have a chipped multi-currency Visa card, which I just got. Now I'm worried.

DCC scams alive and well in Belfast
 

This is great, thank you for the tips. I have been in Belfast 6 weeks and subjected to forced DCC by restaurants, airlines (RYANAIR!) and the local public transportation system - that one irks me the most and I am going to try these tactics later today to make them quit charging us in dollars!

Thank you for posting, and welcome to FlyerTalk. If you're inclined, you can press the matter with your card issuer and file chargebacks for those transactions where you were forced to pay in USD. I don't know what card you have been using, but MasterCard's burden of proof is much lower than Visa's. With MasterCard, you simply have to state you were not offered the option of completing the transaction in the currency of your choosing. With Visa you can go for a Reason Code 76 chargeback, but issuers usually want you to furnish a receipt.

Many write off DCC as too much of a hassle to contest, but I believe this is what allows the scam to continue. I would fight every forced DCC charge on principle and let the merchant deal with the headaches of a chargeback.

I'm shocked you were force DCC'd in Belfast. The UK usually isn't bad at all. Ryanair does NOT force-DCC you, it's just confusing how to opt-out. It definitely is NOT the "active choice" you're supposed to have, but it's not forced.

Saw my first DCC attempt using apple pay NFC in a bakery. I thought it wasn't supported over NFC payments? Guess thats changing... :(

What country? AFAIK it isn't supposed to be...

Got DCCed at PEK at the T3's Costa Coffee. I went there with the plan of a mine sweep, and yes I got hit with one...

That's why I think Starbucks is a better company operation-wise. It apparently has a policy of DCC-free in the whole China (I've tried most of the shops in Beijing, and just tried some in Shanghai and Nanjing).

Costa on the other hand, is quite loosely organized, maybe because they have regional owners with their own banking systems. Some shops in Beijing don't force DCC, and some including this one at PEK (where most of the foreigners will visit) do.

That was my thought too.

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...