Thanks for the offer to help me submit a complaint. It looks like the process there is quite tedious & likely won't do anything to punish the offending merchants. It seems I'm going to get screwed/DCC'd anytime I use my Visa card in HK. Amex or cash seems like the only answer, but my Amex has a 3% FTF fee, so I'll still get hit with that.

I'm sorry we've imported this parasite. Both US firms (e.g. Global Payments) and Chinese banks (e.g. BoC) are culpable. And our business-friendly regulation means nothing is done about it.

The consistent indicator is when there is verbage the merchant must do something - make a selection, play wack a mole or knock the terminal against the floor silly (no I have not tried the last one). If the merchant claims he can do nothing then assume DCC has already occurred.

There's still one way, much easier to do here than China - try DCC and ask for HKD billing first. Deface any slip that has verbage (don't rip up the slip, but write /VOID/ across it - we still have Bills of Exchanges law). Ask for a void - I can't think of any merchant here who can't void a slip if asked - and present alternate payment, be it Amex, Discover (as Unionpay - I'm not sure if they work here but it might be possible - someone please report back) or in the worst case cash (USD/HKD spread is not high - you'd easily get 7.76 for your greenbacks).

We'd need to develop some metrics here. If you're defining an A rating as meaning you never encounter DCC or are at least proactively offered a choice beforehand such that you never see receipts with DCC verbiage, then I would say Taiwan has about a B- rating. I say this because most places will offer a choice or give you the quote slip and then respect the choice, but there are other locations where you have to watch the cashiers like a hawk to make sure they actually follow through with the DCC opt-out. What helped the situation in Taiwan is that Visa cracked down on the DCC practices here, so now terminals are much more compliant. In terms of ratings when encountering DCC:

Ratings:
A+: No DCC at all
A: Clear and conscious choice provided upfront with markup disclosed over Visa rate; you never see a slip with DCC verbiage because the cashier disables DCC for the transaction
A-: DCC present with choice given but cashier makes no attempt to explain the choices or point out the markup; choice is always respected, however

B: DCC is selected by default and DCC amount is held as the pending transaction; markup disclosed in the fine print of the DCC verbiage on the receipt; quote slip is usually given; DCC choice is almost always honored, at least for those in the know; people unaware of DCC or those who don't specifically opt out or request local currency will get hit

C: Requires a proactive stance against DCC to avoid getting hit; merchants will almost always be able to accommodate a customer's request to be billed in local currency provided the customer requests (or is adamant) about the request upfront; can usually avoid DCC as long as you're extremely vigilant

D: Getting into forced DCC territory; some POS terminals automatically opt in to DCC without a straightforward way to disable it, such as Burger King in Ireland or coffee shops in Eastern Europe. Most chain hotels will claim there is no way to disable it either. You often see merchants coercing customers into accepting DCC making it seem like the end of the world if they don't accept and saying things like "Good choice!" when accepting DCC.

F: Even the advice on this thread cannot help you here. Unless you want an uphill battle and your significant other and friends are patient enough to wait while you argue for 20 minutes with the cashier over $2.35 DCC charges on principle, just take the person's advice and "Use UnionPay la :o".

See advice for grade F geographies.

What's the usual success rate in HK of having the merchant disable DCC as long as you specify upfront that you want to be charged in HKD?

Add B- and F-

B-: Grade B with the inability to void a slip once DCC selected by cashier/customer (Novotel Paris Gare Montparnasse/Harrods/Gallaries Lafayette)

F-: Grade F with the inability to void a slip once DCC opted in or takes 30 minutes to do so (Decanter @ St. Regis Shenzhen)

Maybe with the DFS HK sign pad you can get somewhere

So far 0% once it comes for selection in a carbon slip (HK uses more carbon slips than anywhere else in the world I know)

Oh, I lumped B- in with grade B, but I suppose we could reserve F- for the worst of the worst.

Shockingly the Regal HKG Airport hotel honored my check-box, no-DCC request on my carbon slip a couple weeks ago, but then DCC'd me on my second stay just a few days ago.

Newark7: so in the first instance (where you got a check box but didn't ultimately get DCCed):

1. Was it a carbon slip? Or thermal?

2. Were you aware the cashier made any inputs in the terminal after printing the slip?

It was a carbon slip & I didn't see the front desk clerk make any inputs after I gave her back her copy of the slip. I'm guessing someone in their back office saw my markings and charged me in HKD. The second time I checked out of the Regal (& got DCC'd), they never gave me a carbon slip to sign, just an A4 sheet of paper showing my hotel bill/invoice with the total charge at the bottom in HKD with the last 4 digits of my CC. There was no mention of USD on that bill, but I still got DCC'd. I've emailed the hotel since & waiting to hear back.

Original Purchase: NT$14,344
Quoted DCC offer in USD: $494.12
Posted USD amount: $470.53
DCC amount saved: $23.59 :o

I learned something about Global Payments terminals that operate like Chung Yo and the Sheraton Taipei hotel. I observed the cashier carefully when checking out this morning, and here is the sequence of events. (I had specified NTD upfront.)

1. The cashier inserts your card and keys in the amount in local currency.
2. The quote slip prints, which sometimes defaults to USD. In the case of the Sheraton, it's a quote slip that you're supposed to tick. At Chung Yo, it defaults to DCC. PREAUTH transactions default to DCC, and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't be alarmed with a PREAUTH that has DCC. If you're alarmed, you can always use AmEx or Discover/JCB/UP for the hold.
3. The cashier will press a button at the top of the terminal under the text OPT_O on the LCD. This is the critical step that disables DCC! On the terminal at the Sheraton, this was button F2.
4. You'll get a receipt to sign that will have the DCC verbiage but be denominated in NTD. Be sure the Type says SALE OPT_O before you sign. DCC has been disabled as long as you see OPT_O.
5. You'll get a duplicate "No signature required" receipt that will be denominated in local currency and also be Type SALE OPT_O.
6. If you can view pending transactions with your card issuer, the DCC amount will show, but the transaction will post without DCC.

There's a slight variation where the quote and signature slip are combined. In this case you tick the local currency box [X]NTD and sign the slip. As long as you get the final customer copy receipt that is Type SALE OPT_O and your selection thermally printed [X]NTD, you will not get hit with DCC.

A third variation exists where the cashier can preemptively opt out of DCC. In this case you'll see a receipt of Type SALE, but the receipt will not contain the DCC verbiage. The receipt will be denominated in local currency, and you'll see the non-DCC amount held at the current exchange rate. I know this is possible based on one of the two purchases during my first trip to Chung Yo Department Store. However, since I wasn't physically present at the cashier stand, I couldn't see what key sequence disables DCC completely. This is obviously the preferred option since there is no chance in a moment of weakness to tick the wrong box or for there to be operator error on the part of the cashier.

I think that's always been the case for us for our 2013 trip. Because we always tell cashiers/waiters to 刷台幣 in 國語 (fortunately it probably sounds the same in 普通话 as after watching 《等一個人咖啡》 I realised how 國語-challenged I am) we never see any DCC even if we suspected the place has it.

That makes two of us who are Mandarin challenged. :D I initially was surprised that I didn't see DCC at Chung Yo even though it definitely exists. The same was true for Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. There is an easy way to preemptively disable DCC. The terminal was definitely presenting options, but I never would have known for certain had I not been observing the terminal.

It's hard to say with absolute certainty how many DCC situations we've avoided, but I've limited my use of a credit card outside of department stores and hotels, two prime locations where DCC tends to rear its head. I don't think Watsons does DCC nor does a local housewares store. We also got beyond confused looks requesting to be charged Taiwan dollars at Taiwan Mobile. There have been similar reactions at local clothing stores that don't cater to foreigners.

I just love Japan (Tokyo)... Definitely A+ if you live outside duty-free zones.

I haven't tried duty-free in Japan, so can't tell.

Really love their chip reading device/pinpad, which is attached to their old mag reader/number pad. Looks like they just adopted the chip tech, and didn't get rid of the old terminals. You insert chip cards, it reads, and ejects the card when done. The ejection sounds quite good, meaning these are not crappy devices.

Gosh they can design and build... And they obey~

zyxlsy: good but it trips up cards from one of our banks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...l#post23642726 . Unfortunately it's the best bank to earn miles from JPY spending, about 4 miles per US$ spent.