Robert2533

"why it hasn't happened yet here" It has, but only for a few of the "elite" cards, Amex Platinum, etc.

The EMV chip & pin system has nothing what so ever to do with the DCC.

bilboburgler

Thanks Indy, always good to be reminded, did you take the whole family?

Indogirl1

This happened to me at Hotel Parlamento( seems a favorite budget hotel with Fodorites) in Rome , the person on duty asked me if I wanted to pay in euro or dollars, I stupidly said dollars not knowing what's going on. When I asked later(that same day to reverse it , of course the answer is too late,blah blah blah. I am only out about $20 but It sure did leave a bad taste in my mouth.Never again.

danon

We just got back from Spain...we were asked for preference in the hotel and one of the stores.
It was our choice.
I think I had the same option on a few bills in Berlin this summer.

Robert2533

DCC is not an "option", it's a scam, something designed to make money on a useless "service". If you are intelligent enough to plan your own trip, or even tie your own shoelaces, then you should have no problem understanding the currency exchange issue. There's even a app (free) for that.

DCC should be banned outright.

indy_dad

bilboburger -- yes, the whole family as usual. Blog/TR hopefully today.

indy_dad

As promised:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-with-kids.cfm

kenav

My new American Airlines Citi Bank card has chip and pin. (Yes, it's in the U.S.)

danon

DCC is offered at high end hotels , restaurants and shops in many European cities.
Why is that kind of " scam" legal?
The currency exchange issue is not something many people understand.
Most travelers say they " exchange" dollars for euros, when in fact, they SELL their currency
and BUY euros.
Some travelers purchase euros at home, some wait until the first ATM machine at the airport.
And some don't really worry about a few cents difference one way or the other .

xyz123

kenav...although it's off topic, I will answer. Your citi AA card indeed has an emv chip but it is not chip and pin. Rather it is chip and signature. There is a great deal of controversy in other threads on whether chip and signature cards are all that advantageous over magnetic strip cards.

MaineGG

Back to DCC and whether it should be illegal --

Making the practice illegal would involve many different countries. Wouldn't it be simpler for Visa, MasterCard and Amex, etc., to disallow those kinds of transactions and require merchants to charge only in their local currencies?

Dukey1

Is this practice illegal in any way?

If the CC issuer REQUIRES the merchant to offer a clear choice and if they do not do so then that would be illegal, obviously.

What would happen if the person with the credit card REFUSED to pay unless they DID get a bill presented in the local currency?

As to the "not wanting to bother with it" attitude; sorry, no sympathy whatsoever.

Alec

As far as I know, Visa International and MasterCard International in their T&C are unable to ban DCC, as currency conversion part of transaction isn't their monopoly and can be performed by a third party, such as merchant's card handler (e.g. their banks). All they can and do mandate is that the customer at the point of sale is given a choice, which as we know is often ignored. So provided that the customer has been given a choice and accepted conversion at the point of sale, Visa/Master are powerless to stop it. It gets more complicated as card issuer, such as a bank, often also acts as card handler processing other cards and sells DCC as additional revenue stream. So such a bank can still make money when their own card customer declines DCC (by adding currency exchange charge, typically around 3%), and when DCC is accepted when acting as card handler.

xyz123

BTW...Amex does not allow its cards to be dcc'd. Also while I'm certainly not an advocate of dcc (far from it), their literature presents this as a service to a merchant's customers; they know with certainty what somethng will cost in a currency familiar to them (you know the old story of the tourist visiting a boutique in Paris being told somethig costs 1,000 francs (befoe euro came aong) and ten asking how much is that in real money. Unfortunately there are many people like that around (ever see some confused usual American wishing to pay cash for something unable to handle coins and asking the merchant to take what he or she is charging).

Also peddlers of this scam claim it is the credit card companies who are at fault becaue many still charge a foreign transaction fee on a purchase contaminated by dcc (of course there are many banks, at least in the United States which have no foreign transaction fees on credit card purchases).

Robert2533

Ran into the DCC yesterday at a restaurant in Monforte. The card was run and came out in US Dollars. I had them rerun the card in Euros, as I was not asked how I wanted to pay. The difference in price was 5%. It's the first time we've encountered it this trip, but have run into it before, including hotels, but seldom at restaurants.