The DCC scam is spreading
 

So, I was booking a room in London for three nights at one of the LSE student dorms. I've stayed there (Grosvenor House on Drury Lane) before, and it's a good deal for London - en-suite single with full kitchen for 64.80 GBP a night, paid in advance. That's 284.86 USD for three nights according to xe.com.

The site offered me the choice of paying in USD instead of GBP. How kind of it. It would have cost me an extra 11 USD! (I was using a card with zero foreign transaction fees.)

I noticed last year that DCC seemed to be spreading. Take this as a warning to more vigilant this year.

A couple of hours ago I was making a purchase in the basement hardware department of BHV (Paris) and the credit card reader gave me a choice, #1 US dollars, or #2 Euros. No comment from the clerk, one simply had to make the choice. That was the first time I'd seen it done that way. It appears to be here to stay.

I've recently seen that choice on ATM machines in Italy when they see you're using a non-euro credit card.

I wouldn't call it a scam, though, unless you're not given the choice.

bvl - unless people are savvy enough to come here [though other travel forums are available] they don't know that choosing their own currency may land them with extra charges, in fact they may never know as they never get to see what picking the € option would have cost.

so giving them a choice, without the snags being explained, amounts to no choice at all.

This happened to me and Keith in Switzerland in 2012. We chose CHF when asked whilst paying by US credit card.

An American man checking out of our mutual hotel in Wengen chose USD when paying by credit card and basically told me to mind my own business when I told him he was making a big mistake.

I said to him, "I'll have the last laugh when you get your credit card statement."

Thin


Thin

ATMs in Bordeaux now offer the same choice. It galls me.

This was great info to bring to France. Thanks all.

I will say that the LSE site spelled out quite clearly that there would be a cost to picking USD, and what the percentage would be. That is more than often happens.

Thanks for reminding me of this. It seems to me that a clerk put my charge in dollars last year before I realized what was happening.

I'll be careful this time.

thursdaysd i am interested in the place you are staying. I imagine it is available when school is out - i can call to find out the dates they have availability but can you mention if the area is convenient for the central London area? Any other information would be helpful - thanks!

There are several different buildings, with different facilities. All are pretty convenient, Grovesnor House is close to the Covent Garden tube station, for instance. You can book through the website:

http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/Accomm...Locations.aspx

This is not luxurious or atmospheric accomodation, but clean and functional.

Nanabee, you can check the locations at
http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/Home.a....EmiNaD7O.dpbs

But they are mostly very central.

This is so helpful, thanks so much to both of you! :)

What is DCC?

Dynamic Currency Conversion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynami...ncy_conversion

Dynamic currency conversion

It's perplexing that anyone booking at LSE would choose DCC when they state clearly that it will cost more to be charged in USD. What do people see as the benefit?

We encountered DCC a couple of times in France last fall. Once at an Ibis in Amiens and then in the food court in the airport at Keflavik. There was no choice offered either verbally or onscreen at the Ibis. I just happened to catch it and stopped the process. My husband paid at the airport and didn't notice anything, but wasn't paying close attention.

Thursdaysd - that is a real bargain! Having spent much of my working life in the city and west end and stayed in many places around town, I knew LSE offered great value rooms, but had no idea they were in such a fantastic location. We will be looking for a place to stay when we return from South America for a few weeks and may well give that a go. Thanks for sharing.
As for DCC, I didn't realise that it had now infected the UK!

Hi crellston - the LSE rooms are mostly available just during vacations. However, you might also look at universityrooms.co.uk.

Yes, I don't remember encountering the DCC scam in he UK last year, and I booked LSE last year too. It was very much in evidence in Switzerland and Spain, though.

We had this happen to is recently while traveling in Hong Kong and China. We made made them redo the transactions.