Company ripoff on converting EURO purchases to US DOLLARS on credit cards

I got taken twice on our trip to Ireland.

First time was at the book ok KELLS display. The charge was an
admission fee in EUROS but they converted it to DOLLARS at a bad rate,
By signing the Credit Card receipt, I accepted the BAD Deal

Second time was a Hotel in Duplin. Same deal but I caught it and would
not sign. The manager told me that his credit card machine only worked
with the conversion. I signed under protest and the understanding that
I would follow up. Ten minutes later, the manager came to my room and
gave me the amount in CASH that I had lost in the transaction. He
admitted that his machine had the ability to keep the transaction in
EUROS. He went on to say that Americans want it converted to DOLLARS
so they could see the cost in DOLLARS. The bad rate cost the consumers
about 4 Dollars on each $100.

Thanks, but old news here actually; this was reported here many Months
ago. It is assumed second parties 'hosting' those machines offers a
discount on CC service rates to the merchants in order to place them.
You should of course demand that all transactions occur in 'local
currency'; which will give you the normal interbank conversion rates
(plus whatever usual bank transaction fee) without the second parties
cut.

Tim K

I got taken twice on our trip to Ireland.

First time was at the book ok KELLS display. The charge was an
admission fee in EUROS but they converted it to DOLLARS at a bad rate,
By signing the Credit Card receipt, I accepted the BAD Deal

They should ask which you want, if they offer payment in foreign currency.
I'm a bit surprised by this particular instance. Who runs this display? I
should have thought it was either an agency of the Irish state, a university
or the Church of Ireland. None of these would be obvious suspects for a scam
of this kind.

Alan Harrison

They should ask which you want, if they offer payment in foreign currency.
I'm a bit surprised by this particular instance. Who runs this display? I
should have thought it was either an agency of the Irish state, a university
or the Church of Ireland. None of these would be obvious suspects for a scam
of this kind.

The tendency these days is for such entities to contract out the
actual day to day operation to a commercial subcontractor. The
subcontractor would be the one making this decision. Often to
the ignorance of the contracting organization.

The tendency these days is for such entities to contract out the
actual day to day operation to a commercial subcontractor. The
subcontractor would be the one making this decision. Often to
the ignorance of the contracting organization.

The entities are still responsible for the actions of their subcontractor.