Overcharged by hotel on exchange rate

MOH

Booked and stayed in a hotel in Cyprus in October through an online booking service.

The price was quoted in Cyprus pounds. There was no mention anywhere on the site of any alternative currencies. I was told I would be charged directly by the hotel, possibly before I arrived.

The only thing I had to pay at checkout was whatever additional expenses I had incurred while there (althrough there was an attempt to hit me with a roughly 70 euro bill for a minibar which hadn't been touched).

I assumed that I would be charged in Cyprus pounds and would be billed in Euro at the prevailing exchange rate of my card company. This is in fact what happened for the bill I paid at checkout.

My next credit card statement showed a charge a few days before my stay to "24 hour bookings" in Greece, in Euro. Looking at the price I was quoted, the exchange rate used seems to be 1.80, whereas the official rate is 1.709, and the card rate was about 1.72. This means I've paid about 60 euro more than I should have.

I contacted the booking company, who ignored me until I sent a follow-up email telling them I was referring the matter to Visa. They rang an hour later to assure me it was the hotel, not them, who had made the charge. I then e-mailed the hotel, who have thus far ignored me.

I presume the next step is to get on to my bank about the matter. Just wonderoing if anyone's experienced anything similar before. As far as I'm concerned, it's a fraudulent transaction - I agreed to pay a specific amount in a specific currency, and was charged in a different currency at a made-up exchange rate.

antoinolachtnai

What was on the receipt when you checked out? If it is in CYP, then that's what should be on your credit card. I would charge it back.

MOH

The extra bit I paid at checkout is fine, was in CYP and converted as expected at the card's rate. It was the online payment that was supposed to be in CYP that they charged in euro at the wrong rate. E-mail receipt shows the amount in CYP.

jor el

MOH wrote: »

E-mail receipt shows the amount in CYP.

In that case refer it to the credit card provider. You were billed in one currency, and charged in another. Visa will be able to tell you if the charge was made by the hotel or the booking agent. Tell them that the booking agent told you that this charge must be the hotel and that they assured you that your were charged in CYP. You'll find out pretty quickly who's lying. I wouldn't say it's the hotel, seeing as how they did charge in CYP for a separate charge.

Tipsy Mac

If you were billed in Cypriot Pounds then it should say on your credit card statement X Cypriot Pounds at X € echange rate, if this is the case it's an issue with your credit card company that their rate was "dodgy", it's nothing to do with the retailer once they have billed you the correct amount in the correct currency for the transaction.

Personally from experience I would say the credit card company were using their "own" rates often alot less than you would see on xe.com and the like, usually 5-10% out on the official figure and never to the benefit of exchange to the customer.

Bluetonic

Off topic, but good to see that Cyprus joined the Euro on the 1st of Jan.

MOH

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

If you were billed in Cypriot Pounds then it should say on your credit card statement X Cypriot Pounds at X € echange rate, if this is the case it's an issue with your credit card company that their rate was "dodgy", it's nothing to do with the retailer once they have billed you the correct amount in the correct currency for the transaction.

Personally from experience I would say the credit card company were using their "own" rates often alot less than you would see on xe.com and the like, usually 5-10% out on the official figure and never to the benefit of exchange to the customer.

That's what I was expecting to happen. But the problem is that instead of billing me in Cyprus pounds they billed me from Greece (presumably their head office or something) directly in Euro, at a rate a lot worse than the credit card (1.8 v card 1.73, official rate 1.709)

MOH

OK, after much e-mailing back and forth, turns out it's nothing to do with the hotel - the booking agency have finally admitted it went through them to one of their partners, who deal with bookings in Greece and Cyprus. However, they now say that their partner tells them the exchange rate they used was correct, and have supplied me with the partner's contact details if I want to dispute this. (Aside from the made up exchange rate, they seem to be completely ignoring the fact that they didn't charge me in the currency they said they would.)

The booking agency is headquartered in Amsterdam, but they have offices in Dublin. Would this put them under the jurisdiction of the Irish small claims court?

Sizzler

Why not charge it back and say you have it in wriiting that they agreed to charge you X instead of Y.

MOH

Sizzler wrote: »

Why not charge it back and say you have it in wriiting that they agreed to charge you X instead of Y.

I would if I could, but because it's over 60 days they say they can't do a chargeback.

By the time I got the c/c bill and saw the charge, spent a couple of weeks trying to get a reply from the agency, a couple more weeks trying to get a reply from the hotel and then back to the agency, which ran into Christmas, 60 days were passed.

That's what I get for trying to sort it out reasonably - next time I'll just go straight to my c/card company.

jdivision

In a lot of cases Visa and all credit card company's exchange rate is much worse than the official one. Not saying this happened here but something to bear in mind.