Dear all,
I am annoyed with a VoiP-provider, in specific Dellmont (aka Betamax / Finera) and their brand www.freevoipdeal.com .
Recharging the prepaid account with €10 attracts an additional "handling fee" of €0.70, so an overall of €10.70 is due. So far so clear.
Their website and the bill, which is automatically created and mailed, equally state the charge due as €10.70 .
However, the credit card is subsequently charged with USD 14.68 .
Since I use a €-credit card, I expected the charge to be €10.70 at a rate of 1:1 in € (quite simple actually).
I have no idea how they come up with the USD 14.68 which they actually charge, but my credit card company obviously converts these $s back into €, and this always computes silghtly above €10.70.
Complaint to "customer service" yields the following answer: Residents of Switzerland are charged in USD - this is in our T&Cs - if you reverse the charge your account will be suspended.
I know that I can cancel the transaction (since the agreed amount isn ́t what was charged), but I want to keep using their services, and also the difference isn ́t all that big.
Long story actual short question: Is there a way to contact Visa and tell them about the problem these folks create in general, not for my individual case? After all Visa should make sure that their partners charge what they say they ́ll charge, and not something randomly different?
Although I use them, I know they have a bad reputation for issues with credit cards (like instances of double charge). They charge Luxembourg VAT, so for 10 EUR credit you would pay more. Maybe this is how the value was a bit above what you thought. Check first before pursuing the complaint?
The problem isn't with Visa, but with the company you are dealing with.
The invoice should be in the currency you are paying. Saying that you will be billed in a different currency in the small print of the T&Cs is weaselling their way out of it.
You can get back to them and insist that your are charged in the currency you are being billed (though I guess they will then just issue you with a bill in USD).
If you don't like what they're doing, your only choice really is to go elsewhere.
I ́ll post a few screenshots, I guess this will make 100% clear what I mean:
#1: When ordering you see this:
#2: In the archive, the purchase shows up as this:
#3: The provided .pdf bill shows up as this:
Note how everywhere, consistenly, they talk about €10.70 being charged.
#4: Yet, the actually charged amount shows up as this:
If you ́re resident in the EU they charge LUX-VAT, but then they also charge in EUR 1:1.
If you ́re resident outside of the EU, they don ́t charge any VAT (see above), and charge in USD.
I don ́t mind being charged in USD, but I ́d like to know before.
Of course you ́re right. I ́m not going to play cat and mouse with them I still like their prices, and I ́ll continue to use them. This disallows me to reverse the charge, as otherwise they will cancel the contract with me.
So I just sent a general email to Visa, asking them to look into this vendor. Maybe it ́ll change something, otherwise I ́l just accept that these guys are slightly insane. (Just like me running after this, since the actual loss is minimal. It ́s just annoying and shouldn ́t be the way it is, that ́s all)