You suppose that some underpaid sales associate in the U.S. has *any*
control over the POS ( Point Of Sale, NOT Piece Of S**t ;-) )system their
employer uses? Geez, give me a break. If you have a problem, notify the
store management or corporate entity ( if there is one ). It is not
reasonable to expect a clerk to "ask you which currency you want to be bill
in", because they often times have *no control* over the transaction
processing ( speaking from first-hand experience ).

LH

"Andy Pandy" wrote in
message ...
There is a new "facility" you may encounter when paying by credit card in
a
foreign currency. The POS terminal identifies which country your credit
card is
from and conveniently converts the local currency into your home currency.
Your
credit card is then billed in your home currency rather than the local
currency.

Might sound helpful, but the catch is that the exchange rate at which the
conversion is done is almost certainly a lot worse than your bank would
use if
you got billed in the local currency. The retailer usually gets a cut of
the
exchange rate markup so it's in their interest to bill you in your home
currency.

They are supposed to ask you which currency you want to billed in, but it
practice it doesn't always happen, and the default is to bill you in your
home
currency. But you are perfectly entitled to insist you are billed in the
local
currency, after all the product or service will have been priced in the
local
currency. Don't let retailers rip you off in this way!

--
Andy