US Credit Card @ Global House

[55Jay]

In Global House Korat last weekend and when checking out, wife presented Capital 1 MasterCard, as we have a few other times in the past.

Lady said 3% extra would be added for a US credit card. Store Manager said it was company policy. Left our cart there and walked out.

Sent a complaint in via Global website. Someone from Global called and spoke to my wife the next day. However, this person seemed more focused on the possibility we hadn't been charged extra during past visits using the US card, or that we had been charged and not realized it. I didn't get the impression they might be reconsidering their policy. Said they would look into it and call us back, but they never did.

I'm not on an anti-Global crusade, I rather like Global's selection as an option to Homepro. Thought I would share this info though, as another thing to be aware of at the check out line. I haven't noticed anything like this at other large store like Tesco, Big C, Homepro, etc.

Edited June 19, 2013 by 55Jay

[Pib]

Just this weekend bought some stuff at the Global House in Nakorn Pathom (about 50Km due west of Bangkok) using my CapOne MasterCard with no extra charge. I usually stop in there a couple times per month to kill time/buy stuff as the wife visits the MIL...and I always use my credit card...even for buys of only a few hundred baht. I've probably used my MasterCard there around 20 times. Maybe its a Global House corporate policy implemented very recently or just a local store policy change. I'll give some feedback after my next buy at Global House.

A Thai Watsuda store (a cross between Global House & HomePro) opened very recently on the road between Bangkok and Nakhorn Pathom (more specifically in the Salaya town area) and I've stopped in there several times and used my MasterCard once or twice (must be at least Bt500 to use a credit card there) and they didn't charge anything extra, try the DCC ripoff, etc.

[kurtmartens]

We have had smaller shops try this with us, and I've walked away as well. But never the bigger shops. Must be a new thing. Just US cards or all cards?

[55Jay]

Just this weekend bought some stuff at the Global House in Nakorn Pathom (about 50Km due west of Bangkok) using my CapOne MasterCard with no extra charge. I usually stop in there a couple times per month to kill time/buy stuff as the wife visits the MIL...and I always use my credit card...even for buys of only a few hundred baht. I've probably used my MasterCard there around 20 times. Maybe its a Global House corporate policy implemented very recently or just a local store policy change. I'll give some feedback after my next buy at Global House.

A Thai Watsuda store (a cross between Global House & HomePro) opened very recently on the road between Bangkok and Nakhorn Pathom (more specifically in the Salaya town area) and I've stopped in there several times and used my MasterCard once or twice (must be at least Bt500 to use a credit card there) and they didn't charge anything extra, try the DCC ripoff, etc.

Hey Pib, thanks.

I didn't think about until now, but we were at Klang Villa Market earlier that same day, and when checking out, the girl kept looking at the Capital 1 card, front and back, had an exchange of words with a nearby employee, who walked over, looked at the card, then said ok.

I was thinking DCC at that moment but it came out Baht.

Just asked the wife what those two at Klang were on about. Cashier was saying they had to connect to a foreign bank being we had a US credit card, and was asking her co-worker which swipe machine to use. Co-worker who came over said to use Bangkok Bank to swipe. Wife seems to recall the other was Kasikorn.

I find this interesting, maybe you or someone in business here who deals with credit card machines, knows the score.

Do merchants really get charged more for a foreign card and pass the cost on to us, like they say?

Had a friend in Bahrain with a small fish/aquarium shop many years ago. He was cash and carry forever, but finally got a credit card machine. He told me he had to pay a monthly fee for the swipe machine, and something about having to do X number of transactions per month with it or else he got charged more, or something like that. Local bank cards vs. foreign credit cards never came up.

J

[55Jay]

We have had smaller shops try this with us, and I've walked away as well. But never the bigger shops. Must be a new thing. Just US cards or all cards?

We just tried the US Capital 1 MasterCard, have used it there in the past w/o this, at least not that I was aware of.

Did say Thai bank cards no problem. I've got a Bangkok Bank ATM card, never tried using it for Point of Sale/Debit before.

I like to keep on CAP1 card where I can though. Doesn't get the 1% foreign transaction fee, build up cash back, pay it off end of the month.

[sustento]

Had a friend in Bahrain with a small fish/aquarium shop many years ago. He was cash and carry forever, but finally got a credit card machine. He told me he had to pay a monthly fee for the swipe machine, and something about having to do X number of transactions per month with it or else he got charged more, or something like that. Local bank cards vs. foreign credit cards never came up.

J

All merchants that offer credit cards world wide have to pay a monthly fee to hire a swipe machine. They also have to pay a percentage on each transaction that they do to the credit card company. That's how credit card companies make money on every transaction whether you pay off your bill in full or not, In Thailand (and in the UK) it's legal for the merchant to pass the charge onto you.

[55Jay]

Had a friend in Bahrain with a small fish/aquarium shop many years ago. He was cash and carry forever, but finally got a credit card machine. He told me he had to pay a monthly fee for the swipe machine, and something about having to do X number of transactions per month with it or else he got charged more, or something like that. Local bank cards vs. foreign credit cards never came up.

J

All merchants that offer credit cards world wide have to pay a monthly fee to hire a swipe machine. They also have to pay a percentage on each transaction that they do to the credit card company. That's how credit card companies make money on every transaction whether you pay off your bill in full or not, In Thailand (and in the UK) it's legal for the merchant to pass the charge onto you.

Thanks. Do you know if they are charged more for a foreign credit card vs. a Thai bank card?

[sustento]

Sorry - I'm not sure.

[55Jay]

Sorry - I'm not sure.

No worries, thanks.

[wimpy]

I used my Cap1 card at Global House Chiang Mai today. No charge. The only time they add a charge is when you buy things like steel or cement from the back part of the store. This applies to all credit cards, not just foreign cards.

By the way, at my last two visits to Lotus Hang Dong, they did the DCC nonsense. This is new. The first time, the fellow asked if I wanted it in baht or $. Today, the girl just did it in $. I refused to sign, and she had to re-ring everything to do the transaction in baht. I suggested she ask customers next time, and she apologized.

[Pib]

Do merchants really get charged more for a foreign card and pass the cost on to us, like they say?

Had a friend in Bahrain with a small fish/aquarium shop many years ago. He was cash and carry forever, but finally got a credit card machine. He told me he had to pay a monthly fee for the swipe machine, and something about having to do X number of transactions per month with it or else he got charged more, or something like that. Local bank cards vs. foreign credit cards never came up.

J

The credit/debit card fees are called "interchange fees" which occur between the merchant's bank (i.e., whatever local bank he is using to process card transactions) and the card holder's bank with the MasterCard/Visa/etc network during the middle man processing. From doing some googling on interchange fees and usually ending up at some Visa or MasterCard site, it appears Visa/MasterCard do try to standardize interchange fees, but when I say standardize I mean by category of the business...but they still have dozenz upon dozens possible interchange fees and it can vary from country to country, whether its a domestic card transaction, an international card transactions, etc. While at the MasterCard site opening up some of the doucments on their interchange fees could leave you cross-eyed after reading it for a while....so many different possible levels of interchange fees...interchange fees that the merchant pays...or should I say the customers pay through slightly higher prices on everything. And then the Visa/MasterCard sites go on to say there will be other fees depending on which bank the merchant signs up with to process credit/debit card transactions...I'm sure Bangkok Bank, K-bank, SCB, and other Thai banks compete to get a merchants point of sale business because of fees they earn. Wouldn't surprise me at all Thai banks crank in a little extra fee for processing foreign credit card/international transactions.

Below is quote from a Visa web site that kinda puts the interchange fee in layman's language.

Interchange

Interchange is the fee typically paid by the retailer's bank to the cardholder's bank every time a Visa card is used.

For credit cards, the fee is generally a small percentage of the value of the transaction; for debit cards, it is usually a small flat fee. Interchange fee levels also vary depending on the type of card, its associated risk, and the country where the transaction takes place.

[Pib]

I used my Cap1 card at Global House Chiang Mai today. No charge. The only time they add a charge is when you buy things like steel or cement from the back part of the store. This applies to all credit cards, not just foreign cards.

By the way, at my last two visits to Lotus Hang Dong, they did the DCC nonsense. This is new. The first time, the fellow asked if I wanted it in baht or $. Today, the girl just did it in $. I refused to sign, and she had to re-ring everything to do the transaction in baht. I suggested she ask customers next time, and she apologized.

Where a store plays the DCC game it's usually a store decision...or possibly a cooperate decision for chain stores. Where it can get blurred sometimes is many individual stores are franchise operations (like many 7-Eleven stores) and they still must follow some core corporate rules but have leeway in other rules/prices/charges since they are individually owned. For me here in Bangkok the stores I know that attempt the DCC unless you tell them to charge baht when handing them your card is HomePro (or at least the three different HomePro's I buy at), Pizza Company, and Sizzler....I think Pizza Company and Sizzler are owned by the same parent company....but HomePro/Pizza Co./Sizzler will charge in baht without putting up a fight...and in a few cases where I told them to charge in baht but the checkout clerk still used DCC by mistake they have happily cancelled the transaction...takes them about 30 seconds to cancel the transaction...and redid the transaction in baht.

Personally, I haven't run across any Lotus or Big C (yet) that attempts the DCC....but like I said that can be just a local store decision.

[Langsuan Man]

I had no trouble using my Capitol One card at Global House in Rayong and they did do it in Thai Baht. But when I went back to return some unused / unopened merchandise they would not give me a credit on the card, even though they had a sign right at customer service stating that credit card refunds would be credited only to the card originally used. Since I could not get them to honor their own sign I opted to obtain a store credit for the returned merchandise and used that to purchase some other needed items

I have noticed that Tesco Lotus in Jomtien has started to push the DCC (using your home currency) and twice now I have had to make them stop and re-ring the whole thing over again in Thai Baht. They even have new signs on the registers asking you if you want the transaction in your currency or Thai Baht, unfortunately they don't ask you which when they start to run the card

[longball53098]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

I has seriously considered walking out and not purchasing. I do not like the overall shopping experience at GBH. I go there infrequently and now we have a Thaiwatsadu down the road so I may change and forget GBH

From what I read in this thread the policy is not standard from region to region. Sound familiar?

[55Jay]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

I has seriously considered walking out and not purchasing. I do not like the overall shopping experience at GBH. I go there infrequently and now we have a Thaiwatsadu down the road so I may change and forget GBH

From what I read in this thread the policy is not standard from region to region. Sound familiar?

Thanks for taking the time to post your experience, interesting twist with the Thai card.

I may follow up with Global, gently to avoid embarrassment, which may have unintended consequences.

Yes, sounds familiar. Inconsistency could be considered a form of consistency, according to Forrest Gump.

J

[lockman]

Used My Cap 1 Visa there Udon, Roi Et, KK, Kalasin now Mukdahan, never had a problem, but couple of time had to tell them which machine to use (SCB, K bank or Bangkok Bank). Only had one time they wanted to add a "fee" I said NO...manager ok'd no fee. It usually the employee who doesn't know.

[sustento]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

As she's a cashier and doesn't have any influence over company policy I'm not sure what you expect her to do about it?

[55Jay]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

As she's a cashier and doesn't have any influence over company policy I'm not sure what you expect her to do about it?

Agreed. Sometimes it's a lack of knowledge and training which can be overcome, but in our case, the Manager was apologetic but unwavering. We were more surprised than upset about it.

Anyway, I think Global called back this afternoon, same #, unfortunately the wife was away from the house so I didn't get very far.

Will call back tomorrow if they don't, see what's up and close out the thread either way it goes.

[longball53098]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

As she's a cashier and doesn't have any influence over company policy I'm not sure what you expect her to do about it?

Yes I know she is the cashier and only does what she is directed to do by her manager. I was not expecting anything more from her. IF I really wanted to get a better response I could have pushed the issue and asked to see a manager. The store was not busy at the time. I was not loud or disrespectful with her just a clear look of displeasure and the comment about the store. I did not try to argue about the policy. She just was doing her job and I accepted that. I also know she does not speak English nor I Thai so trying to get any farther is useless.

[Pib]

Interesting, yesterday I was shopping in Global House Rayong, spent about 2k and when I presented my SCB debit/atm card for payment the cashier said no cards. Cannot!

I looked evil at her and then paid in cash at my inconvenience as that was all the cash in my wallet. I said in clear English that Global House is NO GOOD! She looked away and did not make any eye contact or say anything more as I am sure she knew what I meant.

As she's a cashier and doesn't have any influence over company policy I'm not sure what you expect her to do about it?

Agreed. Sometimes it's a lack of knowledge and training which can be overcome, but in our case, the Manager was apologetic but unwavering. We were more surprised than upset about it.

Anyway, I think Global called back this afternoon, same #, unfortunately the wife was away from the house so I didn't get very far.

Will call back tomorrow if they don't, see what's up and close out the thread either way it goes.

There is a major tile/bathrooms store over here in western Bangkok that will accept foreign cards no problem but will only do the DDC thing. I found this out about two months ago when well needed a bunch of tile and other supplies for some tile work we were doing around the outside of the house. I had never been to the store before or bought anything, but after looking around at other stores the wife and I ended up back at this store due to the wide selection of quality tile they had. OK, we start our buys which will consist of several buys as the work progresses. The first buy was a little over Bt3000 and when I hand them my CapOne MC they took it, swiped it, and out came a DCC transaction (i.e., the receipt for signature reflected both USD and baht). I say no, cancel the charge, rerun in baht. The clerk very nice about...says they can't as it's store policy...the Thai wife gets into the conversation explaining in Thai why not to do a DCC transaction...the clerk still said no can do and called over another clerk who confirmed no can do...they even got on the phone and called their main accounting office and were told again no can do....company policy to only do DCC for foreign cards...guess they like making that extra 3-4% profit through a lower exchange rate given.

I wasn't too happy with the issue and expressed my dissatisfaction to the clerks...and the wife toned me down a little...of course it didn't change anything....but maybe the clerks will relay how the farang was upset with the DCC thing at their next company meeting--boy, am I dreaming or not. I doubt this company sees a lot of foreign cards because in western Bangkok I don't see many farang and I doubt many of the ones I see own homes and would be buying stuff at a tile store. I then paid with my Bangkok Bank debit card and still ended up coming back to the store several more times to buy stuff since they had the tile we wanted...couldn't find this particular tile at an other store and we looked in a lot of stores. But it still left a bad taste in my mouth and when buying tile in the future I will try to avoid this store unless once again they end up having the particular tile I want.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Pib

[55Jay]

It was Global who called again yesterday and I had a really nice email (in English) from them this morning.

Staff mistake in Korat. Assured training would be held, genuine apologies.

Honestly, the response and follow up to one measly farang customer restored my faith. Global gets high marks and we're happy to return.

Thanks again for inputs from other Global shops around Thailand, I appreciate it.

Regards,

J

/////

[Pib]

It was Global who called again yesterday and I had a really nice email (in English) from them this morning.

Staff mistake in Korat. Assured training would be held, genuine apologies.

Honestly, the response and follow up to one measly farang customer restored my faith. Global gets high marks and we're happy to return.

Thanks again for inputs from other Global shops around Thailand, I appreciate it.

Regards,

J

/////

J, That's good news. But don't underestimate yourself, you are one powerful measly farang. Pib

[55Jay]

If I could just convince the chickens to stop crapping on my patio tile, that would be something to crow about.

Cheers,

J

[PoodMaiDai]

Contact corporate MasterCard and ride them hard.

I'm not sure about 2013, but it used to be illegal for them to charge you for using the cards. In some cases they will terminate the merchant account of the shop if you make a big enough fuss about it to Visa and/or Master Card.

[Pib]

DCC is perfectly legal... Mastercard and Visa talks about it on their websites and how some merchants may use another exchange rate other than the Mastercard exchange rate... Really not much different in how a card issuing bank effectively lowers the exchange rate via its foreign transaction fee.

Sent from my tablet

[mania]

I have also noticed some places I frequent

will charge a couple of points even if your using a BKB Debit card.

Not a charge card mind you a debit card.

I know credit cards do charge the merchant a percentage fee but I don't think

banks charge any fees for debits anymore than they did for accepting personal

checks in the US. Could be wrong but I was surprised to hear it.

[Pib]

Contact corporate MasterCard and ride them hard.

I'm not sure about 2013, but it used to be illegal for them to charge you for using the cards. In some cases they will terminate the merchant account of the shop if you make a big enough fuss about it to Visa and/or Master Card.

DCC is perfectly legal... Mastercard and Visa talks about it on their websites and how some merchants may use another exchange rate other than the Mastercard exchange rate... Really not much different in how a card issuing bank effectively lowers the exchange rate via its foreign transaction fee.

Sent from my tablet

I think this Visa webpage gives a good overview of whether a merchant can add a "fee" to a credit card purchase (e.g., say 2%) is allowable or not. Visa calls it a "checkout fee."

Now just to be clear, the webpage is not talking DCC where a lower exchange rate is given by the merchant, but where the merchant charges extra to pay via credit card.

[55Jay]

Contact corporate MasterCard and ride them hard.

I'm not sure about 2013, but it used to be illegal for them to charge you for using the cards. In some cases they will terminate the merchant account of the shop if you make a big enough fuss about it to Visa and/or Master Card.

DCC is perfectly legal... Mastercard and Visa talks about it on their websites and how some merchants may use another exchange rate other than the Mastercard exchange rate... Really not much different in how a card issuing bank effectively lowers the exchange rate via its foreign transaction fee.

Sent from my tablet

I think this Visa webpage gives a good overview of whether a merchant can add a "fee" to a credit card purchase (e.g., say 2%) is allowable or not. Visa calls it a "checkout fee."

Now just to be clear, the webpage is not talking DCC where a lower exchange rate is given by the merchant, but where the merchant charges extra to pay via credit card.

Thanks. Found similar for MasterCard, downloaded 2 big PDFs on rates and merchant rules. A lot of info and data to sort through, I can now understand why some shops go cash and carry.

Didn't intend to bump, but came across answer my own question above re: how credit/debit card processing works, never mind the sales pitch at the end of the vid. Took note of the Rewards cards.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGCG0WwioGA

[sustento]

Contact corporate MasterCard and ride them hard.

I'm not sure about 2013, but it used to be illegal for them to charge you for using the cards. In some cases they will terminate the merchant account of the shop if you make a big enough fuss about it to Visa and/or Master Card.

Depends on where you got your card. In the UK and Thailand it''s legal to charge for using a card.