| Address: New Delhi, Delhi, 600020 |
My wife went to rome on world food audit programmed in march, 2015, and had availed the borderless prepaid card services of thomas cook. when in rome, she went to the atm to withdraw around 2900 euros, but the machine did not disburse the amount indicating the limit is euro 2000 only. the card was loaded with euros.
since she could not draw euro 2950, she tried to withdraw euro 2000 and inadvertently requested for conversion of the same to usd.
however the atm disbursed only euro and not usd. however, she was charged by thomas cook and the correspondent bank with whom thomas cook has arrangement, euro 160 appx. being conversion charges i.e euro to usd.
when the request was made for conversion o[censored]sd to euro and she got disbursed only euro, and there was no service was provided as requested, i.e. conversion of euro to usd, hence there is no question of conversion of charges.
on taking up with thomas cook, india, we have been told as under:
quote:
may we state that, as you were withdrawing money in europe, atm machines would disburse eur currency only.
as your wife selected the option o[censored]sd conversion, the withdrawal eur amount was converted first to usd and then back again to eur. as a result, the transaction was charged with currency conversion charges which are charged by thomas cook and the atm acquiring bank as well. these charges are known as “dynamic currency conversion”
allow us to clarify that, dynamic currency conversion is done not only at thomas cook but is a common process in the prepaid card products industry as well.
as your wife had selected this particular option of conversion, we at thomas cook do not reverse these charges. however, solely as a special case, we will reverse 50% of the charges which have been levied by us i.e. eur 81.44 is the currency conversion charges and eur 40.72 wil be reversed.
moreover, we are given to understand that, at the time of purchase of the borderless prepaid card, all these terms and conditions were informed to the purchasing individual as well. we seek your understanding that complete clarity was provided whilst purchasing the card. we do so however regret if the same was not informed to you. trust you will concur, that this lapse of communication is beyond our control as we were extreamly transparent in our dealings.
according to the merits of these, the management has arrived at a well calibrated decision that is just and final.
we hope to have your understanding on the same.
unquote
to the above reply of thomas cook, india, i had replied as under:
quote:
since my wife had requested for conversion of euro to usd, she should have been disbursed usd and not euros. had the atm disbursed usd you are justified in charging the so called “dynamic currency conversion” charges. since the service requested has not been complied with the question of charging does not arise. since there is deficiency in service, i request that the charges be refunded without any delay. please confirm.
unquote:
to my above reply thomas cook, india, have replied as under:
quote:
mr. balasubramanian, on receipt of your email we had once again taken up the matter with the concerned team and wish to present our findings as a result.
we trust you will concur that as your wife was withdrawing the amount in europe the atm can only disburse eur currency.
further as mentioned in your email ms. s. snehalata had chosen the option o[censored]sd conversion, and as the amount was being withdrawn in europe the eur amount was converted first to usd and then back again to eur. as a result, the transaction was charged with currency conversion charges which are charged by thomas cook and the atm acquiring bank as well. these charges are known as “dynamic currency conversion”. as mentioned in our previous communiqué dynamic currency conversion is done not only at thomas cook but is a common process in the prepaid card products industry as well.
may we once again mention that as ms. s. snehalata had selected this particular option of conversion, we regret to inform that we are unable do reverse these charges. however, solely as a special case, we will reverse 50% of the charges which have been levied by us i.e. eur 81.44 is the currency conversion charges and eur 40.72 will be reversed
further may we also mention that at the time of purchase of the borderless prepaid card, all these terms and conditions were informed to the purchasing individual as well in your case your we trust the same was informed to cag .for your reference please find attached a copy of the terms and conditions. we do so however regret if the same was not informed to you.
in the light of the above mr. balasubramanian, we regret to inform that we are unable to reverse the full charges deducted from the card and will only be able to reverse the conversion charges of eur 40.72 as special case.
unquote:
my reply to thomas cook, india’s above reply was as under:
quote:
you have mentioned in your letter, that:
quote:
"we trust you will concur that as your wife was withdrawing the amount in europe the atm can only disburse eur currency.
further as mentioned in your email ms. s. snehalata had chosen the option o[censored]sd conversion, and as the amount was being withdrawn in europe the eur amount was converted first to usd and then back again to eur. as a result, the transaction was charged with currency conversion charges which are charged by thomas cook and the atm acquiring bank as well. these charges are known as “dynamic currency conversion”. as mentioned in our previous communiqué dynamic currency conversion is done not only at thomas cook but is a common process in the prepaid card products industry as well."
now kindly refer to your brochure on the borderless prepaid card, wherein as regards dynamic currency conversion, the following is stated:
"dynamic currency conversion (dcc) is an optional service that is sometimes offered by retailers and atm operators abroad, giving cardholders the choice of paying in either the currency of the country they are visiting or their own domestic currency, i.e. indian rupees. you should not make a purchase or atm withdrawal in indian rupees (as you are prohibited from doing so by law) and you should choose to pay in the local currency. please note that there will be an additional cost if the merchant transaction or atm withdrawal is made in a currency which is different to any of the available currencies on the card, or exceeds the relevant available currency balance on the card. please refer to the table of fees and limits for further information."
in the write up it only says the holder of the card should not make not make a purchase or atm withdrawal in indian rupees (as you are prohibited from doing so by law) and you should choose to pay in the local currency.further it states that there will be an additional cost if the merchant transaction or atm withdrawal is made in a currency which is different to any of the available currencies on the card, or exceeds the relevant available currency balance on the card.
further in the table of fees and limits it is states that currency conversion fee is 4.25%.
in this case my wife has not made purchase or withdrawl in indian currency which is prohibited.
my wife chose to withdraw dollars which is allowed. for this service there will be additional cost will be involved. but she got only euros disbursed.
further nowhere in the brochure it is mentioned that in europe only euro will be disbursed.
even the representative from you office has not informed about this.
your brochure on dyamic conversion charges states that there will be an additional cost if the merchant transaction or atm withdrawal is made in a currency which is different to any of the available currencies on the card. it does not even say that euro will be converted into usd and back to euro. from what is stated in the brochure it will be assumed that there will be conversion of euro to dollars and only dollar will be dibursed.
how do you expect anyone to know about how dyamic conversion charges works unless specifically stated in the brochure or intimated by your representative at the time we purchase the card.
under these circumstance, i once again request you to reconsider your decision and reverse the charges levied.
unquote:
further to the above i has sent the following mail to thomas cook, india:
quote:
further to my mail of date, i would also like to bring to your kind notice point no.8 of the multi currency master card agreement which states:
quote:
foreign currency transactions
8.1 there are five (5) instances where a foreign exchange rate will apply:
i) initial load(s) or in-branch reload(s), where you load funds in a foreign currency;
ii) pos transactions, where the transaction is in a currency that is not one of the currencies available on the card (including any transaction where we deduct funds under clause 3.5 due to insufficient funds);
iii) atm withdrawals where the local currency is not one of the currencies available on the card (including any transaction where we deduct funds under clause 3.5 due to insufficient funds);
iv) where we allocate funds from one currency to a different currency, in accordance with the agreement; and
v) where you end the agreement or request repayment of the balance of the card, under clause 9.
8.2 the foreign exchange rate used for initial loads and in-branch reloads varies by purchase location. you can ask the purchase location for the exchange rate beforehand. foreign exchange rates are subject to variation and the rate that applies one day will not necessarily be the same on any other day.
8.3 if an atm withdrawal, a pos transaction or an online transaction is made in a currency which is different to any of the available currencies on the card, or exceeds the relevant available currency balance on the card, the amount will be funded by converting the transaction amount into the next available currency balance on the card in the following order of priority: usd, gbp, eur, cad, aud, jpy, sgd and chf. the foreign exchange rate used is the rate determined by mastercard® to be the wholesale rate or the government mandated rate in effect on the day the transaction is processed by mastercard, plus the currency conversion fee (see table of fees and limits).
8.4 where you end the agreement, or request repayment of the card fund under clause 9, these funds will be converted into local currency (indian rupees). the foreign exchange rate used for this is set and determined by the purchase location and varies each day. a fee may be charged by the purchase location for this service, in addition to the fee specified in the table of fees and limits. please check with the purchase location. you can also contact the purchase location for more information on the applicable exchange rate.
unquote.
nowhere at point 8 there is a mention of your so called dynamic conversion charges. the portions highlighted in yellow speaks about the application of exchange rates in case of withdrawls.
i hope you to settle this matter asap and intimate me without much delay.
unquote:
the i had a concall with thomas cook representatives on 25.03.2015 and after that i got the following reply:
quote:
this is with reference to our telecom dated march 25, 2015 as regards your borderless prepaid card.
at the outset we thank you for writing to us and providing your time on the call.
mr. balasubramanian, post our telecom we had taken up the matter with the senior management in the cards team and post thorough investigations we wish to confirm that for customer guidance we always issue a user guide and terms & conditions brochure to the card holder at the time of issuance of the card and the same was done in your case too. may we also mention that while applying for the card we have mentioned in our application form under customer declaration as :
cardholders declaration:
i hereby apply for the issue of a thomas cook borderless prepaid card to me and declare that the information included in the application is true and correct and that i am eligible to apply for the card. i accept that thomas cook (india) ltd., or its agents, are entitled in its absolute discretion to accept or reject this application without assigning any reason whatsoever. it is my responsibility to obtain the terms and conditions as applicable to the thomas cook borderless prepaid card and to read and understand the same .by accepting and using the card, i agree to be bound by the agreement detailed in the terms and conditions brochure and the rules and regulations in force from time to time, as issued by rbi, fema1999.by signing this application form, i will be deemed to have accepted the agreement.
further as discussed during our telecom we understand that ms. snehalata had inadvertently chosen the option of withdrawing usd from the atm in europe. we trust you will concur that no countries around the world would issue foreign currencies from atm’s and the same can only be taken from foreign exchange outlets. hence as ms. snehalata had chosen the option of withdrawing usd and being a multicurrency card the eur amount available in the card was converted to usd and then again to eur and disbursed from the atm. we wish to state that as the atm could only disburse eur and the selection was usd there were charges charged on the card known as “dynamic currency conversion”. we again wish to mention that the same are charged by thomas cook and the atm acquiring bank as well .
in the light of the above mr. balasubramanian, we regret to inform that we are unable to reverse the full charges deducted from the card and purely as a gesture of goodwill will only be able to reverse the conversion charges of eur 40.72 as special case. alternatively you can also raise a dispute with the chargeback team . the same can be done by filling up the attached form and send it to [protected]@borderlessprepaid.com .we wish to mention that the dispute needs 50-60 days to get resolved as the back end team investigates the matter with bank / merchant and then responds to you. kindly update us on the option you wish to avail.
we are delighted to be associated with you and look forward to your continuing patronage with thomas cook
unquote;
my reply to the above mail was as under:
quote:
i find no form attached your mail of 27.03.2015. kindly forward the same to me as i shall be taking up with your charge back team and also with consumer disputes redressal forum for having charged for a service not provided by your esteemed organisation.
unquote:
last mail received from thomas cook, india, on 6.4.2015 is as under:
quote:
this is with reference to your email dated april 06, 2015 in response to our email dated march 27, 2015 as regards your borderless prepaid card.
as mentioned in your email please find attached the form to raise a dispute with the chargeback team. please fill the same up and send it to [protected]@borderlessprepaid.com .we wish to mention that the dispute needs 50-60 days to get resolved as the back end team investigates the matter with bank / merchant and then responds to you.
we thank you once again for writing to us.
unquote:
conclusion:
1. i had requested for disbursal o[censored]sd however, the atm disbursed only euros. my card was also loaded with euros.
2. as per thomas cook, when in europe, the atms will disburse only euros and not any other currency.
3. the service requested for has not been provided i.e. request for disbursal o[censored]sd was not honoured.
4. if the request was honoured i.e. usd was disbursed thomas cook is justified in charging the so called dynamic conversion charges.
5. since there is no service provided which was requested and on the contrary it has been a nightmare for me since the charges has been levied for not providing service requested and there has been a deficiency in service, i requested that the entire amount deducted both by thomas cook and itscorrespondent bank be refunded to me.
the matter was taken up with both thomas cook in india and uk, who have refused to refund the amount.
since the service sought was not provided, it amounts to deficiency of service and by charging the so called dynamic conversion charges, thomas cook fleeces its clients by unauthorsied charges. i request you to take up the issue and resolve the same asap.
further i request you to bring to the notice of general public the games played by these so called travel agents to fleece the customers.
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