Overcharged

I bought some tickets on the internet for £78. This total cost was on the receipt that I printed off at the end of the booking process and also the confirmation email. I paid with my VS CC.

It seems that this transaction has gone through Paypal although I am sure that I do not have an account with them.

Just looked at my CC statement and I have been charged £82.41p.
I rang VS CC help desk and they say that Paypal have charged £82.41 against my CC and they advised that I take this matter up direct with Paypal.
I rang Paypal and they tell me that they have only charged £78 against my CC and that I should ring my CC issuer. They also said that my CC Company may have added a surcharge as it was a Paypal transaction.

Before I ring VS back has anybody had a similar problem and is it likely that VS have added a surcharge without my agreement?

Thanks,
Tim.

First question is from whom did you buy the tickets ? UK or US based ?

Paypal is getting ever more sophisticated (aka confusing). I know it used to be the case that a Paypal account holder selling something could force the purchaser to pay all the Paypal fees but at that time you both had to have a Paypal account. Trawling the website suggests that they (Paypal) may have extended their services to allow direct cc payments in some instances.

Paul

[HighFlyer]

Tim

Take a look at this thread for an explanation.

In short, Paypal converts the payment to US Dollars then back to GBP again which usually results in a small increase due to the currency conversions. This is how Paypal handles AmEx payments i am afriad, so users be advised.

Thanks,
Sarah

Log into your PayPal account and pull up your transactions for the week in question. Look for the correct transaction.

One line will show your credit card was charged a specific amount. The line above will show how much was paid to Virgin.

The difference, alas, is the conversion fee. You can't get a refund of it; the only way one can is if PayPal does not pay the vendor in a timely manner. In this case, since VS says they were paid, I'm afraid you just paid a little more than you expected.

Sorry [:#]

Originally posted by vs_itsallgood
Log into your PayPal account and pull up your transactions for the week in question. Look for the correct transaction.

One line will show your credit card was charged a specific amount. The line above will show how much was paid to Virgin.

The difference, alas, is the conversion fee. You can't get a refund of it; the only way one can is if PayPal does not pay the vendor in a timely manner. In this case, since VS says they were paid, I'm afraid you just paid a little more than you expected.

Sorry [:#]

[:?] But I thought Tim's original point was that he doesn't have a Paypal account so it isn't going to be conversion of rates on the payment of transactions in *his* account...

Paul

Originally posted by pjh

Originally posted by vs_itsallgood
Log into your PayPal account and pull up your transactions for the week in question. Look for the correct transaction.

One line will show your credit card was charged a specific amount. The line above will show how much was paid to Virgin.

The difference, alas, is the conversion fee. You can't get a refund of it; the only way one can is if PayPal does not pay the vendor in a timely manner. In this case, since VS says they were paid, I'm afraid you just paid a little more than you expected.

Sorry [:#]

[:?] But I thought Tim's original point was that he doesn't have a Paypal account so it isn't going to be conversion of rates on the payment of transactions in *his* account...

Paul

Exactly, Tim didn't pay through Paypal. The receipt said the total price was £78 yet he was charged a different amount, which is surely illegal.

As long as the receipt said the amount in Sterling then I think you have a good case to get the difference back.

I would check with MBNA / VS first to clarify the amount of the transaction, before unleashing the hounds on Paypal [}:)] I'm presuming the transaction went through Paypal UK?

Thanks,

David.

[RichardMannion]

Paypal bill in $'s, so if yoru home currency is not $'s on your AmEx account, you will get charged a ForEx rate and 2.73% commission.

Thanks,
Richard

it's now possible for companies/individuals to use paypal for normal card processing without you having to have a paypal account.

Even after all this time I'm still shocked amex lets paypal get away with the currency conversion!

Thanks for your replies.

I spoke to VS credit card today and initially they said they did not know why I had been charged the £82.41. They said I would have to wait for my monthly statement to explain all.
I enquired about the possibility that I had incurred a surcharge for using AMEX when purchasing these tickets and I was initially told no, but when I pushed this a little the reply came that 'CA' appeared in the description line of the transaction and that my purchase may indeed have been converted to dollars then straight back to pounds.
I have also been informed that I should wait until my monthly statement arrives then if I am still not happy I should query the £82.41 and send in my receipt for the £78.

As far as I am concerned I purchased tickets for a UK event from a UK agent was billed in UK pounds and I paid with a UK issued card.
At no time during the transaction was I informed that any surcharges or currency conversions would be involved. As far as I can see either Paypal or the CC people have charged me for currency transactions that I did not ask for and ones that were totally unnecessary.

I am not happy about this and I shall be following this up with VS AMEX when my statement arrives. If there has been a currency transaction it was definitely unauthorised by myself and totally unnecessary.

Thanks again for your replies.
Tim.

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Paypal bill in $'s, so if yoru home currency is not $'s on your AmEx account, you will get charged a ForEx rate and 2.73% commission.

Thanks,
Richard

Paypal may bill Amex in $, but it's not true to say that Paypal always bill in $. If I buy something on eBay in £ I settle Paypal in £ and pay neither Forex nor commission.

Paul

I bought some tickets on the internet for £78. This total cost was on the receipt

Just looked at my CC statement and I have been charged £82.41p.

I have now received my VS AMEX statement and the difference in the 2 figures is a foreign currency conversion fee.
I have spoken to VS AMEX and they explained that PayPal have added the foreign currency fee. VS AMEX have been great and have/will refund this fee [y]. This despite the fault lying elsewhere.

I shall follow my complaint up with PayPal as I still feel that this was an unauthorised and completely unnecessary foreign currency transaction.

I have spoken to the company that I purchased tickets from and they confirm that they use PayPal UK and that they charge in UK pounds and receive their monies from Paypal in UK pounds. They were completely unaware that PayPal UK had converted my payment to Dollars then straight back to pounds.