foreign transaction fee/dining cancellations

[spinchy]

Just got my dining cancellation notices for my upcoming trip and had a thought. On Hoop Dee Doo (or anything else pre-paid) Canadians will end up taking a loss on any refunds due to foreign transaction fees on our credit cards. Has anybody ever asked Disney if they'd be willing to provide any extra compensation for this? Normally I wouldn't even think about it because it wouldn't be much, but this time I'm bringing a group of 24 so it'll add up. Not really their problem, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask (would sure be nice to get a gift card for the difference). Anybody ever asked Disney about something like this or know who to ask to speak with (ie Dining reservation line, guest services, somebody else)?

 

[Starwind]

I never have, figured it is the cost of being a foreign visitor to WDW. We therefore are very careful in what we prepay vs pay as we go whenever possible so have only ended up caught out a small number of times. This situation creates unavoidable gotchas though, and the amount could be a chunk for a group that size.

That said, it is possible with the exchange rate drop that you may come out even or possible ahead, depending on the differential. Have you compared the exchange rates to get an idea ?

If you are rescheduling your trip as opposed to outright canceling, you may want to ask if they could apply the credit toward the new trip instead of processing it as a refund, explaining that otherwise you take a loss due to the foreign exchange fees. Not sure if they can do it, but worst case they say they can't.

SW

 

[spinchy]

I never have, figured it is the cost of being a foreign visitor to WDW. We therefore are very careful in what we prepay vs pay as we go whenever possible so have only ended up caught out a small number of times. This situation creates unavoidable gotchas though, and the amount could be a chunk for a group that size.

That said, it is possible with the exchange rate drop that you may come out even or possible ahead, depending on the differential. Have you compared the exchange rates to get an idea ?

If you are rescheduling your trip as opposed to outright canceling, you may want to ask if they could apply the credit toward the new trip instead of processing it as a refund, explaining that otherwise you take a loss due to the foreign exchange fees. Not sure if they can do it, but worst case they say they can't.

SW

Thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely see if I can get a credit rather than a refund. And I’m not sure whether the exchange rate will make things better or worse to be honest, but I know the stupid exchange fee will be there either way. I miss my chase visa that didn’t charge that extra fee!

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

We have a US credit card (through BMO) for this reason. Whenever we know something is going to get booked in USD, we charge it onto that. When the exchange rate is in our favour, we convert some $ and put it into a US savings account. We had an ADR at CRT which just got cancelled, so will have a $300US credit coming back to the card. I am hoping we can re-book something else sooner than later so that we can just keep that $ in the card's account and not lose out on the exchange, which is what would happen if they tried to cash out the refund for us. (We had free dining, but had to prepay for the CRT ADR).

 

[von Monster]

Thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely see if I can get a credit rather than a refund. And I’m not sure whether the exchange rate will make things better or worse to be honest, but I know the stupid exchange fee will be there either way. I miss my chase visa that didn’t charge that extra fee!

Have you looked at either the Brim Mastercard or Scotiabank Infinite Visa? Both carry no fx fee like the Chase Amazon did.

 

[uandmfan]

We have a US credit card (through BMO) for this reason. Whenever we know something is going to get booked in USD, we charge it onto that. When the exchange rate is in our favour, we convert some $ and put it into a US savings account. We had an ADR at CRT which just got cancelled, so will have a $300US credit coming back to the card. I am hoping we can re-book something else sooner than later so that we can just keep that $ in the card's account and not lose out on the exchange, which is what would happen if they tried to cash out the refund for us. (We had free dining, but had to prepay for the CRT ADR).

Can you get your USD VISA put into your USD account? We have a USD VISA and account with TD and credits can go back directly to the account without being converted to CAD

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

I don’t know, and I don’t recall what the reason for switching was (we used to have a USD credit card through TD but for some reason my husband wanted to get the BMO one instead). Even if the credit card insists on cashing it out, it would be in USD so I am assuming we can take that and deposit it straight into bank account, with no conversion fees at all.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Sadly, when you use a Canadian credit card, this is something that you have to consider when pre-paying items in US$ While sometimes I end up losing money, there are other times, like when I cancelled my DCL cruise, that I made money - My credit was higher than what it originally cost me with the exchange.