Best way to 'detax' after H in Europe
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Usually there's only a line at the office before security. But there are more possibilities than just that one.
I took cash for everything other than my Hermes purchases this time. I wish Hermes would allow cash refunds.
Global blue confirmed to me that they charged a 4% conversion fee from € to £ on top of their huge administrative fee. They said Amex requires them do do that even though my refund is $. I took it up with A/X.
Wow! This might push me to finally cancel my Amex card, why am I paying them a huge fee every year?
This is a screen shot of my email from global blue.
I just called global blue. I was advised that many customers are complaining about this with American Express. First about the conversion nonsense and now about the processing times. Per their agreement with American Express they cannot give out transaction identification numbers for us to track our refunds. They advised me to use visa from now on.
I just called American Express. They claim to know nothing about this and state that their policy is to refund payments from global blue within three days. They told me they would have someone look into it and get back to me within 72 hours.
I'll be looking for a new credit card. For this nonsense I pay them a $450 annual fee and they charge merchants more to process my charges. Ridiculous.
This is a screen shot of my email from global blue.
I just called global blue. I was advised that many customers are complaining about this with American Express. First about the conversion nonsense and now about the processing times. Per their agreement with American Express they cannot give out transaction identification numbers for us to track our refunds. They advised me to use visa from now on.
I just called American Express. They claim to know nothing about this and state that their policy is to refund payments from global blue within three days. They told me they would have someone look into it and get back to me within 72 hours.
I'll be looking for a new credit card. For this nonsense I pay them a $450 annual fee and they charge merchants more to process my charges. Ridiculous.
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Wow! Look at that. Within 30 minutes of my second call American Express has finally "found" my credit and listed it on my statement, although I think they just posted the amount that I told them to appease me. They posted it with a date of 5/26 not 5/29 and with no details.
Looking online there are plenty of Visa cards with lower fees and no foreign transaction fees including cards from chase and capitol one.
Looking online there are plenty of Visa cards with lower fees and no foreign transaction fees including cards from chase and capitol one.
I have a Chase card with no foreign transaction fees for when I travel.
If you do want to switch, I use Chase Sapphire as an alternative to Amex. The two cards are in a pitched battle for members vis a vis points and rewards so i keep both (my work gives me the Business Centurion card as well, but I don't think it's worth the fee). Sorry for the OT but it is somewhat germane.
For personal travel I have the Bank of America travel rewards card. I have been happy with that. No annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, VAT refund exchange rate seems to be same as market rate.
+2 on Cavalla's and Quelleformage's suggestion
The Chase Reserve is more comparable to the AMEX platinum. It's got 3x dining and travel points...still not as good as 5x travel from AMEX. But if you like to dine out, this is a better card. No foreign transaction fees.
Sapphire Reserve = same card I am talking about. When Chase launched 3x points that is when Amex went from 3x to 5x (and launched the all-metal card just like Chase). Neither card has foreign transaction fees. To stay on topic, with the Chase you won't have to ask to have the Global Blue exchange silliness removed - same as with Amex Centurion. Now back to topic
I have always flown direct from CDG, but I have some unused tickets on British airways, so I'm thinking of using them. If I fly CDG to LHR to the US with just a 2-3 hour stopover at LHR do I do the VAT process at CDG? Does anyone know if it's a pita to do this? Do you have to get your luggage at LHR and go through the whole customs and security thing twice? Thanks for any advice. Feel free to pm me if it veers off topic.