You used to be able to pay via paypal?
That might avoid all this bank awkwardness.
Chess.com overcharging in UK
Sort:
@netzach...I paid by Paypal and was overcharged.
@SamAdam...Exactly!
loudonv wrote:
For the record, Erik has written to me confirming that Chess.com is charging 7 US Dollars for Platinum monthly membership, not the 4 Pounds Sterling that they advertise and invoice.
The issue is very simple - Chess.com should bill what they advertise and they invoice, which they don't - they bill UK users in US Dollars.
The Premium user is then left to pay any additional exchange rate charges, in my case an additional 13%.
If Chess.com simply advertised monthly charges in USD, which is what they actually bill, there would be no problem.
Personally I would be perfectly happy to pay 7 USD per month for Platinum membership, which is still a great deal for the service provided, in my opinion.
Just bill what you advertise, that's all.
skullskullskull wrote:
Any resolution on this?
Yeah, "Regardless of which currency you are invoiced for, we will charge you in dollars" (more or less).
Yes Doggy, that's always been the case but when I open this page...
http://www.chess.com/membership?c=account
to check the different payment plans, prices are still quoted in Pounds Stirling without any proviso about currency exchange 'add-ons' !
That's the misleading thing & what we were complaining about & nobody seems to have done anything about it. All it needs is a sentence to explain that charging is carried out in US Dollars & the Stirling equivalents are illustrative only - then Chess.com would be off the hook.
stephen_33 wrote:
Yes Doggy, that's always been the case but when I open this page...
http://www.chess.com/membership?c=account
to check the different payment plans, prices are still quoted in Pounds Stirling without any proviso about currency exchange 'add-ons' !
That's the misleading thing & what we were complaining about & nobody seems to have done anything about it. All it needs is a sentence to explain that charging is carried out in US Dollars & the Stirling equivalents are illustrative only - then Chess.com would be off the hook.
Stephen,
When I open that page the prices are quoted in dollars?
Currency: $ US Dollar
Issue may be with either location or chess.com new language-translation services.
Didn't realise that would happen netzach. How about if you go to your account page (Home>Account) & click on the link in "Click here to see the additional features offered to Platinum and Diamond Members.." ?
Then you should see the various payment plans in the correct currency.
You're right skulls, they have changed the Stirling prices except for Gold membership! Their problem is that because they bill in USD, the actual amount charged will always be different from the advertised amount, since the exchange rate fluctuates from day to day.
So members are still going to be annoyed because they'll think they're being over-charged.
No don't have those links. Prices today however seem to be:
$99 or £64 for Diamond membership annual.
I dug out today's exchange rate although it's constantly changing & $99.00 comes to 63.23 GBP, so that looks pretty close.
Of course a person's bank has a right to charge commision on currency conversion & will usually do that by applying a slightly altered exchange rate to leave them with a small (hopefully) fee.
stephen_33 wrote:
Yes Doggy, that's always been the case but when I open this page...
http://www.chess.com/membership?c=account
to check the different payment plans, prices are still quoted in Pounds Stirling without any proviso about currency exchange 'add-ons' !
That's the misleading thing & what we were complaining about & nobody seems to have done anything about it. All it needs is a sentence to explain that charging is carried out in US Dollars & the Stirling equivalents are illustrative only - then Chess.com would be off the hook.
I am familiar with all the issues in this thread. I merely expressed what seems to be Chess.com's stance.
Exchange rate only applies when making the offer in another currency.
If the OP was quoted £4, that is what he should pay. If advertised in Sterling then they must charge the quoted price in Steling. The exchange rate doesn't matter in this instance.
Sorry Doggy, I misunderstood your comment - I thought you were saying this had been sorted out but nothing has really changed (as you know).
You're right Genghis but this site has got itself into a bind because they bill in dollars but advertise their prices in local currencies. You'd think it was clear cut - if something is advertised in a currency at a certain price then the supplier must not charge more than that but I've been searching around consumer protection & regulatory websites & havn't been able to find anything definitive.
Chess.com only needs to explain to paying members that they'll be charged in dollars & any prices shown in Stirling are only for guidance. On the other hand they could I suppose, bill people in their local currency & absorb the currency conversion risk themselves. But as an American company I'm not sure if they are even allowed to charge people's credit cards in anything but dollars.
Just to update this thread, my gold membership became due for renewal on the 24th/May & 29.00 USD was billed to my credit card account which, after conversion, resulted in a charge of 19.32 GBP (pounds Sterling).
The advertised rate for the UK until recently was 19.00 GBP but I've just checked again & it's now shown as 20.00 GBP, so it seems I got quite a good deal!
Why has this been moved to off topic? It should be in either premium members (which it was originally in) or help & support
They should show the actual price and an approximation of the local price based on exchange rates, but the dollar price should be more visible and the local price should have an asterisk and then a note that it is only approximate
Yes, that point has been made before but without much result. Probably better if local-currency quoted prices were scrapped altogether & only dollar prices shown. In some jurisdictions, quoting in local currency without any warning about the affects of currency-conversion can put you in contravention of that country's consumer legislation!
If for example I see a price of 20 GBP (£20.00), & I click on accept, then a contract has been struck between myself & chess.com. If subsequently the charge comes in at 20.50 GBP, then I have a justifiable complaint if I havn't been warned about the currency conversion, because I was actually billed in US dollars.
Particularly bad was the defence used by the site that the extra amount was due to the member's bank/credit card provider charging commission. In my case the 29 USD annual subscription charge was billed to my card account, translated into Sterling using the exchange rate prevailing at that moment but without any commission whatsoever. Of course one's bank may charge what exchange rate it sees fit in order to provide some profit on the transaction but customers need to be made aware of that.
Well as much as I love a good scandal. I checked my last payment and it was £8.96 against the advertised £9.00...