Done report police... Then go cimb kl make fill in form dispute to agoda... They cimb will help me tq bro... Btw yeap police sigh loled...

Please note that this is not a scam.... they are charging you based on the latest currency exchange rate on the payment / charging date..

some of you might wonder why the price you saw was RM500 for example but during the charging date (later date) you were being charge for RM520 for example, this is because of the currency fluctuation which caused the diffrent in price.. in fact, the book now pay later feature provice convenience and flexibility especially for those who might thinking of change / cancel the trip later without any charges

Another reason why there is slight different on the charging price is the price that you saw during the initial transaction date was being locked / convereted into MRY, so if you choose to "pay now", you will be charge based on the exact MYR price that you saw. However, if you choose for "book now pay later", the price being locked by the agoda system will be in USD currency, thus, on the later payment date, for example, 6 months later, the charging price will be subject to the USD currency + 1-2% admin fees charged by your VISA/MASTER/AMEX card and it will be like overseas transaction.

Hope it helps

This post has been edited by ckyow1: Sep 15 2018, 11:44 AM

In the event of your home currency strengthening against USD, would you be paying lesser than what you've seen during the "pay now" period?
For example, today exchange rate is 1USD for 4.2MYR, booking is made at 100USD. Few months down the road, exchange rate becomes 1USD to 3.9MYR, would I be paying approximately 390MYR++ (including etc charges) or 420MYR++?

Mind you, the 1-2% admin charges doesn't apply to the "Book Now, Pay Later" feature since conversion of currency is done from Agoda's end and not your bank's end. Your transaction will be done in MYR hence your bank/visa/mastercard/amex will not charge the admin fee. Worse part is you wouldn't know what extorbitant rate is Agoda applying to your booking. I would rather have my bank do the conversion and pay in USD instead. If this is not scam then I don't know what this is.

No doubt this is a convenient feature for people who decides to cancel/change their booking later, but if you're going to charge extra for the convenience just state it clearly instead of trying to blame the price difference towards exchange rate fluctuation.

This post has been edited by evilhomura89: Sep 15 2018, 05:13 PM

It is difficult to argue with people who doesnt accept the fact. The 1-2% admin fee is indeep applied for "book now pay later" booking. If you happen to be a frequent traveller or have any of your friends who working ar Agoda, you should have know for any overseas "book now pay later" booking, you booking will be secure under overseas currency, for example, USD / THD or etc instead of MYR. The local bank will then convert the overseas currency back to MYR during the transaction date / time. Please note that any of the overseas credit card transaction will be subject to additional 1-2% admin fees which charge by visa/master/amex card.

I am sorry to say that, perhaps, you should have learn more about how the overseas transaction works before making any complaint. Furthermore, if you feel Agoda "book now pay later" is not a good option / choice, maybe you can look fot other company / hotel booking website.

It seems to me that you do not understand my statement - the 1-2% visa/master/amex admin charges doesn't apply to the "Book Now, Pay Later" feature becauseconversion of currency is done from Agoda's end and not your bank's end.

In agoda's case (or rather the few experience that I have with Agoda), the card is being charged in MYR immediately instead of USD. No conversion is being done at the bank's end.

How do I know about this? Check the online card statement, if it is a proper overseas transaction, the foreign currency will appear exactly like how it should with its original currency value in USD and the converted value/charged value in MYR.
If it is a MYR transaction, it will appear only in MYR like your normal local transaction. But this could be different for different bank, so I'm not sure how would it be like for you.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure if you have used paypal before, same principal applies but paypal gives you the option to use their USD-MYR conversion rate (ie, card will be charged in MYR) or let the transaction go through as USD transaction and your local bank will do the conversion. And the latter will always be cheaper.
https://thepointsguy.com/2017/05/save-money...g-for-invoices/
Hence, I'm always more than happy to let my bank do the conversion (which will include the admin fees and whatsoever) provided Agoda let the transaction go through as USD transaction.

What i'm trying to do here to get everyone to be aware about the hidden additional cost (cost that are not relevant to currency exchange or admin fees) being charged by Agoda for the convenience/flexibility. So if you need the flexibility, by all means go ahead, no one's gonna stop you.

More post related to this issue - https://www.mybeautycravings.com/paying-mor...goda-pay-later/

For the people who says that it's not a scam, I was looking through Agoda's Terms Of Use, this is what they say about their exchange rate:



Now this is the good part:



Am I misunderstanding something here? Or is Agoda saying they outright charge an extra 5% for pay later?

This post has been edited by mojo86: Sep 27 2018, 01:29 AM

I can't find the quoted section in their Terms Of Use.
Do you have any screenshot?

Hi evilhomura, you can do a search (Ctrl + F) of "Agoda exchange rates" at that link

This post has been edited by mojo86: Sep 27 2018, 10:32 PM

I've tried but what I found is not exactly relevant, not sure if they have a different term of use when viewed from different countries or devices
See attached screenshot from my phone, only found 2 exact match for the keyword

Oh..you are right. For some reason opening it on the phone is a different version. Here's a screenshot of the desktop version:

Thanks for the screenshot.
I suspect Agoda is having different version of Terms of Use being feed to different users (based on device/geolocation/stored cookies etc) - I was not able to see it on my desktop initially. Then I used the incognito mode and the clause appeared

Decided to save a copy of it on PDF
 Agoda_Terms_of_Use.pdf ( 225.82k ) Number of downloads: 51



Either way, who are we to judge whether it's scam or not but at least we can safely assume that users will be paying more for the book now, pay later feature based on the +5% clause
Chances are, 99% of the people who booked via Agoda wouldn't be bothered to go through the Terms of Use hence will be caught unaware of the additional hidden cost

Agoda keep arguing that "Book Now Pay Later" follows the currency exchange rate fluctuation on payment date...

The rate on 31 Oct was around 4.18, they charged me 4.3933 and claims that this is agoda's rate....but switching between 2 currencies (USD and MYR) on a random room from their website on the same day was around 4.17-4.18 too....

this is obviously a scam for using "Book Now and Pay Later"....

This post has been edited by zWinceZz: Nov 5 2018, 12:14 PM

Akin to delivery to you now and then collect money after 30 / 60 days aka credit. Of course la ppl will want to charge you more.

If Agoda stated that it will be extra charge for "Book now and pay later", i will have to accept the payment if i still agree on it.
But they never mention in the first place, they only mention the rate will be vary depending on currency fluctuation during payment date.

This post has been edited by zWinceZz: Nov 5 2018, 12:41 PM

Already kena a few times book now,pay later as the rate is often higher compared to when I initially booked
Once I got refunded the difference and another time I got refund in the form of agoda cash
The CS tell me that the rate is charged in USD and that causes the difference and they suggested for Book now,pay now to avoid currency fluctuations

If I am reading this right - all these only applies to those who choose to pay in converted own currency instead of the currency where the hotel is located?

Example:
So if i book a hotel in japan and choose to pay in JPY (and letting my credit card to charge me for the exchange rate - does not matter what rate), does this thread still applies? Reason is because Agoda now no longer do currency exchange on behalf for me.



This post has been edited by twotwopig: Dec 20 2018, 12:55 PM

I'm not sure if there's a new system in place

However, my last experience with Agoda is there was never an option for you to choose whether to pay in your own currency or let the bank do the currency exchange like how Paypal always do it. They will show the final amount in foreign currency but when the payment day comes, everything is charged in MYR (currency conversion done by Agoda)

I'll be interested to know if the BOLDED part above is true.

I did remember for my last booking I choose Book Now Pay Later but as per this thread, I was charged extra. I disputed the amount because I am sure I choose to pay in the destination currency - just because I've got a credit card with no fees and of course, not subjected to Agoda's rate.

They refunded me anyway.

I think there is no option to pick what currency to pay but the trick is to change the currency at the top of the website to destination currency then at payment page you will see the destination currency that you are paying with instead of home currency.

This is what I usually do when I choose Book Now Pay Later.

If I am paying now, I just didn't bother to change the currency and it defaults to my home currency.

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by twotwopig: Dec 21 2018, 05:11 AM

Hi all. I did a hotel booking a few days ago thru Agoda. Then, today I realised the price is more cheaper than few days back. Is it recommended to just cancel my previous booking and make a new booking? (it is free cancellation, btw). Thank you.