- Thread starter canbon
- Start date
paying with credit cards
The rule of thumb for safety when paying with a credit card at any restaurant or store is to not let the card leave your sight. It takes about 2 seconds to slide your card through a card reader which saves the digital data for later use. I have heard there were some restaurants in Samana where this was done, but that was years ago.
ive used my credit cards dozens of times both in punta cana and santo domingo and have never had any problems. i dont recall being charged an extra fee/percentage for using them either. i felt safe using them in restaurants, hotels, shopping centers etc...but i never used them in bars or discos.
If you use a credit card for purchases such as jewelry, they have to charge you the tax. If you pay in cash, it is cheaper.
They cannot legally do this in the DR. Call the card company (VisaNet / CardNet) and they will cancel their account. I recently threatened to do this with a computer parts company in Santo Domingo and they backed down and allowed me to use my CC without and additional %.
What I'm seeing more of at restaurants is cash deals without the 16% ITBIS and 10% service charge. This way they avoid the tax man and all the issues that come with trying to run a legal business
