They do a pretty good business with Russian oligarchs, Chinese businesses and Arab royalty; currently the three investment banking conglomerates vying for a piece of their IPO in 2018. I think it saves you the hassle of applying for a VAT refund yourself but likely costs you a bit of that refund. It also saves retailers the hassle of creating their own VAT refund system and then advertising it as such. And they offer currency conversions for you as well, likely credit card rates on that, so helpful only if you were going to pay in local, converted cash. It's probably better than applying for the refund yourself. But you won't be getting all of your VAT back unless you're spending gillions. I would assume the more you spend the less you pay in fees...that's why the richie riches of the world like it. It's a "might as well" scenario as you probably won't do the paper work to get it back yourself.
|