VAT Refunds - A Major Ripoff
A CompuServe Travel Forum member, Brenda Tilke, lives in Europe and has
this to say about VAT Refunds:
These VAT refund plans are among the biggest ripoffs tourists face. Some
airports, like Frankfurt, make it almost impossible to get your VAT back, or
mislead you to the point of being too frustrated to bother.
Example:
At Frankfurt, you deal with the VAT refund people AFTER you check in your
luggage. Which means you have to have everything you bought available for
inspection in your carry-on. Nothing checked. With more airlines tightening
their restrictions on carry-ons, that means you had better buy small things.
Next, when you ask where to get the refund processed, airport staff will
point out a "VAT REFUND" stand clearly visible on the other side of
passport control. So you wait and wait in line to go through PC, then head over
to the stand for your VAT refund to be processed. But guess what? You can only
have it processed there if you've already gotten the correct paperwork stamped
on the other side of passport control! That means going back through PC, down a
small hallway (with only a tiny sign indicated it's where the VAT refund
paperwork is stamped) usually staffed by just one surly person. It's a wait of
an hour or longer at some times. Then back to PC for another waiting period and
then finally to the VAT Refund booth. But of course, if there's the tiniest
mistake on how the paperworked was stamped, etc., then it's no good and you have
to start all over again.
Nice shell game the people at Frankfurt airport are playing. These tactics
allow the Germans to hang onto millions of Euros they aren't entitled to.
08/09/2003 |
