Posted by Martin on Sunday, 1. November 1998 at 18:54 Bali Time:
In Reply to: Money Changers - Be Careful posted by Jon on Thursday, 29. October 1998 at 01:15 Bali Time:
When in Bali in early October I experienced a few attempts to con me - one succeeded. Let me say first that I typically only exchanged $Aust50 at a time so I probably had 5 doubtful attempts out of 15 - 20 tries.
The most common: with the exchange rate then I got say $270,000 for my $50. They would hand over $200,000 (genuine, though I always counted it) then 7 x $1000 notes to make up the balance. Tried 3 times.
Next: changer was counting out cash when his friend came up, slapped me on the shoulder saying "Good to see you. What have you been doing" etc. I did notice that the count went 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 but I checked total anyway and the changer was all smiles at his mistake.
The one that I fell for : the changer was offering a good rate and worked out the conversion on his calculator. It struck me as wrong so I picked up his calculator and did the conversion myself. It agreed with his and so I accepted it. Back at the hotel, still feeling niggled I did the same on my own calculator and got a figure ~5% higher than I had accepted. Oh well! carried my own calculator after that.
Another thing, arriving at the airport with no Indonesia cash I went straight to one of the 20 or so stalls and changed some cash. Ten seconds later I was feeling stupid when I found that the stalls 20 metres further away than the one opposite the gateway was offering a rate 20% better than the one I chose.
Finally something which may be obvious, some changers offer a rate with "No Commission". Others charged commission and generally offered a slightly better rate. Often ran out equal with a commission of 2-3%. One place I tried was going to charge 7%. Always ask rate so you can compare!