In Reply to: Tegal Sari & bank fees posted by MalenyDeb on Thursday, 7. September 2006 at 04:22 Bali Time:
I transfer money via bank transfer on a regular basis to Indonesia and never had as much as USD40 deducted. When transfering say AUD1000 to BCA we pay AUD28 on this end, and on the other end they take approx AUD7 in fees. Same goes for BNI.
If this was another hotel I would say that they are lying about the amount of the fees deducted, but these guys have a good reputation.
From what I understand about international money transfers, often your bank will use a 'middle man' bank - and they also take their cut. You have no control over this. Neither does the recipient at the other end. They go to get their money and the bank has only deposited so much - often the bank has received the money with fees deducted by another institution.
This is not just to do with Indonesia, it goes with any type of transfer, anywhere in the world.
So it does get tricky sending AUD to be converted to Rp, as you never really know how much you are going to have to send to cover the amount owed. Especially if you haven't dealt with the recipent's bank before..
Looks like an expensive lesson. Hopefully Tegal Sari will let you pay the difference when you get there, cause it will cost you a fortune to send USD40 - or you are going to end up sending CC details after all :(