Posted by LarryInAUS on Wednesday, 30. December 1998 at 07:05 Bali Time:
In Reply to: MONEY CHANGERS...CAUTION posted by Agung on Wednesday, 30. December 1998 at 00:48 Bali Time:
I can imagine what the email would be like. We have been to Bali many times over the past 15 years and had our first rip-off earlier this year in Seminyak. I went on my own to a money changer next to a laundry (ominous? taken to the cleaners?) in Jalan Dhyana Pura. Changing $A100 @ rate of $A1=R8700 (i.e. R870,000 total of R20,000 more than any near-by changers). Of course they only had R5,000 notes. When I counted out the 1st stack of R100,000 it was R5,000 short - no problem - he adds one to it. I finished counting all the stacks twice, and had them in front of me on my right, when he placed another R5000 note on the table to my left and asked was I sure they were all correct. I went back to my hotel and re-counted it and was R170,000 short. It was then that I realised that when I was distracted by that R5,000 note, he had obviously palmed 2 stacks (R100,000 and R70,000). I went back to the changer, with my partner, and confronted him with my knowledge of how he had palmed the money, and we threatened to get the police if he didn't refund it. I was surprised at how quickly he conceded that he had stolen the money, but claimed he only had R150,000 on hand. Since it equaled out to what the other changers were offering, and a lot better than losing the R170,000, I accepted. Now we only change money when together and can keep a close eye on what's happening AND we rely on getting money from VISA (direct debit)ATMs, which we discovered gave us better rates than any of the money changers.