h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just came back from a trip to Paris, and would like to warn other visitors about a scam that happened to me. My mom and I were going to see the Effel Tower, and on the way to the place from the Metro station, I thought I should change more Euros. There was a money changer around, I checked the board that displayed the rates, and found that one US dollar would be changed to around 0.907 Euro. I handed over US$200, and got back 135 Euros. I looked at the receipt, and it read that I should get 145 Euros. So I asked the cashier, and she gave me back the difference of 10 Euros. We were in a hurry to go, so even though I thought the exchange was still not right, I did not enquire further. A mistake. Later, I looked at the receipt again, and found that the exchange rate they used to divide the US dollar was 1.19, which was already much higher than the rate that they displayed, and on top of that, there were two fees charged. Since they were in French, I still do not know what they mean. But I do know that at that time, one US dollar should be slightly higher than one Euro.

In another money changer in another location, I got 91 Euro for 100 dollars. Still expensive, but not the two-way scam that I encountered near Effel Tower, in this money exchanger called 'Change Master'. I was not careful in checking the receipt, but when you do not know the language and in a hurry, you can be careless too.

unfortunatly they really can scam you with the exchange rate when you're at your destination.

the best opption for brits is to get hold of an account (last i heard the best was nationwide) with the smallest charge for over-seas withdrawals on switch-meastro. you should be able to use just about any cash point

Then follows travellers checks

and thirdly swaping currency at the airport BEFORE you leave

Mishy