We receive small payments from time to time from 'Affiliate' programmes run on our 'commercial' website and recently were advised the a payment of £50.00 was to be transferred to our account - imagine our dismay to discover when it hit our bank we actually only received € 28
After Pauline called to query this, we got this email breakdown:
God Morning Mrs Craig (it did actually say 'God')
Further to our telephone conversation this morning, I have spoken with our international department to establish how the fees for your foreign transfers are calculated. I enquired for the most recent transfer received and the other transfer received on 22/03/12. The fees are broken down as follows.
24/10/2012
£49.94 GBP received from SCANDIA BANK by SWIFT Transfer
Handling fee 14.18€ flat fee
Foreign Exchange commission 15.85€ calculated at 0.15% of amount with a minimum fee of 15.85€
International advice letter 2.75€ flat fee
Total
So the bank got more than we did! - ah well, they probably need it more than us!
So the bank got more than we did! - ah well, they probably need it more than us!
Absolutely scandalous, but at least we know that as usual it's 'the poor man that pays the full price'!
ReplyDeleteA handling fee is understandable but not 14.18 Euros!
The commission charges are daylight robbery!
You seem to have taken this fleecing very well ... or has the blue air had time to dissipate?
P.S. Perhaps the message is to get it paid into a UK account and cut out the 'middle man' bank!
ReplyDeletePauline has organized this - but we should not have had to! As for our reaction, after being seriously 'done-over'by banks in the past nothing surprises us.
DeleteJust to show that I do still look at your blog from time to time, Jim... here is a commmmmment... I agree with Gaynor... keep it in an English bank and use it online... or open a Britline CA account! We bought our Archos "Radio" from Amazon UK and the postage was only £5... a big difference from 33€s. Oh... and take a look at the link about Pumpkin Carving that I've just put on Gaynor's blog. The third picture shows superb carving skills... and time and patience as does the "Where the Wild Things are" one...
ReplyDeleteThe WV is "12 domebru"... so with the hike [or yike] in beer tax we need to start our own "brasserie"....
I was typing my comment as you were... c'est la vie!
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