There are many “authorised” money changes in Bali. I had to write about this and hope that all that visits Bali are awary of these so called money changers. They are everywhere and their little stalls are basically like wooden counters and manned by 2 or 3 males. The advertised rates are fantastic and this is the hook to get you in.
We did change our money at one of these on the first day and only found out that we lost some money after dinner when we counted how much we had left. We lost about 400,000 rupiah and that is a fair bit of money. We were quite sure we counted the money but I recalled being a little flustered and confused when they asked if we had change for a 50,000 rupiah. And the odd thing was once we counted the money, they had to count again and placed the money near their end of the counter.
Anyway, after that first bad encounter, we were extra careful the second time round. We were changing about 200AUD and they claim that they only had it in 20 000 rupiah which sounded strange to me. So my suspicion rose. And the second thing was that they did the same trick. I will count the money and they will start counting again. Further more, they keep going back to the calculator to see how much did they need to give us. WTF? Thirdly, they asked for a small change yet again. I told them if they count the money, I will still count again. This lasted for about 5 times! I was getting annoyed. The last time I counted, I discovered that I was short and asked them why. One of the guys behind the counter had a stack of notes in his hands and one of our 50AUD. I questioned him and demanded for 50AUD that he had in his hands. They probably knew that I was suspecting them and told me to go away and claim that they did not want my business. I gladly took all my money and walked away. Just so dodgy.
One of the many dodgy money changer
We were really stressful because we had very little money left and it was a Sunday so all banks are closed. And even the money changer near CLIO was terrible. I thought if we changed small, the less likelyhood of getting cheated. So instead of the advertised 9095, it became 8000 to 1AUD.
In desperation, we walked the streets of Seminyak trying to find a reliable money changer. We saw one that looks like an office and proper glass divider and prayed that they are reliable. The rates were as attractive but it did say authorised by Bank of Indonesia and they even issue a receipt! First question we asked was do you have demoniations in 50 000 rupiah and he said ‘Yes’. We saw a gleam of hope. And we proceeded to change the currency. No hassle. It was really quick. He counted, we counted. We did an exchange, took the pink receipt and left. Feeling very relieve.
(Please forgive my reflection… hehe)
Location: Seminyak
Address: Jalan Raya Seminyak No.73G, Kuta
An authorised money changer
So if you ever travel to Seminyak or parts of Bali, either change at the bank or change at one of these real money changers. They aren’t easy to find but they are around. Do not be deceived by high rates advertised by these conman. It was such a bad experience and really spoil our mood for most of the day.We have travelled through Asia many times before and this is definitely one of the worst experience with any money changers.
Have you ever had any bad money changer experience when you were travelling?
Thanks for the tip! I have never visited Bali, but I appreciate that you told us about bad money changers.
so sorry to hear of your bad experience but thanks for sharing.
Dodgy, but then again we are talking about Indonesia so nothing surprising.
Thanks for sharing! I have only deal with money changer in Singapore and this is definitely a good tip to keep in mind for my future trips.
i love bali, i’ve been there around 3 times when i was still living in hk.
i felt for you here. but i’ve never even considered to deal my money with a non-bank location.
thanks for the info though!
Thanks for sharing your experience. At least we know now.
Gosh… thanks for sharing the experience. We now know what to watch for.
Oh yeah, must be extra careful next time! These guys were trying to play tricks with you. Shame on them!!!! Luckily, you aware of it.
Ugh, how frustrating! When you’re traveling in a foreign country, the last thing you want to worry about is getting conned.
we change here before going over there.
That really sucks, so sorry you got ripped off! (I typed “you poor thing” but then realised that using the word “poor” is probably inconsiderate in this case!). I hope you managed to quell your stress with a cold drink after all of that, and thanks for the tip.
Thanks for sharing the tip. Never been to Bali before, so will know what to do should I go there in future.
Oh man,Vietnam was notorious for counting your money really fast and dropping bills on the floor. They do this especially when you are exchanging money in large amounts knowing that you don’t want to count the large bills in front of everyone to avoid the risk of getting robbed while riding on your scooter. Then in Thailand, it seems like everyone wants to sell you rubys and the Tut Tuts always take you everywhere else but your intended location. Crooks!
Hate it when you can’t trust people sometimes. At least people that come here now know what to look for and what to steer clear of!
I’m glad you still have some money left! You and mister be careful, girly!
The downside to Bali is being constantly hassled (what’s your name, where are you from, come to my shop, here’s a free scratchie – oh my goodness you won a prize!…) and the many ways some of the locals are out to rip you off. But do you blame them? We are so obviously rich by comparision, outsmarting the rich white folk or sucking us in with a sob story is part of the Bali experience. The upside to Bali is the wonderful food, culture and of course the people too.
The first place we stayed in Bali was a great, budget guest house in Sanur run by expat Australians. We asked them where to change money and they told us the closest, trustworthy money changer. No problem. I was not ripped off. My partner thought he’d go elsewhere for a better rate – watched like a hawk, got ripped off. THEN went back to do it again to see if he could catch them out. He caught them on one slip up, they corrected it but in the end even though he’d counted it in front of them, later he recounted and found it was short. He seemed amused by it. But these were small amounts, maybe max $50 AU. Elsewhere on holiday I found the places mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide didn’t rip us off.
On our recent trip to Malaysia we marveled at the financial honesty and the lack of being hassled. It was a refreshing change but I’ll always have a soft spot for Bali, despite the annoyances
many places I have visited are the same no matter what country…normally try to go to a bank or get just enough at the airport (poor rate) to get us through…
Thanks for the great advice. I think we are a little too trusting in Australia, so it’s worth being more careful (and suspicious?) when we travel overseas.
To everyone:
Thanks for all your response and I do apologise that I am not replying individually. Just got back from holidays and so many emails to go through at work.
We have learnt our lesson and this is a caution for everyone to be wary when travelling. This does not apply to just Asia. We have travelled Europe and there are similar money changers. They work the same way and like to create confusion.
So be safe when travelling. Change at the bank in that country or really big money changers. Lower rates but a peace of mind.
Cheers
Penny aka Jeroxie
Wow, I always try to exchange at the airport or at the bank, so haven’t encountered this yet, but it seems very dodgy and frustrating indeed! Thanks for sharing your experience, and I’m sorry you had to deal with all of that!
Same thing happened to us the first time we went to Bali. They counted it and showed us the piles etc and then gathered it all up in a pile wherein they then proceeded to dump some in their own lap. We saw it and took our AUD and exchanged it at the hotel instead!
We’ve been lucky changing money when we’ve travelled, although I was once in southern Thailand when the Asian financial crisis hit, and most of the “reputable” money changers were quickly out of cash. We had to resort to a less formal operation, but didn’t do too badly out of it.
I guess it pays to be extremely vigilant.
I’ve never been cheated by a money changer but my sister changed all her money once in a store that gave her really lousy rates and when I asked her why she went there she said “because they put a sign infront that said BEST RATES”… hmmm… thanks for sharing!
I’ve heard a lot about people getting duped but I guess I’m really lucky. Touch wood, I’ve not encountered any of these incidents thru my years of travelling except corrupted uniform personnels in Paris, China, Indonesia & Malaysia, trying to get money/gifts from me. It’s scary because they’re security officers at the airport or policemen in the streets. They can do anything they want :<
I am so sorry you had to experience that on your vacation! I never had the opportunity to use a money changer but I will keep this in mind when I come across one. That is very frustrating!
Grrr – poor you but good for you for posting it to hopefully help out some others…
@Experimental – Just an experience so I thought people should know about it
@Lorraine – Dodgy indeed but lesson learnt
@Injera – It does too. Will be very careful next time.
@Trissa – Never believe “Best Rates” signs anymore
@Blackswan – I agree. It can be quite daunting.
@Jessie – Better be careful than sorry.
@Mardi – We are fine but was kind of pissed off. Lesson learnt.