I recently did some business with a British publisher who offered me a choice of £50 ($80) or a book up to £150 in value as compensation.  I don’t often buy very books that cost more than $80, so I figured I should take the cash.  But just in case, I contacted my bank (Wachovia) to see what the service fee would be to deposit a check in pounds.  They told me that as long as the currency of the bank matched its nationality (both are British), then there is no extra fee.  I knew they would hit me on the conversion rate, but cash still gave me the best deal.  So I took the cash.

This morning, I went to the bank to deposit the check (first time I used a human teller in years!!).  The teller told me that because it was a foreign check, it had to go to collections.  This has a $75 fee and a week or two delay.  And given the conversion rate hit of 5 cents/pound, I would only get $3.  Needless to say, I was a bit angry.  For $3, I would taken the book.  Or I would not have done the work in the first place.

Given enough complaining, any major company will waive a fee like this, so I got to keep the $78.  But I have now lost faith that contacting customer service to check on fees in advance works.  If I want to sign up for a credit card, get a loan, or whatever, how can you make good decisions if you can’t trust the information they give you?  Do I need to get official letters on company letterhead signed by the “VP of whatever” every time I want to engage in a new kind of transaction? Just the frictional costs of this requirement could add up to a real pain. 

Has anyone else experienced something like this, or is it rare?