I know this is kind of a downer of a topic, but I saw something kind of surprising yesterday.

I was having a beer with a friend of mine at a table on the street in Nerudova in Prague, just over the Charles Bridge. In front of us, open to the street, was a Chequepoint exchange bureau, one of quite a few in the city. Outside in front they have a large placard which reads 'We sell' (in very tiny letters) and then in very big letters - Dollar: 31.48, Euro: 31.16 and so on. Their buying rates were posted too, but inside in a dark corner. They were somewhat lower. A family from Hong Kong got hysterical when they found out that the buying rate for a Euro was 24.something. That's a cool profit of about 6 crowns per Euro for Chequepoint, and the man lost about 1000 crowns. Once they realized what was going on they wanted their money back, but to no avail.

Anyway, we started talking to them and then they sat down and had a beer and we ended up talking to a lot of people who couldn't believe the rates, because the man who got stung yelled at all potential customers to come over and check his receipt before going in. It was a neat afternoon and I heard a lot about Hong Kong, but I can't believe such a respectable looking company is such a low-down clip joint. I checked the net and it is full of similar complaints, most of which are blamed on the Czechs, but our waiter told us Chequepoint is a British outfit. I only have his word for it, though.

I really can't stand this kind of thing and I'm wondering if this summer or ever you have experienced this kind of robbery, legitimized or not? What did you do about it?

I was in Prague last summer and I needed to change some money. I was about to do it at Chequepoint, but fortunately I saw the buying rates at the right time (or rather at the last minute) and went to another exchange bureau, having warned the people who were standing after me in the queue.
This year I visited Budapest with my family and our landlord told us that there was a currency exchange company (I think it was called Eurochange, but I'm not 100% sure) which always tried to cheat their customers. At least we were warned. I guess it is just a good idea to check on the rates and whether or not there is a commission fee, and ask for a receipt.

When I visited Prague in 1991 and 1993 I noticed that *all* the bureaux de change were offering riff-off rates, so I went to the Bank Austria instead where the rates for buying and selling were more or less in line with West European levels.

Btw, all the former Eastern Bloc countries have a bad reputation for ripping off tourists and, alas, the Czech Republic is no exception. As my landlady in Prague said, 'Lots of people can't see the difference between free entreprise and crime.'

In both Bulgaria and Romania one finds commission and non-commission bureaux de change within a few yards of one another. They tend to offer very similar rates of exchange but the commission places charge 8% - yes, jawhohl - 8% commission! The locals all use the non-comission places.

Good for you, pia fraus. I suppose that happens a lot in those places, and I just wonder how the staff can stand working there. It can't be pleasant to deal with masses of really upset people even if you don't mind stealing from them.

Hi Bloomsby! Things are a lot more normalized now. Our waiter told us that he tried to point out to his customers that there is a place up the street a little that offers much more reasonable rates. It's still true that beer is an obscene 95 crowns in the centre of town (I pay about 20 in Hradec), and there are still some places that post dual prices - one for Czechs and one for foreigners. You are far more likely to get robbed in a shop in Prague rather than by a pickpocket in the street. However, tourism is down this summer a lot - I noticed prices of the horrible 'souveniers' they flog were slashed a lot by the middle of July - most unusual. People aren't stupid and everything has a saturation point. Best thing to do is stay out of the city and travel around the countryside, through the beautiful little towns and see the spectacular scenery. There you'll find lots to do and buy at fair prices.