Bad business

Recently I had to send US$400 via Western Union Quick Pay. I went to the Kuta branch of Bank BII who are the agents for Western Union. They would not accept U.S. currency of $400 but told me I could change the dollars into rupiah at a low rate and then buy dollars at a higher rate which I could then send. What a rip off!

I then withdrew the sum of Rp 3,484,000 (at the prevailing exchange rate of the day) Rp 8,710 =$400 plus Rp 133,000 charges, from my BII A/C and sent it. I then received notification from the recipient that they had only received $389 from Western Union. I queried this with bank BII and was told that BII don't use the same exchange rate as Western Union. I feel that this is bad business ethics on the part of Bank BII and Western Union.

I would like an explanation from both.

DIETMAR DUXORTH

Denpasar, Bali