Martin

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 12:20:53 +0100, Giovanni Drogo
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Tim C. wrote:
    >> Depends on the bank. As usual. I would expect the employer to pay the
    >> charges. I suppose some banks may have special agreements for salary
    >> payments.
    >Well, my former employer (a major public research organization) had BNL
    >as bank, and I always had an Intesa account, and the salary has always
    >been paid directly without charges for me. The same is true with my
    >current employer (another public research organization), whose bank I
    >ignore. The same holds for mission refunds. At least some of those
    >operations are dealt with by a "collective mandate", so I guess the
    >employer is paying (for n employees) substantially less than n
    >individual transfers
    >
    >However there was one case (AFAIR in the Euro early times) when I was
    >paid a couple of missions by an international organization hosted in
    >Germany, and I was charged about 12 euro.

The charge is a fixed charge plus a tiny percentage of the amount paid.
--

Martin

Giovanni Drogo

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Martin wrote:

    > >> paid a couple of missions by an international organization hosted in
    > >> Germany, and I was charged about 12 euro.
    >
    > I was paid by the same international organisation, but in NL.
    > Charges are paid in Paris. It sounds like a cock up by your bank in Germany.

I doubt it's the same organization. Mine ends in O (and has no offices
in Paris), I guess yours ends in A, although the remaining letters are
the same :-)

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Martin

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:43:51 +0100, Giovanni Drogo
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Martin wrote:
    >> >> paid a couple of missions by an international organization hosted in
    >> >> Germany, and I was charged about 12 euro.
    >>
    >> I was paid by the same international organisation, but in NL.
    >> Charges are paid in Paris. It sounds like a cock up by your bank in Germany.
    >I doubt it's the same organization. Mine ends in O (and has no offices
    >in Paris), I guess yours ends in A, although the remaining letters are
    >the same :-)

LOL and yours has it's HQ in Garching.

I thought you mentioned Darmstadt once.

Doctor Watson gets the sack for poor detective work.
--

Martin

Giovanni Drogo

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Martin wrote:

    > LOL and yours has it's HQ in Garching.
    > I thought you mentioned Darmstadt once.

Different times, different projects. I have been employed by the latter
long time ago, but my institute supplied an instrument to the former
more recently than that ...

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Neil Williams

David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the royal duchy of city south and
deansgate wrote:

    > I've heard of other banks charging for internet use too- I find it
    > astonishing, as the whole point of internet banking is as you suggest
    > that it requires less time in terms of customer service.

Ryanair charge for Internet check-in, which was the opposite of what
one would expect, namely for them to charge for *desk* check-in as it
requires staff.

Neil

Neil Williams

Markku Gr�nroos wrote:

    > I bought a bottle of soda in Bamberg last summer. I handed over a note of
    > twenty. Lady at the cash register asked whether I have anything smaller than
    > that. After a negative answer she appered very surly. I was greatly amused.
    > I have never witnessed a response like that. After all I wasn't a customer
    > to a kiosk in Indonesia but a fairly large grocery store in Germany.

I noticed that when I used to live over there - German shopkeepers seem
very touchy about giving change. In the UK, it's perfectly normal to
hand over a tenner for a 50p can of Coke, and shopkeepers will usually
keep enough change for that to work. The only exception is bus drivers
(who don't want to carry lots of change so someone's less likely to
steal it) and, for some reason best known to the downright rude woman
behind the desk, the newsagent in Luton Airport arrivals.

Neil

Neil Williams

Tim C. wrote:

    > Following up to Martin <[email protected]> :
    > >Did you visit Italy in the days when there was a shortage of coins and they
    > >used to give packets of bubble gum as small change?
    > Used to happen in the UK in the early 70s. A couple of fruit salad chews or
    > a flying-saucer. Maybe a rhubarb-and-custard boiled sweet.

In the Netherlands they don't routinely use EUR 0.01 and 0.02 coins, so
if you're paying cash the total is normally rounded to the nearest EUR
0.05. (I was impressed that it is the nearest, not just rounding up by
default as you might expect).

Neil

David Horne

Neil Williams <[email protected]> wrote:

    > David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the royal duchy of city south and
    > deansgate wrote:
    >
    > > I've heard of other banks charging for internet use too- I find it
    > > astonishing, as the whole point of internet banking is as you suggest
    > > that it requires less time in terms of customer service.
    >
    > Ryanair charge for Internet check-in, which was the opposite of what
    > one would expect,

That is suprising- well, maybe not!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://www.davidhorne.net/pictures.html http://soundjunction.org

David Horne

Neil Williams <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Markku Gr�nroos wrote:
    >
    > > I bought a bottle of soda in Bamberg last summer. I handed over a note of
    > > twenty. Lady at the cash register asked whether I have anything smaller than
    > > that. After a negative answer she appered very surly. I was greatly amused.
    > > I have never witnessed a response like that. After all I wasn't a customer
    > > to a kiosk in Indonesia but a fairly large grocery store in Germany.
    >
    > I noticed that when I used to live over there - German shopkeepers seem
    > very touchy about giving change. In the UK, it's perfectly normal to
    > hand over a tenner for a 50p can of Coke, and shopkeepers will usually
    > keep enough change for that to work. The only exception is bus drivers
    > (who don't want to carry lots of change so someone's less likely to
    > steal it) and, for some reason best known to the downright rude woman
    > behind the desk, the newsagent in Luton Airport arrivals.

Then there's the Dublin airport express driver who berated my partner
for paying the 5 euro fare in coins...

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://www.davidhorne.net/pictures.html http://soundjunction.org

Tim C .

Following up to "Neil Williams" <[email protected]> :

    >Tim C. wrote:
    >> Following up to Martin <[email protected]> :
    >> >Did you visit Italy in the days when there was a shortage of coins and they
    >> >used to give packets of bubble gum as small change?
    >> Used to happen in the UK in the early 70s. A couple of fruit salad chews or
    >> a flying-saucer. Maybe a rhubarb-and-custard boiled sweet.
    >In the Netherlands they don't routinely use EUR 0.01 and 0.02 coins, so
    >if you're paying cash the total is normally rounded to the nearest EUR
    >0.05. (I was impressed that it is the nearest, not just rounding up by
    >default as you might expect).

What would happen if you could pay the exact amount? Would they be grumpy
at having to take the small coins, I wonder?

The commonest coins in my wallet are 1,2 & 5 cents.
Luckily they're small.
--
Tim C.

B Vaughan

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 12:13:25 +0100, Giovanni Drogo
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Here in Italy Bancomat is for the ATMs, Pagobancomat for the POS in
    >shops (I suppose that's debit card, at least it means I have to type in
    >a PIN, I am charged within 1 working day, and is not annotated in the
    >credit card monthly statement), Moneta and VISA should function as
    >credit card according to the circuit the shop has. I may be asked "carta
    >o bancomat" (where "carta" is for credit card), or I may ask myself to
    >put the payment on one or the other. In general I know it's operating
    >as credit card when I do not have to type in the PIN.

In the US, debit card is something that doesn't seem to have an exact
equivalent in Italy. The debit card can be used to withdraw money
directly from your account, like an ATM card, but also functions as a
credit card, except that the money also comes directly and immediately
from your account.

The Italian Carta Si is like a debit card, in that the money comes
directly from your account, but like a credit card in that the charges
are subtracted once a month, and a statement is sent to you.

There are cards in the US that can be used only to withdraw money and
to make purchases with a PIN (like the Italian bancomat card), but
these are becoming rare, replaced by the debit card.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

Neil Williams

B Vaughan wrote:

    > The Italian Carta Si is like a debit card, in that the money comes
    > directly from your account, but like a credit card in that the charges
    > are subtracted once a month, and a statement is sent to you.

That seems quite an unusual concept. In the UK, you can set up most
credit cards to work like that, with an automatic direct debit from
your account on the due date each month, but there isn't a specific
type of card that will *only* work like that.

Neil

mini Mini

Martin <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:32:03 +0000,
    > [email protected] (David Horne, _the_ chancellor of
    > the royal duchy of city south and deansgate) wrote:
    >
    >>Giovanni Drogo <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>[]
    >>> However there was one case (AFAIR in the Euro early times) when I
    >>> was paid a couple of missions by an international organization
    >>> hosted in Germany, and I was charged about 12 euro.
    >
    > I was paid by the same international organisation, but in NL.

Still have connections? My accountant tells me I need job....

Martin

On 27 Nov 2006 14:59:33 +0100, mini Mini <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Martin <[email protected]> wrote in
    >news:[email protected] :
    >> On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:32:03 +0000,
    >> [email protected] (David Horne, _the_ chancellor of
    >> the royal duchy of city south and deansgate) wrote:
    >>
    >>>Giovanni Drogo <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>[]
    >>>> However there was one case (AFAIR in the Euro early times) when I
    >>>> was paid a couple of missions by an international organization
    >>>> hosted in Germany, and I was charged about 12 euro.
    >>
    >> I was paid by the same international organisation, but in NL.
    >Still have connections? My accountant tells me I need job....

to be able to afford his advice?

I still get a pension from them. :-)
--

Martin

Giovanni Drogo

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006, Neil Williams wrote:
    > B Vaughan wrote:
    >
    > > The Italian Carta Si is like a debit card, in that the money comes
    > > directly from your account, but like a credit card in that the charges
    > > are subtracted once a month, and a statement is sent to you.
    >
    > That seems quite an unusual concept. In the UK, you can set up most
    > credit cards to work like that, with an automatic direct debit from

AFAIK Carta SI and Carta Moneta are just normal credit cards with a
national circuit. Or at least corresponding to the commonest type of
credit card in Italy, which, by default, operate like that.

Let's say that before 1985 or so, credit cards were not widely used in
Italy, only wealthy people had them, and they were on circuits not
associated with a bank (American Express or Diners).

Carta SI (for "Servizi Interbancari") was one of the first cards
distributed in association with a bank account, one could apply for it
alone, or associated to one of the international circuits (VISA or
Mastercard). Anyhow the default operation is : you get a statement once
a month if you had at least one operation, and payment is deducted
automatically at a fixed date. Carta Moneta is sponsored by a different
bank consortium in which Cariplo (now part of Intesa) was part.

I do not see much difference between what you call debit cards and
Pagobancomat (the POS function associated to [I believe] all Bancomat
ATM cards), in the sense that payment is nearly immediate.

There are AFAIK two more kinds of credit cards in Italy. One is
rechargeable (like Intesa Flash). You "load" it with an amount and can
spend until that expires or you refill it. Never used it, but should be
good for online use or when travelling (to prevent frauds and theft) if
you keep only a small amount on it.

The other one is called "revolving" (like that in Italian :-)), and I've
never really understood how it works, but looks like a rip-off.

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