Ordering reader from Kobo Store

[stoney77]

I just checked my American Express account online and found I was charged a $4.53 Foreign Transaction Fee by Chapters/Indigo. Has anyone else been charged this amount? This was never mentioned when I purchased the Kobo. I'm not happy about any hidden charges.

[judith009]

Originally Posted by stoney77

I just checked my American Express account online and found I was charged a $4.53 Foreign Transaction Fee by Chapters/Indigo. Has anyone else been charged this amount? This was never mentioned when I purchased the Kobo. I'm not happy about any hidden charges.

I finally checked my Discover account. They charged me $177 all at once. It looks they added that Foreign fee automatically, because it's the original $172 plus another $5.

I also don't like hidden charges.

[CairnsRock]

Originally Posted by judith009

If I remember correctly, I don't think there was a choice for shipping method.

To answer a question I had asked last week that no one seemed to know the answer to:
It's evident on the shipping box that there's an ereader inside. It even lists the device name and the price. I don't like it when they do that.

I think it is required for cross border shipping. Customs, duty etc.

[judith009]

Originally Posted by CairnsRock

I think it is required for cross border shipping. Customs, duty etc.

Oh, that's interesting. I never thought of that! But that makes a lot of sense.

I would guess that packages that aren't properly marked are more likely to be opened and inspected.

[murg]

Originally Posted by stoney77

I just checked my American Express account online and found I was charged a $4.53 Foreign Transaction Fee by Chapters/Indigo. Has anyone else been charged this amount? This was never mentioned when I purchased the Kobo. I'm not happy about any hidden charges.

This is from your Amex and has nothing to do with Chapters. So they really couldn't tell you about it (other than recognising that you are using a non-Canadian credit card).

[Halk]

Originally Posted by stoney77

I just checked my American Express account online and found I was charged a $4.53 Foreign Transaction Fee by Chapters/Indigo. Has anyone else been charged this amount? This was never mentioned when I purchased the Kobo. I'm not happy about any hidden charges.

Any time you use your Amex card for a non-US purchase you'll see that charge.

In the UK typically the charge is 2.75% - 2.99% and it's always been charged. It's known as foreign loading. No matter what you do you can't change your US dollars into Canadian dollars without making some form of payment. Generally the exchange rate on credit cards is reasonable.

The UK regulator now forces all UK banks to split the fee from the transaction and show it separately. All that's done is cause complaints, but it is more transparent.

If you regularly make foreign currency transactions you can shop around for a card with lower fees, in the UK at least that's possible but I don't know the US market well. There are or at least there were in the UK cards with no loading fee, but you paid for that in other ways usually.

[robko]

And just to reiterate what Murg said: this IS NOT a Chapter/Indigo charge. The don't get the money and have no idea if or how much was charged. This is your bank/credit card charging you (primarily for currency conversion, but who knows what else they try and stick in it). You'll see it on any cross border shopping you do.
When the Kobo ebook store first was available in the US lots of people complained about this because at the time Kobo didn't have a U.S. business entity set up so the charges came from Canada and people got dinged. They got a U.S. business set up a few months later to avoid people getting dinged with bank charges.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by stoney77

I just checked my American Express account online and found I was charged a $4.53 Foreign Transaction Fee by Chapters/Indigo. Has anyone else been charged this amount? This was never mentioned when I purchased the Kobo. I'm not happy about any hidden charges.

That may not be a Chapters/Indio entry. I bank with HSBC and recently they started to split out foreign transactions (I often buy in dollars) and list the foreign transaction fee separately. It's something to do with changes to make charges more transparent. Before it would have been lumped in with the original entry.

Edited to say I didn't read the two posts between this and the OP post

[khalleron]

FYI, CapitalOne cards do NOT charge a foreign exchange fee. That's what I use when I travel or buy something from out of the US.

Other cards can charge anywhere from 2-5%. But yeah, it's your bank/card company assessing the fee, not the vendor.

[Dr. Drib]

Thanks for the responses on the shipping question.

[peachiekene]

Thanks to everyone talking about shipping/ordering times. I ordered my H2O through kobo on the 18th and I haven't heard anything from them (aside from the initial immediate confirmation and my card hasn't been charged yet either). I tried calling them today, but I was on hold for over 30 minutes and at that point I had to get off the phone.

I think I will be cancelling my order through Kobo as soon as possible and ordering through Chapters.

[JSWolf]

I just pulled the plug and ordered an H2O through Chapters. I am now waiting for the order number to be emailed. I'll probably get it sometime3 later today.

[khalleron]

I ordered mine from Chapters on the 21st and it arrived on the 26th.

No tracking info, though, so I missed the postman and had to leave work early in order to get to the PO to pick it up before the holiday.

It's really niiiiice. A bit miffed that it doesn't handle collections the same way Sony did, so I had to spend a couple of hours moving all my tags over (oy!) but the screen is SO much better - clearer and the larger screen really makes a difference. Good selection of dictionaries and fonts. I'd like the headers and footers to be not QUITE as large, but I'll probably get the fix for that.

I'm *very* happy with it - even when I'm not reading it I can't help cuddling it.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by khalleron

A bit miffed that it doesn't handle collections the same way Sony did

It should do. Did you try this Sticky?

Glad you like your new Kobo. The H2O is rather splendid, isn't it!

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

It should do. Did you try this Sticky?

Glad you like your new Kobo. The H2O is rather splendid, isn't it!

Yes, that's what I did, but the Sony uses the 'Tags' column to create collections, and the Kobo uses 'My Shelves'. So I had to hand copy all my tags from 'Tags' to 'My Shelves' (Calibre wouldn't let me just rename the 'Tags' column).

If there's a shortcut to that process, it's not in that sticky.