Exchange Difficulties Buying Software or Other Goods

Posted by Daly de Gagne
Sep 17, 2012 at 02:02 AM

Cassius, thanks for the reply.

We have a VAT, which is called the GST, but which is not an issue in this case

Our dollar has been hovering in a few cent range below and sometimes above the US dollar for long enough that the good folk at Digital River should know what the rate is. However, that didn’t stop DR from telling NovaMind that it was all a fair deal and I would have been charged more if it had gone through directly on my credit card without DR’s benevolent intervention.

I think NovaMind is embarrassed by this situation. It’s a company which works hard to put out a good product at a fair price and, because a lot of software companies use Digital River, probably thought it was a good company.

After I saw my bank statement and the almost $20 more than the pruchase price which DR charged my credit card, I then remember I had a similar problem with DR and MyInfo. At that time DR mislead Petko, and I couldn’t be bothered fighting.

But I’m on a long term medical disability, have a car which just died, and I’m damned if I am going to let some company which is getting a commission from his client for the services provided to further enrich itself by playing interest rate games.

Even my bank, which has been rated by Bloomberg’s as the strongest in North America was put out by the slur DR cast its way.

I guess I am very angry at this situation.

Thanks again for writing. :)

Daly

Cassius wrote:
>I live in the U.S., but I’ve seen the same discrepancy in pricing both for software and
>books.
> >Does Canada have a VAT? That may explain the difference. Also, at one time the
>Canadian dollar had a lesser value than the U.S. dollar. It may be that sellers are
>unknowingly or knowingly (=cheating you) using a years-old exchange rate.
> >There
>is also a slight charge for currency conversion, but if the software comes from a
>country other than Canada or the U.S., that charge should be essentially the same.