Has anyone paid Roy Safari in advance?
 

I am booking a trip with Roy Safari in Tanzania. They have requested for 30% of the total amount be paid up front. Just want to confirm if anyone else had paid in advance using the account name of "Roy Safaris Limited" with Barclays Bank Tanzania Limited. Just want to make sure that I am transmitting to the correct account and other users have not had any problem?

Yes, we paid our deposit to Roy Safaris a couple of months ago in the same way. The only thing that caught us out was additional bank charges along the way. We paid our bank's charges separately, but somewhere in the transaction another $25 was deducted by one of the banks involved in the process.

Roys sent us an e-mail copy of the receipt from their bank to confirm the actual transfer. It was all very easy..

Not unusual at all. Most all in-country tour operators in Kenya or Tanzania require a money transfer for your deposit, and there are fees attached to doing that. But this is a regular procedure.

I too am at the stage where I will be paying Roys the 30% deposit.
My problem is that we use on-line banking so don't have a "bank" to physically arrange a transfer. I have tried to "pay" direct from my account to their's but as they have no recognisable sort code I can't proceed.

I've mailed Roys about this and will probably get a reply on Monday but would be interested if anyone else has had this problem and any solutions.

Also the balance to be paid on arrival - is this normal? and how do you pay, remembering we are UK so paying GB £s. I don't want to have to buy US $s or t/c if poss because of the commission charges.

I understand online banking, but I have to assume that the bank that you do business with has physical "branch" office somewhere. Just go to your local branch office with the information Roy's provided and have them handle the wire transfer. As to the final payment, just comfirm with ask the currency they will accept - I'm sure British Pounds, Euros and USD are acceptable.

Sandi, I thought like you the bank had to be somewhere, but it isn't!There are no branches.

Had a bizarre experience when I first started using them - I'd gone to Building Society branch (part of the same company) to pay a cheque into my account and thought the teller had lost the plot when she kept repeating "you don't deal with people!" and would have nothing to do with me!!

There is a phone line so I'll check with them tomorrow and no doubt hear from Roys too.

phiil16 - good morning there! I can hear my 86-year old mom saying "I told you that one of these days there won't be anyone to talk to." Well, she's certainly right! Wow!

Let's just hope when you call the phone number tomorrow you don't just get a running menu and still no "live" person. I've got fingers crossed that you will find someone that handles "service with a smile" - or "your own personal banker!"

Sometimes I wonder if all this technology hasn't gotten completely out of hand.

Sandi, you can assure your Mum that there IS hope! Technology hasn't completely taken over yet :)

I managed to speak to a "real" person today at my non-existent bank, and my deposit is on it's way!

Now I'm going to take Nancy's advice and sit back and dream............

phil16

I've told mom that there are these very very little people, all called Chip, running around inside those mainframes - driving us crazy most of the time - but someone is there! LOL!

Your departure date will be here sooner then you expect, so I agree with Nancy, it's now time to relax and dream till you wake to a beautiful East African sunrise.

Just to confirm, we paid our balance to Roy Safaris with high-denomination ($1000) TC's on arrival. Suggest you check with Nancy to see if you can pay in sterling,but do be careful if you are carrying cash as your insurance may not cover you for the amount needed.

For info, our guide was Clamion - a lovely, very interesting and extremely knowledgeable Masai. I can highly recommend him - it may be worth asking in advance if he is available when you are there. Others who have travelled with Roy's may also be able to recommend specific guides.

Trip report will follow in the next few days!

I didn't realize TC's came in $1000 denominations. That's good to know. I booked through a safari operator in Nairobi. Is it safe to assume they won't have any problems accepting these high denomination checks?

Patty - Just contact your outfitter to make sure they will, indeed, accept TCs in whatever denomination/currency.

Thanks, sandi. They did say that they'll accept either cash or traveler checks for the balance. I'll double check with them on the denomination.

I received a confirmation email that Roys had my deposit - so that was good news!
Bad news was that tho' I'd paid a £14 fee to my bank to "wire" the money - the Arusha bank had helped themselves to $50!!
I'm cheesed off to say the least as I had my bank send US $ so no commission at the other end, paid the transfer fee and get hit by another, doubled fee for them just to accept it??
This is just the deposit - I was hoping to pay the balance the same way before we arrived but at that cost, I'll be thinking again :(

phil16,
It's customary for the transmitting bank to collect an outgoing wire fee as well as the receiving bank to collect a separate incoming wire fee. Typically, the incoming wire fee is charged to the account of the beneficiary/recipient. Are you having to pay both fees?

Yes Patty, I have paid fees to BOTH banks which is why I'm not too happy.

It has cost £40 or $75 to my bill. I accept my bank cahrges for making the transaction but think it's ridiculous that the bank in Arusha charges twice the ammount just to accept the money.

Phil16,

We got hit as well - but only for $25 by the receiving bank. So I don't understand why you were charged more. However it will probably be difficult to query this from where you are so it may be worth asking Nancy to clarify with the Roy Safaris bank what their normal charges are for receiving wired money.

RuthieC
I have asked Nancy to look into it for me but oddly have heard nothing from her since late last week - perhaps she's on holiday?

The confirmation came from "Shimim" at Roys, haven't dealt with them before but if I hear nothing from Nancy I will take it up with him/her.

Thanks for replying as it helps to know this isn't regular.

From RuthieC's post, it sounds like Roy's Safaris has it set up so that the client pays for their bank fees. I've run into the same situation before booking a Galapagos trip through a local tour operator in Quito. They offered me several payment choices one of which was by wire transfer but they requested that I add an additional $25 to the total amount (on top of the fee that my bank charges) to cover the bank fees on their end. I ended up choosing a different payment method as I thought the total fees were too high.

Normally a US based company would consider these fees part of the cost of doing business, but I think these local operators maintain such thin margins that they have to pass on this cost to the client. It's similar to imposing a surcharge for credit card payments which I've found that all of the Nairobi operators do. But in this case, I think they should advise the client in advance so that they are aware of the charges involved and can make an informed decision when selecting a payment method. I paid my safari deposit by credit card (different operator, not Roy's) as the surcharge was less than my bank's outgoing wire fee alone.

Just received replies from both Nancy and Roy's admin, it seems their bank have NOT levied any charges - they sent on their receipt and it is for the amount paid to their account - minus $50.
I have been advised to get on to my bank as they think there must be a middle man involved.
Will post the outcome as others may benefit from this "grey area".

Update - I have just been in touch with my bank and I'm not too happy with them!
It seems that as they are not a clearing bank, this transaction has gone through various banks before reaching Roy's account. The upshot is that at any point "they" can levy their own charges.

My bank gets out of it by a mandatory clause where they are absolved from responsibility for any other charges - not that they explain exactly what that means!!

Had I known that Tom, Dick and Harry were involved (and could charge) then I would have chosen a different method of payment.

I've put in a complaint but don't have much hope of a refund as I'm up against a solid "We are in the right" tack.

Hope this serves as a warning to others to double check your bank's tranaction processes to avoid hefty charges.

Thanks for the update. Guess my earlier assumption about Roy's passing on their bank fee was incorrect, so that's good to know. Unfortunately it sounds like you don't have much recourse.

For the record, I'd just like to make it clear that Roy Safaris Bank DO NOT make charges for payments made to their account.

This was my WRONG assumption based on the belief that only my bank sending, and Roy's bank receiving, were involved, as my bank had NOT informed me of other banks involved in the payment process.

Roy's have been very clear about their setup and that helped me trace the problem to source.

Lesson learned?
Check carefully with your OWN bank just what a transaction involves!

Almost all US banks, except a few huge ones such as Citibank, route international wires through one of just that handful. There are fees involved at each step (obviously, each entity providing service is entitled to be paid) but you need to be sutre with your own bank how the fees are paid.

Some local banks deduct fees fdrom the payment itself; others from the account. Some deduct their fee from your account but let the international bank deduct their fee from the payment.

Bottom line is to be 100% with your own bank about how they handle ALL fees involved.

And, 100% of the time, the receiving bank will deduct its fee, if any, from the payment or post it separately.

Thanks for the explanation - wish I'd had it earlier :(

I now understand that this does happen and as you say you need ALL the info from your bank, but like so many fields if you are not "up" on procedures you don't know the right questions to ask to make sure you have all the info.

This is the point I'm raising with my bank, as I feel what is standard procedure to them, the ins and outs of it are not always known to the customer, and the onus should lie with them to explain the process fully to customers.

I live and learn and certainly will be sharper in future! I hope ;)