American Express - Travellers Cheques Useless in Europe New York, New York

I settled a B&B bill in Belgium this summer with American Express Travellers Cheques in Euros. The wife of the owner didn't know what her husband (a bank office in Belgium) told me later, by e-mail. No bank in Belgium will redeem these cheques. Another of my "victims" found out for me that Travelex would cash them, so off I went to the nearest city with a Travelex outlet. They wanted 7% commission! I was subsequently able to do a bank transfer to my victims who returned the cheques to me. All this involved considerable time taken from my vacation.

I understand that similar conditions exist throughout the European Community. While the American Express website states that a commission may apply when redeeming their cheques, for some strange reason they don't tell you just how high the rate may be at exchangers they list on their web site.

American Express refused to refund my full costs. To the credit of the vendor of my bank, the local branch of TD Canada Trust, I received a full refund.