The weak rand continues to cause us financial pain in all sorts of unexpected ways, both at home and abroad.As reported in this column recently, a recipient of a gift sent from another country valued at more than R400 will have to pay hefty customs duties and VAT because the value limit has not been adjusted in 22 years, despite the value of the rand declining drastically over that period.This means a gift sent from the US with a declared value of more than $27 would be slapped with fees. A basic T-shirt costs around $30.And then there's international calls. Sue Mitchell, of Cape Town, was alarmed to discover a charge of R350 on her Telkom statement for a four-minute and nine-second call to a UK bank in early March."The call was itemised on my statement as 'United Kingdom Freephone' . if ever there was an irony," Mitchell told In Your Corner."Of course, I never expected a UK toll-free number to be a free call from South Africa - I thought it would be charged at Telkom's standard international rates, but they have been quietly changed to exorbitant ones - R84 a minute, in my case," she said.After posting her query on Telkom's Facebook page, Mitchell was called by a member of the company's social media team, who told her the rates had indeed skyrocketed and that the team had been "inundated" with complaints.Mitchell says she was told that no one in the billing department knew why the rates had increased so substantially, and as a result of a lack of awareness of the new rates the department was issuing credits to customers on a case-by-case basis."My lesson out of this is don't use Telkom for any international calls because who knows when you will be hit with a new crazy rate."Telkom's managing executive for group communication, Jacqui O'Sullivan, said part of the call tariff charged for international calls was the amount Telkom paid to the network operator in the foreign country."In this instance the operator is UK-based and Telkom pays for the call termination on the foreign operator's network in pounds - these charges fluctuate with changes to the exchange rate, and there have been rapid and substantial fluctuations in the rand-pound exchange rate since late last year," she said.Because of this, O'Sullivan said, since mid-February, Telkom began warning customers via a recording when they dialled country codes affected by increased call charges.But because "some customers might have missed the announcement", Telkom is crediting the accounts of users who called the UK's FreePhone "as a sign of goodwill".That announcement is now loaded and "working perfectly" on all affected destinations - ignore it at your peril.Telkom is currently working on a more technologically advanced bill-shock warning mechanism. More than that they are not saying until it is up and running.All in all, one can understand the appeal of alternatives such as Whatsapp and Skype.CONTACT WENDY:Email: consumer@knowler.co.zaTwitter: @wendyknowlerRupee rip-offWhile holidaying in Mauritius this month, South African Linda Pietersen noticed "a major discrepancy" on her and her husband's Nedbank credit card statements."We get an exchange rate of 1.6 rupees to the rand, when in fact the official exchange is 2.3."You get 2.3 if you draw cash, and if you get the choice of ZAR when using your card at point of sale, but otherwise you get ripped off."When I got R2000 worth of rupees from Nedbank before we flew out, the exchange rate was over 2. Why be penalised when using your card here?"So, even if choosing a 'cheaper' destination as a South African, you lose about 25% because of the bank's ridiculous exchange service."Nedbank's consumer card head, Graeme Holmes, said a "technical problem" was to blame for the exchange rate discrepancy."A systematic fix was implemented on April 15. We acknowledge the error and confirm that all impacted clients will be refunded with the difference in the exchange rate amounts."Pietersen's refund should be in the region of R3500...