some out-of-the way places in thailand do not give the bank rate, especially on the smaller islands, such as koh samet, that do not have banks. there ought to be no problems of this kind on phuket island. if u're trying to change us$ into baht, then banks will normally give an inferior rate for small us$ notes (the rate for small us$ notes is printed on the daily exchange rate schedule), although this does not happen with most other currencies.

ian.