Huge fee just to change certificates

M

macilrae

Guest
I have 4,000 shares of Applied Biosystems (ABI) which were exchanged last year for 0.4543 of a share of Life Technologies (LIFE) plus some cash.

Because I am late in applying, Life Technologies claims a fee of $3.65 per share to do the exchange - amounts to an exchange fee of $14,600, just to switch the certificates (the actual switch being done by an "agent" on their behalf; no, not Blackwater!)

Does anybody have experience in dealing with this sort of situation? These are a big part of my life savings.

Rob