By Mark Hodson, editor of 101 Holidays
If you’re one of the many travellers that exchange currency at the airport before you fly, there’s a good chance you’re being ripped off.
Last week I flew from Heathrow to Geneva. To get the best exchange rate, I ordered some Swiss Francs online with Travelex. The rate was CHF 1.60 to £1, with no commission. I collected the cash at a booth in the airport.
A friend on the same flight turned up at Heathrow, went to the same booth and got a rate of just CHF 1.51 to £1 – plus commission of 1.5%.
There seems to be no sensible explanation for this discrepancy. My friend was ripped off. (Curiously, all the bureaux de change in Terminal 5 were offering exactly the same rate.)
Once in Switzerland we found local banks and hotels offering between CHF 1.56 and CHF 1.65 to £1.
The difference was even more startling on the way home. Yesterday at Geneva Airport, the American Express desk was changing Swiss Francs back into Sterling at a rate of CHF 1.74, plus commission of CHF 5 (£2.87).
But back at Heathrow Terminal 5, the Travelex desk was demanding CHF 1.91 for £1, plus minimum commission of £2.
So if you were changing back CHF 300 into Sterling you would have received £169.50 in Geneva, and £155 in London.
It’s easy to see where the money changers make their profits – in the spreads. Yesterday at Heathrow, Travelex was buying Francs at CHF 1.91 but selling them at CHF 1.53, a spread of almost 25%.
Converting two stable hard currencies is a low-risk business. How can they justify such rip-off rates?
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We also had a rip off experience from Travelex in Auckland a couple of weeks ago. We changed NZ dollars to Samoan tala and got 20 sene(20cents) less than if we had exchange in Samoa.We queried the difference between buying and selling and were given a shrug.Only bought because we arrived late at night and needed some money.
But……….will wait next time!
If you think that is bad you havent seen anything.
I got a travelex cash passport card in Auckland, thinking that a cash passport card would be convenient. It has been anything but.
For each time I load money onto the card I am charged a “value load” of 1%. So if I load $500NZ onto the card through BPay I end up with $495.
Ontop of that, I am charged $4.00NZ for every withdraw transaction, and finally a “currency conversion assessment” (or commission) of 5.95% for every withdraw, based on the amount I withdraw from an ATM.
My last withdraw saw a “commission” to travelex in the amount of $21.40NZ.
When I quentioned them about it I first talked to Travelex UK who passed me off to Travelex NZ. They promptly referred me back to the UK office, who then passed me off to Melbourne, and they in turn passed me back to the UK who passed me back to melbourne.
As to “why” they get close to 10% of the money I work for, I have NO idea, and I dont think they do either, apart from their legal jargin they have continued to feed me with.
Travelex – Ripping people out of their hard earned money! You can beat a press release will be sent to every newspaper in every country where they operate and exposed as the scam they are!