No Travelex @ Luton Airport

Dusty23

It appears there isn't a Travelex office at Luton - this seems to scupper any chance of using them to collect Euros. Any reason why they're not there - they're at all the other major airports... Will have to get the cash from the bank now as I'm flying tomorrow.....unless I take it from ATM over there (France)??? What would be best..

benjus

Even if you don't have a good card for overseas use (e.g. Nationwide), it is generally cheaper to withdraw money using a debit card than to exchange money before you go - especially if you're talking about high street rates rather than pre-ordered.

Check your bank's T&C or this list: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges#debit to see exactly what load & fees your card applies for overseas use, then compare this with the high street rates.

The Visa exchange rate calculator can help with this: http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp (even if your card isn't Visa the rates will be similar). Put the Load amount (e.g. 2.75%) in the "Bank Fee" box and it will give you the current exchange rate you will get. If your bank charges an additional fee for cash withdrawals remember to take this into account as well. If the additional fee is a percentage, you can just add it to the load for the Visa calculator.

Most debit cards have a minimum fee, so it is cheaper to withdraw a single large amount than several small amounts.

Andy_L

There's a bureau de change there (or at least there was in May) but its International Currency Exchange rather than Travelex

loadsacash

There isn't a Travelex at Manchester Airport either. I had to collect my US Dollars from Edinburgh Airport.

ince_mon

Dusty23 wrote: »

It appears there isn't a Travelex office at Luton - this seems to scupper any chance of using them to collect Euros. Any reason why they're not there - they're at all the other major airports... Will have to get the cash from the bank now as I'm flying tomorrow.....unless I take it from ATM over there (France)??? What would be best..

Not too sure,but i think they're slinging their hook from Manchester as well.

dzug1

The airport didn't renew their contract I believe - presumably got a better offer.

dmg24

ince_mon wrote: »

Not too sure,but i think they're slinging their hook from Manchester as well.

They already have - a year ago!

Glittermonkey

They lost their contract at a few places, Manchester Luton and Stansred were just a few.

ICE or The change group are at Luton I think.

Balders33

I've just been conned by ICE on their website.

I usually use Travelex but have today noticed they are not at Luton. So I went on the ICE website to book my Euros for my impending trip.

I did a conversion and they were quoting a rate of 1.2062. I entered my details and then found out due to their misleading website, that I had only merely reserved the Euro's for collection at Luton and I would get the conversion rate on the day of collection.

This began to ring alarm bells as to what rate I would get, so I phoned their office at Luton knowing that airport rates are far worse. I queried which rate I would get i.e the online rate of that day or the airport rate, and other people had complained after using the site 9which has only been live for a couple of weeks)

Answer = airport rate which today is 1.13 !!!

Beware anybody using the ICE website - this is a con.

I've mailed them to cancel my inadvertantly made reservation.

Interestingly their T&C's state that you cannot cancel the orders, but also states that if you don't pick up the money, after 24hours the booking is cancelled!

For reference, you don't enter any card details on the site.

Absolute Con !