Post Office 'In Branch' Rates Rip Off

tom0407

Hi,

I was under the impression that I could trust the Post Office to give a fair and accurate rate for currency conversion when changing Pounds to Euros. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case.

I was so sure the Post Office was the right place to get my currency changed over that I didn't check around for rates as I normally would, but went straight in and exchanged £383 for 400Euros (It seemed a bit steep but unfortunately that's the way of the world these days, or so I thought.)

On doing a bit of research when I got home I found the actual conversion rate according to Google and XE.com should have bought me 428Euros for the same money, so the post office have effectively short changed me 28Euros on the transaction, which is the best part of £28!

I then called up the post office just in case there had been a mistake, but apparently not. They had given me the 'in branch rate'! You can order currency in advance apparently online and benefit from an accurate rate, and even have the money delivered at your convenience, but if you go straight into your local branch they will give you their rip off rate!

So it seems there is now absolutely nobody in this world you can blindly trust to be giving you a good deal. Everyone is out to rip you off, even institutions which claim to be on your side.

Thoroughly disappointed with the Post Office - what a con!

Incapuppy

1. never assume anything

2. it says quite clearly on the Post Office website that online and in branch rates may vary

3. calling alanrowell - where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuu?

benjus

This is the power of advertising... the phrase "commission free" is pretty much meaningless - what they don't charge in commission they make up for on the exchange rate they offer you.

Note that you're never going to get the rate published on xe.com or google from a Bureau de Change - they have to make a profit somewhere! The only way to get this rate would be to get a Nationwide debit card and use it to withdraw Euros abroad.

tom0407

1. There are some things for the sake of time and sanity that you just have to assume, for example that the sun will come up tomorrow and that all politicians are incapable of yes/no answers. But the Post Office are most definitely now on my 'keep an eye on them' list.

2. They don't show their website in branch or declare this fact at the point of taking your money, so that's irrelevant. If I had checked online at all I would have seen their shoddy rates.

3. Who is alanrowell and will he get me my money back from those thieves?

photome

tom0407 wrote: »

1. There are some things for the sake of time and sanity that you just have to assume, for example that the sun will come up tomorrow and that all politicians are incapable of yes/no answers. But the Post Office are most definitely now on my 'keep an eye on them' list.

2. They don't show their website in branch or declare this fact at the point of taking your money, so that's irrelevant. If I had checked online at all I would have seen their shoddy rates.

3. Who is alanrowell and will he get me my money back from those thieves?

Hardly thieves, just a business trying to make money.

There are and always will be much better ways of getting currency than over the counter, where you have to pay a commission even if it is disguised in a no commisiion rate.

stephb34

Thomas cook have got more competitive over the last month and guarantee to be better than the post office and m&s, they also have good rates for £500+ (well for the high street anyway) but if you want less than £500 and get a better rate than theirs for that amount they will match it. Also Thomas cook customers get 1% of their purchase of currency in either cashback or knocked off the amount to pay.

dzug1

tom0407 wrote: »

3. Who is alanrowell and will he get me my money back from those thieves?

He's a frequent poster here asserting that any post claiming something is a scam or rip off doesn't know the meaning of scam or rip off.

He's normally right, and sounds to be here.

1.04 is a reasonable over the counter rate at the moment - probably not the best, but certainly reasonable.

phatbear

You have'nt been ripped off, consider going into HMV and buying a dvd for £10 and then finding the same dvd for £8 in tescos would you feel ripped off? of course not you accepted the value of that dvd and paid what you thought was a fair amount for it, as you have with your euros.

You mention checking xe.com however they display bank to bank price not joe public buying price for instance:

travelex £1 = 1.08 euro (travelex claim to be the best about)
xe.com £1 = 1.12 euro

a difference of 3.7%

Im sorry to say the person at fault here is you for not doing your homework.

As my wise old mum once said "assumption is the mother of all "f" up's"

tom0407

phatbear wrote: »

Im sorry to say the person at fault here is you for not doing your homework.

As my wise old mum once said "assumption is the mother of all "f" up's"

And actually I would feel annoyed if I bought something in one shop only to see the exact same product cheaper elsewhere, who wouldn't?

I also don't think currency exchange can really be compared to a DVD sale because I really have no idea what the 'value' of the Euro is in comparison to the Pound on any particular day. I was relying on the Post Office to be fair and I was clearly mistaken in that assumption. Don't worry I fully accept it was my fault for not doing my 'homework', but at the same time I do think that a lot of advertising is very misleading and I was merely pointing out to all the other members of this forum that they are not as good value as you might assume. To help avoid them making the same mistake! This is the whole point of this forum after all.

You are clearly a very savy person who knew this already, so I hope you do the same as me and spread the word to all corners of the globe that the Post Office is NOT where you should get your currency exchanged.

I guess I was thinking of the post office as more of a public service than a profit making business machine, clearly that's a stupid out of date assumption to be making.

dzug1

tom0407 wrote: »

I also don't think currency exchange can really be compared to a DVD sale because I really have no idea what the 'value' of the Euro is in comparison to the Pound on any particular day. I was relying on the Post Office to be fair and I was clearly mistaken in that assumption. Don't worry I fully accept it was my fault for not doing my 'homework', but at the same time I do think that a lot of advertising is very misleading and I was merely pointing out to all the other members of this forum that they are not as good value as you might assume. To help avoid them making the same mistake! This is the whole point of this forum after all.

.

Perhaps you could say exactly what you think is unfair about it (apart from you not understanding it)

The rate you see on xe.com etc, is for electronic transfer between banks.

The moment you start dealing in actual notes which have to be shipped about you start incurring costs and running extra risks. Then there's staffing, premises, exchange rate fluctuations. Where do you think these costs are covered?

You pay them of course, as customer. There really is no-one else to pay.

The PO's rates are middle of the road, not a con or rip off. Yes you can (usually) do better if you hunt around. You can also do worse

They could of course offer a better rate and charge commission and possibly offer a better deal by doing so. But I doubt if the buying public would be sophisticated enough to notice and would opt for a worse deal 'commission free' elsewhere.

tom0407

Ok well that makes me feel a little less robbed then. I just felt like I had been given a bad deal, and that I'm annoyed that I didn't know that they had a 2 tier rate system. I'm sure they have a perfectly legitimate justification for this, but it seems, as with everything in life you really have to read the small print. It's just a shame the world has to work this way and you can't take anything on face value.

I still think that this forum is about saving money and pointing out this fact is for the good of the community as a whole.