has anyone heard of this company

joe67

Hi all

Has anyone heard of a company called crown currency exchange, I found there web site, they sell travellers cheques, they seem to give a very good rate commission free, they can also help if you are buying property abroad, I was thinking of using them but am wary of giving a company money that I just found on internet. Any advice would be gratefully received

joe67

joolsleeds

Hi - just bumping this post......they are offering $2 = £1 for US dollars.

Has anyone used them?

BobOne_2

I keep looking at this website too. I'm going to the States next April and they are quoting $1.9031 to the pound delivered in April. Seems too good to be true.
Someone surely must know something about them. I see the $2 is for delivery in June. I have had a look at their testimonials page, but anyone could write this.
Hope to hear something soon.

BobOne

Nytehawk

Hi folks I have used Crown Currency for the past 2 years. They are based in Cornwall. IMO they are good value. This summer I got a sterling to euro exchange rate of 1.475 which couldn't be beaten anywhere on the high st. How do they do it, simply the earlier you book your currency they charge on that day and you pay for it there and then to get the favoured rate; e.g order currency in Feb to be delivered at a specified date in June. You pay for it in Feb and because they have your cash they will gurantee the rate on the day you ordered. They deliver the currency by courier exactly on the day you request. PM me if you need to know more:beer:

Astaroth

Ok, so it sounds like it is a combination of currency exchange and futures - if you pay in advance then factor in lost interest and if you pay at a later day then check the T&Cs on what happens if the currency rates change dramatically between your ordering and having to pay. Also factor in they wont buy back travellers cheques so you will almost certainly have to pay comission to someone else to do this if you have any left - almost all commission free services are only when you have bought them from them in the first place.

As to the legitimacy - havent ever used them so cant say - their company number checks out but it is less than 2 years old and has a different registered office to their website, certainly common in large companies but not so in such small/ new ones.

Tebacious_C

Just a little note relating to inet Companies people find and are wary of using its always worth going to https://www.companieshouse.com and doing a free web search if its a limited company to see if the company exists at least. Companies House is a registary of all the Private and Public Ltd companies that have registered in the UK so if they say their a UK Ltd company and their not on there i'd be wary. It would at least give you some reassurance although companies can be bought cheaply and used as a front for scams.

If you can contact the company it may also be worth asking them what their VAT number is so you can verify they are currently registered for VAT and trading. if their willing to give you it, which they should do as this is something that should be put on the stationary of all Ltd companies, all you would need to do is ask their trading address, full company name and VAT number then ring 0845 010 9000 and verify the VAT number with HMRC. They will then tell you if the VAT number is valid or not. if they say the company is de-registered be carefull as this could indicate their likely to dissappear.

I know it may sound a little extreme but its all publically available knowledge and it could provide at least some assurance the company is legit and trading.

hope this helps

Nytehawk

Just to let you know that I did my checks with company house and this is a legitimate company. There are plenty of cowboys out there but as I understand the whole ethos of MSE is to help people where they are asking for help and with having used the company I can vouch for their legitimacy.

It isn't helpful if we all put doubt about companies especially when we can't back up our comments with something solid. It seems that with some the bottle always seems to be half empty

Fair comment????

THRIFTY1_3

mazdamansport wrote:

It isn't helpful if we all put doubt about companies especially when we can't back up our comments with something solid. It seems that with some the bottle always seems to be half empty

Fair comment????

Hi mazdamansport,

Who exactly put doubt about this company? The only reference I can see relevant to your comment was if in doubt check them out with company house! Sound advise as far as I'm concerned. Aside from saving money that's what I thought this site was all about (playing it safe).
Apologies if I got you wrong.

THRIFTY1_3

I don't really know of the company, but Astaroth is quite correct, Crown must be offering forward purchase exchange (based on rates acheived quoted by other users etc), it's always a gamble takin that option as the rates may be better at the time you need to exchange. But if it's better than now then what can you do but take the gamble???
If you are forward puchasing you should only be expected to pay 10% at time of agreeing your deal (make sure that's all they ask for) and then settle balance at time of deal.

Nytehawk

Hi Thrifty1 My only point was to show that I have used Crown Exchange on several occasions in the past two years and I got a good deal and that's why IMHO the best recommendation to a fellow MSE'r is someone who has used any given product or service. I appreciate that if you want a good exchange deal as I did, there has to be a price and CCs price is to order as much currency as you require and the day you agree a contract and pay your dosh you are then guaranteed by letter that exact exchange rate (in my case I got 1.475 euros to the £ this past summer, there is nowhere in any high st that I could find that offered any better deal between Feb - July). If we get bad service as frequently shown in other threads namely mobile phones we would hope others would learn by our mistakes/bad experiences and prevent themselves from suffering the same trauma.

No offence I hope, just good healthy debate
Best Wishes
VW;)

Froggitt

Just bought my dollars at 1.9788 thru Crown for delivery next month. Cracking rate Grommitt.