Need help Wrong card (phones 4 u escape)

G_J

Hi

First post here, Im quite worried to tell the truth. Myself and my girlfriend are going away to florida next thursday and on saturday went to phones 4 u to get one of there Escape cards each. We said quite specifically to the staff what the cards were for, However they gave us a regular escape card in pound sterling and not "Escape travel card" That we had requested and made obvious to the two members of staff who asked what they were for.

Upon further investigation it turns out that the cards we have been given have a much less exchange rate and also have fees for use abroad, This is very stupid of us i know but we are just trying to get this sorted. We cant go to the city either till the weekend which i fear may be too late.

Gonna ring up first thing and see whats what. Has anybody got any advice please? All i want is an exchange of the money we have loaded instore. onto the new correct card.

StuieUK34

you should get your money off this card and get the FairFX $ card.... (and u can move money from one card to another)
To note, i have the escape card, which doesnt have raised print and even there travel card is not the best...
FairFX one has raised print, has a better $ rate, higher limit (depending on whether you confirmed identity at time of getting your card), etc etc....
I have both, but escape card is now redundant

iceburn

One advantage of escape card is can put cash straight in at phones 4 u. Anyway for the original poster bit late to get a fairfx card and dont know what the representative suggested can be done (one could be they change the tariff internally on their system.) We nearly got the same card when we ask for the travel card. They said they dont have the card in stock nor can load more than £10 in the initial load. So they order it and they said do you want a second card for £4.99 in euros (first card was in £.) So we done that but getting a feeling that second card will be £ as well. Anyway to fix the problem you are in at the moment, goto ASDA and goto their currency box. Take out their travelex card, rates are similar to phones 4u, can withdraw at ATM overseas for free, pay for things for free, give 2 cards free, but biggest advantage (not including bigger limits) is if say you load $2000 and whilst in USA you lost both cards. They will get teletext the money over to you so still got spending money to use. U do need your passport / driving licence (photo) to get the card.

tressi

All prepaid cards have pros and cons, ok so it depends on what you need. I don't want to say one is better or worse than another. But for my personal use for example, I wouldn't go for a Fairfx because they charge you €1.50 for the Euro card and $2.00 for the US Dollar card and £1 for the £ Anywhere Card for each withdrawal at international ATM, which is for what I intend to do on my holidays very pricey, 10 withdrawals it's 10.50 euros...20 withdrawals it's 21 euros, pratically the good exchange rate is not enough to cover the expenses you have. So you got to cash a lot of money in one withdrawal to save and so where is the use of having a plastic card if then you need to go around with a lot of cash into your pockets? But this is for my personal needs when I am on holidays: going around with a few cash and a plastic card I can block quickly...and enjoy my beech hols. Another con for my personal use is that you can't load it with cash so I'd be charged 1.5% on my debit card for purchasing foreign currency, and all those expenses would add up and become too pricey for me.

tressi

Sorry about that...10 withdrawals it's 15 euros...20 withdrawals it's 30

stilltheone

tressi wrote: »

All ....

Why have you revived a four month old thread to post this confused ramble??

Just choose a card with no cash withdrawal charge.

tressi

stilltheone wrote: »

Why have you revived a four month old thread to post this confused ramble??

Just choose a card with no cash withdrawal charge.

I did, maybe the confused ramble is underlying how the Fairfx works?

stilltheone

tressi wrote: »

I did, maybe the confused ramble is underlying how the Fairfx works?

But this thread is about the ESCAPE card.