Thomas Cook left us without money

duchy

I'm a bit confused.
Did you order the money on-line or did you call the shop?
In my days of working at TC if there was an unexpected closure there was a standard sign on the door with a referral phone number- did you call it?
Did you visit another Thomas Cook and attempt to collect the currency there instead?
Not having your debit card with you makes no sense -surely you'd have to show it when picking up the currency from TC anyway ?
Why didn't you just pick up some Euros at Manchester airport-you knew you'd need them.
If you assumed you could pay for the taxi by card- when you discovered you couldn't -instead of waiting six hours for a lift-why didn't you buy Euros there by card?


Sorry but either you were cutting off your nose to spite your face .....or you were remarkably unresourceful.

CKhalvashi

duchy wrote: »

If you assumed you could pay for the taxi by card- when you discovered you couldn't -instead of waiting six hours for a lift-why didn't you buy Euros there by card?

This would be my question.

We can only take bookings over the phone by card (although some of the owner-drivers are now using iZettle), but if you asked, I'm sure the facility would have been there with at least one driver in the queue.

Neil49

duchy wrote: »

I'm a bit confused.
Did you order the money on-line or did you call the shop?
In my days of working at TC if there was an unexpected closure there was a standard sign on the door with a referral phone number- did you call it?
Did you visit another Thomas Cook and attempt to collect the currency there instead?

.

Thomas Cook now offer the option to order on-line at a fixed rate as long as you collect that day from a specific store.

www.whatstherate.co.uk

You pay at the store but it has to be at the store you specify at the time of ordering as they get the order specifying the online rate quoted (which is usually very good).

If the collection hadn't been left until the last minute then there is nothing to stop the OP placing a second order to collect at a different branch. The problem here is that there was no time to organise an alternative.

I'm going to NY next week but have already got some cash from my local TC using the whatstherate site.

System

pelirocco wrote: »

they are still advertising currency exchange at manchester ?

http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/content/RETAILERThomasCook

How did you get there. I have tried to find that page by searching the site and the only currency shop coming up is Travelex. The page still exists on the web server but it does not appear to be part of the current website

ETA

For some reason it comes up on a search but is not navigable to. I think their search system searches all pages and not 'live' pages. They need to get their search updated.

hgotsparkle

I work in foreign currency and occassionally, if we don't have any staff cover and sickness, we have to close early, if we have orders to be collected then we phone them to let them know and if it can't be left until the next day, we make arrangements for their order to be collected elsewhere.

Personally, I have had a lot of abuse from customers who haven't placed an order, have come in to buy currency the day before flying and we don't have it in stock. Is that our fault? No - not entirely. If its euros or dollars then yes, we can be to blame but obscure currencies - no.


Moral - DON'T leave it til the last minute. You honestly have no idea how much you're inconveniencing yourself by not being well prepared.
Don't take it for granted that the shop would be open. If the shop were to suffer a fire - and therefore shut, would you complain? No as its unforeseeable. Staff sickness (especially on shifts) is also unforeseeable and it does happen as most bureaux only have 3/4 staff members.

CKhalvashi

hgotsparkle wrote: »

Personally, I have had a lot of abuse from customers who haven't placed an order, have come in to buy currency the day before flying and we don't have it in stock. Is that our fault? No - not entirely. If its euros or dollars then yes, we can be to blame but obscure currencies - no.

I still bet you can't give an exchange on GEL.........

I do agree, whilst the website could have been designed better by head office, it's not the customer assistant's fault.

hgotsparkle

CKhalvashi wrote: »

I still bet you can't give an exchange on GEL.........

Nope, as its not something we can get our hands on. If a customer come in wanting it, we'd probably get abuse for not being able to get it!!

CKhalvashi

hgotsparkle wrote: »

Nope, as its not something we can get our hands on. If a customer come in wanting it, we'd probably get abuse for not being able to get it!!

Not from me, as I have been taking it from cashpoints on country for years.....

Cade_Foster

Still not sure why The Op didnt use one of the many other palces at manchester airport to get currency, or I would assume that there are some at their arriving airport.

duchy

Neil49 wrote: »

Thomas Cook now offer the option to order on-line at a fixed rate as long as you collect that day from a specific store.

www.whatstherate.co.uk

You pay at the store but it has to be at the store you specify at the time of ordering as they get the order specifying the online rate quoted (which is usually very good).

If the collection hadn't been left until the last minute then there is nothing to stop the OP placing a second order to collect at a different branch. The problem here is that there was no time to organise an alternative.

I'm going to NY next week but have already got some cash from my local TC using the whatstherate site.

Yes but the OP gave the reason for not buying alternative currency as the fact they didn't have their debit card with them ?????

Surely had the Cooks branch been open he'd have needed it anyway ?