Thomson Prepaid USD Moneycard

VMOW

I just wanted to warn people about the Thomson, First Choice US Dollar prepaid moneycard.

Having done a little research over whether to use cash, debit card or pre-paid card whilst travelling abroad, I decided to take a prepaid moneycard from Thomson Holidays (I had left it too late to apply for one of the recommended cards as they had to be applied for on-line and took around 7 days to deliver).

When loading the card at Thomsons I wanted to take a certain amount in cash and put the rest on the card and was pleased that they offered the best rate for the full amount. Note: if you try and do this with the Post Office prepaid card they wont give you a rate for the full amount but only give you the lowest rate for the individual amounts.

On arriving in the US I used the card a few times in restaurants and shops and everything was fine. However the problems started when I tried to use it online to pay for checking in baggage for my onward flight to my next destination. The site couldn't process the card and so I was unable to check in online.

Later that day I decided that I needed to put a little fuel into the hire car as I needed to return it as close to empty as I could but felt I didn't have quite enough for the 100 miles back to the airport. I went into the petrol station next to my hotel as it was the most convenient and discovered that as it was quite late at night it was operating as an un-manned self-service station. So I put in my card and once again got the message that the system was unable to process the card. So I left and found another petrol station nearby where I put in the couple of gallons I needed. This time the card was rejected so I had to pay cash.

When I got back to the hotel, I went online to check my moneycard account and found to my horror that although the airline had said they weren't able to process the card, $50 had been taken off the card. I then noticed that my unsuccessful visit to the self service petrol station had resulted in $75 being taken from the card. Which left me with no funds on the card and only $14 in my pocket.

I phoned up Thomson, explained the situation that I needed the funds to be refunded to my card as I was leaving the US within the next 12 hours and had no dollars. The person I was talking to checked the account and said that it looked as though the money hadn't been taken from the card but Thomson had ring-fenced the money as a potential debit. I was told that the department I was talking to wasn't able to do anything about this but they would escalate this up and get someone to contact me as soon as possible.

5 hours later and no response, so I phoned again and was told that customer services worked on a 48 hour response time. My case was re-submitted with a request for urgent action.

By the time I get to the airport I go to check in and tell them that the airline appears to have taken the money for the baggage already. They go through their records and say they were unable to collect the funds and that I would have to pay the money again. This I do with my UK debit card.

I ring Thomson for the third time from the airport and explained what had happened. The person was very sympathetic and said he would try and speak with Customer services and put me through. However after waiting on hold for about 15 minutes he eventually came back and apologised profusely that he had been unable to get through and said he would persist and try and get someone to call me as soon as possible.

Needless to say it is now 32 hours since I made the first call and I have had no response.

I am appalled at the total lack of interest shown by the Thomson Holidays department able to rectify this. It appears that no matter what the circumstances, they are determined not to respond within 48 hours.

I am now $125 out of pocket as I had planned on exchanging this and using it on the next part of my holiday.

My advice to anyone considering taking a prepaid moneycard is avoid the Thomson, First Choice Card. It is a toxic card and Thomson won't be there to help you when you need it.

NiftyDigits

VMOW wrote: »

I just wanted to warn people about the Thomson, First Choice US Dollar prepaid moneycard.

Having done a little research over whether to use cash, debit card or pre-paid card whilst travelling abroad, I decided to take a prepaid moneycard from Thomson Holidays (I had left it too late to apply for one of the recommended cards as they had to be applied for on-line and took around 7 days to deliver).

When loading the card at Thomsons I wanted to take a certain amount in cash and put the rest on the card and was pleased that they offered the best rate for the full amount. Note: if you try and do this with the Post Office prepaid card they wont give you a rate for the full amount but only give you the lowest rate for the individual amounts.

On arriving in the US I used the card a few times in restaurants and shops and everything was fine. However the problems started when I tried to use it online to pay for checking in baggage for my onward flight to my next destination. The site couldn't process the card and so I was unable to check in online.

Later that day I decided that I needed to put a little fuel into the hire car as I needed to return it as close to empty as I could but felt I didn't have quite enough for the 100 miles back to the airport. I went into the petrol station next to my hotel as it was the most convenient and discovered that as it was quite late at night it was operating as an un-manned self-service station. So I put in my card and once again got the message that the system was unable to process the card. So I left and found another petrol station nearby where I put in the couple of gallons I needed. This time the card was rejected so I had to pay cash.

When I got back to the hotel, I went online to check my moneycard account and found to my horror that although the airline had said they weren't able to process the card, $50 had been taken off the card. I then noticed that my unsuccessful visit to the self service petrol station had resulted in $75 being taken from the card. Which left me with no funds on the card and only $14 in my pocket.

I phoned up Thomson, explained the situation that I needed the funds to be refunded to my card as I was leaving the US within the next 12 hours and had no dollars. The person I was talking to checked the account and said that it looked as though the money hadn't been taken from the card but Thomson had ring-fenced the money as a potential debit. I was told that the department I was talking to wasn't able to do anything about this but they would escalate this up and get someone to contact me as soon as possible.

5 hours later and no response, so I phoned again and was told that customer services worked on a 48 hour response time. My case was re-submitted with a request for urgent action.

By the time I get to the airport I go to check in and tell them that the airline appears to have taken the money for the baggage already. They go through their records and say they were unable to collect the funds and that I would have to pay the money again. This I do with my UK debit card.

I ring Thomson for the third time from the airport and explained what had happened. The person was very sympathetic and said he would try and speak with Customer services and put me through. However after waiting on hold for about 15 minutes he eventually came back and apologised profusely that he had been unable to get through and said he would persist and try and get someone to call me as soon as possible.

Needless to say it is now 32 hours since I made the first call and I have had no response.

I am appalled at the total lack of interest shown by the Thomson Holidays department able to rectify this. It appears that no matter what the circumstances, they are determined not to respond within 48 hours.

I am now $125 out of pocket as I had planned on exchanging this and using it on the next part of my holiday.

My advice to anyone considering taking a prepaid moneycard is avoid the Thomson, First Choice Card. It is a toxic card and Thomson won't be there to help you when you need it.

Your 'research' was poor.

Are there any restrictions on use?

Prepaid cardholders should be aware of any particular limitations on the use of their card. For example, some prepaid cards cannot be used for particular types of transaction such as on-line gambling, or cannot be used in certain places such as on planes or trains. Again, any restrictions will be detailed in the terms and conditions and should be contained within the Summary Box.
Pre-paid cards may often also have various restrictions on re-loading your card, including:
The maximum or minimum value that may be loaded on to a card, either at the outset or when topping-up.
The maximum total balance that can be held on a card.
The maximum amount that may be withdrawn daily.
The minimum available balance required to conduct transactions in certain retail sectors such as self-service petrol stations.

It's interesting that people come to this website after the fact in order to vent. Perhaps if they asked here in the first place, they may have avoided making poor decisions.

Getting a card denominated in US$ was but one.

VMOW

Hi NiftyDigits, you are quite right my research was poor as I didn't have the time to do it properly. However I did come to this site and check out the recommended cards. But as I stated previously I hadn't given myself enough time to apply for cards that took a number of days to be issued.

You are also right in suggesting I hadn't read the terms and conditions which I now see expressly state that the card cannot be used for self-service petrol stations. However that begs the question as to why Thomson has ringfenced $75 for a transaction they say is not allowed. The transaction should have been rejected and the money left intact.

catokelly

Unfortunately with declined card payments it's not so simple, when your card is declined the funds are bascially kept in 'limbo' for up to 3 days then credited back to your card. Prepaid cards might be good for convenience but 'cash is king'! With the cards, if there is a technical failure or problems with getting the card authorised you are left with little/no assistance!

ferf1223

catokelly wrote: »

Unfortunately with declined card payments it's not so simple, when your card is declined the funds are bascially kept in 'limbo' for up to 3 days then credited back to your card.

I've read of it taking up to a week in some cases as well...same thing could happen on a debit or credit card right at the limit too...prepaid cards aren't special in this respect.

I don't think using a different prepaid card would get around this as a potential, and not sure that any of the other issuers would do much more about it.

dzug1

Agree - this should be read as a warning about prepaid cards in general - singling out Thomson/First Choice is maybe unfair. Most cards work the same way.

Doshwaster

dzug1 wrote: »

Agree - this should be read as a warning about prepaid cards in general - singling out Thomson/First Choice is maybe unfair. Most cards work the same way.

Yes - pre-paid card do have their uses but you do have to be wary of their limitations.

This story is also a useful reminder to never be dependant on just one piece of plastic when travelling. Cards transactions fail for any number of reasons and can be lost, stolen or blocked. If you have a backup card then there will always be a way out of the kind of tricky situation that the OP found themselves in.

VMOW

Thanks for all your comments, they've been very interesting. This is the first time I have used a moneycard and it will probably be the last.

The final point I am going to make on this is that I accept that there are limitations on the use of prepaid moneycards. However if the user does experience a problem, there should be a mechanism whereby the card issuer responds to a user having problems. If only to say that the funds will be released in xx number of days, or even to say that the funds will not be released for whatever reason.

Having received no response to my phone calls after 58 hours I emailed customer services earlier today only to get an auto reply saying that response times were now running at 6 days.

Surely, with the average holiday being 1 or 2 weeks, it is not asking too much to expect a response to any difficulty with a moneycard to be closer to 24 hours?

catokelly

6 days! Yes that is a pretty shoddy service, they should at least have an emergency phone number (what if your card had been lost or stolen)!

VMOW

I wasn't going to add any further comments on this, however having got home, I sent a formal complaint via the local Thomson retail outlet from which I had purchased the card laying out what had happened and requesting the refund of telephone calls I had made trying to sort out the problem whilst I was away.

I sent the email on the 11th June and heard nothing for 2 weeks. I then contacted the Thomson shop to see what was happening and they apologised for not copying me in to the email they had forwarded to Thomson Moneycard customer services which they had sent the same day they had received my email.

On the 24th June I received the following automated reply from Tui:

"Thank you for writing to us.

Your communication is important to us and we are committed to provide a satisfactory resolution.

In case your query requires further investigation and takes a longer time,we will keep you informed on the time required for resolution.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in the interim.

Yours sincerely,

Amy Smith
After Travel Administrator
AfterTravelCS email: [EMAIL="aftertravelcustomersupport@tuiuk.com"]aftertravelcustomersupport@tuiuk.com[/EMAIL]"

I am assuming that Amy Smith is a fictitious character created to provide a "human face" to a faceless department that no-one is allowed to have contact with directly.

Needless to say that as at 16th July I have heard nothing. I have just contacted the Thomson retail shop again this morning and was told that the official response time to complaints is 28 days and that it takes a further 28 days for any action to be taken.

They pointed out that as the automated email had been sent within the 28 day period it is deemed to be on track.

My thought is that any company who considers it is acceptable to take 2 months to action a complaint seems to have very little regard for its customers.

This is definitely the very worst customer service (and I use the word service very loosely) I have ever experienced from any company.