Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange

geekyncheeky

Hi there,

Just thought some of you guys should be aware of certain tricks of the foreign exchange trade.
I work in foreign exchange (I will not disclose where) and with competition hotting up between bureaus everyone is upping their game.

However, word of warning about Thomas Cooks services. When you are searching for the best rate and enter Thomas Cook, i would advise that you get both the rate and a quote based on the amount youre spending, written down and not word of mouth.
They have a habit of telling you a fantastic rate, then telling you the quote but the quote actually equates to less than the rate provided, so for instance, youre being quoted 1.20 on euros but with the amounts they give you, it actually works out to 1.18/1.19, in the hope of a quick sale to you. Also with bureaus who offer price matching (such as tescos and debenhams), when they call TC to verify the rate given to you, they are tolda significantly low amount so you cannot proceed.

Im all for helping everyone save money in regards to foreign exchange, and in all biases aside, this is just good advice for protecting your money and maximising the value of you £££.

Im more than happy to answer any Qs about FX in general, and providing little tips for saving money

stephb34

Rather suspicious you won't disclose who you work for.
Here's how it works at TC. They have a not very good rate (still better than the post office) this usually is the rate for people who only want a small amount of euros and those who haven't a clue how much a euro is worth. The next rate is for Thomas cook customers who have got a holiday booked with TC and those customers who ask for a good rate, yesterday this was 1.1997. The best rate is if you order online to collect in a TC store which today is 1.2217. The last 2 seem like pretty good rates to me for a high street store, especially as Thomsons online rate today is only 1.2006.
So what little tips have you got then?

mick_vandick

So you're not a competitor who is trying to put people off Thomas Cook to better yourself then?
Cause that is what it sounds like to me!

SandLake

Tip for OP, if you are not going to disclose who you work for don't start you one other post with 'I also work for Travelex'!

geekyncheeky

Not quite sure what all the hostility is about.... Not at all suspicious why i wouldnt disclose where i worked, im bound under the same internet usage policy as most employees are and cannot openly shout to the world where i work!
I have previously mentioned TX but im under a specific arm of TX and not employed by TX itself. I feel no need to disclose my employment any further.

Steph, yesterday i dealt with probably in excess of 5 complaints about TC, i felt it was only right i told people what was going on because i highly doubt what the customers were experiencing were isolated to that store.
I used examples in my post but i will get into the finer detail here, yesterday customers came to me asking if i would price match 1.23 provided to them by thomas cook only a couple of minutes prior, they also showed me their quote, which when i worked it out, it was not 1.23 at all, it was the high end of 1.21. Youre telling me thats right? Im all for healthy competition, after all it drives the prices down for everyone. However i do not condone lying for the commission, this old couple were taken for granted and I do not think it was fair. That was not the only time, 2 others also had the same issue, with others getting very irate at me because when i was calling TC to verify rates i was getting thrown off the rates and therefore i could do nothing more to help them as i had no proof of the rate.

Sorry for trying to inform everyone. I never said dont use them, i simply said to make sure quotes are written and to get the rate as well as the amount to ensure these kinds of things dont happen.

Also, LOL at the people suggesting i was doing it to steal custom, if i wasnt saying where i worked how am i gaining anything? Didnt realise there were so many thomas cook groupies.

balletshoes

so let me get this straight - yesterday, you had at least 5 people come to you, having first got a quote from TC which they hadn't done the calculations on themselves before they came to you? Surely thats the first thing anyone does when they're looking at changing money into foreign currency?

I usually use Thomas Cook (their reserve-online-then-collect-instore service) as for me, its the most convenient, and usually with some of the best exchange rates, method of changing my money prior to travel.

geekyncheeky

Yes thats correct, not all were the miscalculations, some were the ones who were unable to get price matches because i was unable to verify any rates.

I know to always calculate, but evidently there are some who do not, and they seemed to be the older generation, though when you get a quote, im sure their first instinct isnt to check if theyre lying and i think alot less calculation happens in walk up sales.
Online services are better, i havent used TCs only services though, and i personally recommend them over walk up.I do not have bias on my own company, because i know they do not always provide the best rates, even if they are competitive. I have no reason for loyalty, i get paid whether im kissing their behind or not.

photome

Geeky Where are these 5 people getting their quotes from

Online at the moment it is 1.2235 for euros

and 1.6710 for US dollars

Both of those rates look pretty good to me for over the counter purchase. Are they decent rates?

I rarely buy cash, prefering to use ATMs

Rates are gteed till close of business, are you telling me that if I went in store after getting this gtee that TC wont honour it?

stephb34

Yes TC do honour it until close of business and can also sell it at the r+c collect from the day before if a customer orders before 10am that morning (roughly when the rates are updated) and todays rate is less.
People lie all the time, had a girl tell me it was 1.22+ in a Tesco store today and it never was but she wouldn't buy unless we matched it. Oh also the commission we make is pants so hardly worth making rates up just to get the sale, but then I suppose there are rogues in all trades, just doesn't make all of us one.

angel00079

I am not sure if it was true but when I went to TC and checked rate that was higher than another competitor I was told they could check head office rate. This worked out to be 5 cents more and better than the other competitor.