TravelFX beware of punitive cancellation charges

WhitlocksEnd

A salutary tale about my experience with TravelFX which may be of interest.

On the Thursday 22nd January 2015 I ordered some currency online with TravelFX. The money was taken from bank account at approximately 14.30. According to the company’s terms and conditions orders received after midday will be actioned the following day.

At 14.15 on Friday 23rd January, almost twenty four hours after money was taken from my bank account I received notification that my order was about to be dispatched. I was concerned that delivery would not be made on time so I contacted TravelFX by phone only to be informed that this would indeed be the case as they 'had been let down by suppliers and run out of stock'. The money would be sent out on Monday 26th January for delivery on Tuesday 27th January. This was of little use as it was required by my son who was departing for his holiday on Sunday 26th January.

As the money would not arrive in time, as stated on my order, I had no alternative to cancel and charged a punitive fee of £93.81 on an order of £702.59. I spoke with one of the managers at TravelFX, but he was totally intransigent and unsympathetic to my request for the cancellation fee to be waived/reduced and continually bombarded me with the phrase ‘terms & conditions’. These are both confusing and contradictory! At no time was I advised of the high cost of cancellation.

My concerns are:

if TravelFX had acted on my order in a timely fashion, cancellation would not be necessary.
to run out of stock is no excuse
they are profiting excessively from a cancellation charge, surely a common currency like the Euros could easily have been used for another client.

DTDfanBoy

You clearly had alternatives to simply cancelling your order, selling back the Euros would have saved you quite a bit of money.

ceivegz

I've had the same problem with Travel FX -- every email I've had from them states the "required date" as being 24/3/2016 and makes reference to delivery taking place in 24 hours but they tell me they can't deliver until next Wednesday! Admittedly it is Easter weekend, but that's still 3 working days. If I want to cancel I have to pay fees of £96!! To avoid doing this I'm now having the euros sent to a neighbour and using them next time I go away.

Voyager2002

You had a contract for delivery by a certain date, and they failed to fulfil their side of the contract. Under these circumstances they cannot impose any cancellation charge.

Send them a 'notice before action' (making it clear that you require a full refund, and will initiate court proceedings if they fail to oblige) and if that does not work then use the small claims track to take them to court.

blindman

ceivegz wrote: »

I've had the same problem with Travel FX -- every email I've had from them states the "required date" as being 24/3/2016 and makes reference to delivery taking place in 24 hours but they tell me they can't deliver until next Wednesday! Admittedly it is Easter weekend, but that's still 3 working days. If I want to cancel I have to pay fees of £96!! To avoid doing this I'm now having the euros sent to a neighbour and using them next time I go away.

What I do not understand in this electronic age is why you are wanting loads of cash to take with you on holiday?

Not read this about how to spend abroad?

titannia101

We have just had the same experience - wish I read the forums more often :-(
I ordered from travelFX because of their good exchange rate, mentions on this website and because they send currency by Royal Mail Insured Special Guaranteed Next Day Delivery.

We were travelling Monday 6th so I paid by 12 on Friday (as per their website terms) expecting the currency to arrive Saturday by RMGNDD. It didn't so I rang Monday morning to check I would get it by 1pm that day. They said no, it hadn't been dispatched; probably because they had run out of that specific currency. When I asked to cancel I was told there was a £25 charge plus the cost of the trade reversal.

Previously I've ordered currency online with icici bank and fairFX - both did next day delivery with no problem. I won't use TravelFX again - and suggest no one else does either! Important terms and conditions should be clear on the webite - TravelFX hide them in the small print which, to me is sharp practice.

In reply to blindman's comment above. I buy currency prior to travel to be able to pay small amounts without having to get out my zero commission excellent exchange rate credit card. I can pay the taxi driver, buy drinks and a snack and give tips to staff.

zagfles

titannia101 wrote: »

We have just had the same experience - wish I read the forums more often :-(
I ordered from travelFX because of their good exchange rate, mentions on this website and because they send currency by Royal Mail Insured Special Guaranteed Next Day Delivery.

We were travelling Monday 6th so I paid by 12 on Friday (as per their website terms) expecting the currency to arrive Saturday by RMGNDD. It didn't so I rang Monday morning to check I would get it by 1pm that day. They said no, it hadn't been dispatched; probably because they had run out of that specific currency. When I asked to cancel I was told there was a £25 charge plus the cost of the trade reversal.

Previously I've ordered currency online with icici bank and fairFX - both did next day delivery with no problem. I won't use TravelFX again - and suggest no one else does either! Important terms and conditions should be clear on the webite - TravelFX hide them in the small print which, to me is sharp practice.

In reply to blindman's comment above. I buy currency prior to travel to be able to pay small amounts without having to get out my zero commission excellent exchange rate credit card. I can pay the taxi driver, buy drinks and a snack and give tips to staff.

So all that hassle just because you don't want to 'get out' your card and use it in an ATM at the airport? Is shoving a card into an ATM really more hassle than ordering cash to arrive by post, even if everything does go smoothly?

Maybe banks should start offering the service for GBP - if foreign currency, why not GBP? Why go to the bother of getting your card out and going to an ATM when you can order cash in the post? Wonder if it'll catch on...