Travel money question

Tink660

I feel like I have been mugged off, we went to the travel agents who we booked our holiday with to change up currency after checking their exchange rate as being 1.325. We were making two separate transactions, after the first one I realised that they had only given us a rate of 1.242. When I questioned it I was told that was the bank rate and their rate wasn’t as high. I pointed out and showed her that it clearly states their exchange rate online as 1.325!
she went to another computer and said that she could offer that rate on the next transaction but couldn’t do it on the previous one. Not once during the first transaction did she mention the exchange rate. Can they do this, if I had known I would have taken my business elsewhere to get the rate I was expecting.

Sandtree

Tink660 said:

I feel like I have been mugged off, we went to the travel agents who we booked our holiday with to change up currency after checking their exchange rate as being 1.325. We were making two separate transactions, after the first one I realised that they had only given us a rate of 1.242. When I questioned it I was told that was the bank rate and their rate wasn’t as high. I pointed out and showed her that it clearly states their exchange rate online as 1.325!
she went to another computer and said that she could offer that rate on the next transaction but couldn’t do it on the previous one. Not once during the first transaction did she mention the exchange rate. Can they do this, if I had known I would have taken my business elsewhere to get the rate I was expecting.

Many currency places offer a different online rate (where customers can compare more easily and are more price sensitive) than they do instore... most of them require you to book the rate online to get it.

Assuming the story goes that you went online saw 1.325 and then without doing anything else when instore, got told your £100 would get you $124.20 and you said ok then they've done nothing wrong. 

Differential pricing is getting increasingly common and as in person transactions are final (subject to faulty items etc) its your responsibility to check the price before you buy.

AlexMac

But on the upside; travel agents have had a difficult couple of years, so shaving a few quid (6%?) off your travel spend seems fair game?

On the downside, if you'd checked this website's own "travelmoney max"  and (like me) had a pensioner's travel card and time to chase around for the cheapest deal- you'd have got 15% more bang for your buck; 1.399 US dollars to the pound today at my local FX dealer down the road; where I went this week for my Euros at 1.18; but at only 2.5% better than the 1.15 at the Post Office, arguably not worth the trip!
https://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

CKhalvashi

It looks like you have purchased at the offline rate. You would be expected to ask what the rate is.

This site has a good comparison, but you'd get a much better rate still with a specialist provider such as Wise (not FSCS protected but they are required to safeguard your money) or a specialist card.