One4All Rigmarole

Gummomarx

This is too long-winded to put down in proper prose, so here are the bullet points instead:

1: Dublin friend sends me €200 in Xmas gift cards.
2. Can't spend in the UK so I ask One4All for a refund.
3. One4All agrees and confirms no fees would apply.
4. Takes 21 days for £142.76 to reach First Direct - £30 under exchange rate at the time.
5. Contacted One4All: "First Direct did the conversion and we had no hand in fees".
6. First Direct agent responded: “I can only see the conversion rate of 1.18034092. There are no other fees showing on our end because we just receive the payment. Any other fees would appear in the sending bank.”

TadleyBaggie

It is what it is. You have no consumer rights, only the purchaser would have any right to complain.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652843/one4all-rigmarole

Even though One4All may not have imposed charges themselves, their bank may have done? In other words, One4All sending €200 to their bank and £142.76 reaching First Direct can both be correct.

ProcessMatters

What likely happened here is that no explicit “fee” was charged, but the conversion itself used a poor exchange rate somewhere in the chain. That can happen via the sending bank or an intermediary, even if One4All and First Direct are both technically telling the truth.

Unfortunately gift cards are particularly bad for this because you don’t get transparency on the FX rate applied, and as the recipient rather than the purchaser your options are very limited. Annoying, but probably not something you’ll be able to unwind.

flaneurs_lobster

Quite surprised that One4All allow you to convert this back to cash, even if the rate is pants.

If your kind friend wants to send you gift cards (and there are reasons why they are often not a good idea even when they are in the same currency as the recipient's home) then use a UK online supplier who will send a £ gift card (either electronic or physical) with no exchange rate issues (at least not to the recipient).

Maegi

International Payments | Send Money Abroad - first direct

First Direct don't seem to directly charge for receiving EUR from the EEA.

However, since leaving the EEA, some EUR payments are routed via HSBC France, who take a cut enroute to HSBC UK (including First Direct).

Largs

I can only see 1 thing in the story. You are £142 up. The end.

Happy shopping.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81861602#Comment_81861602

One other thing - if OP has a friend who's close enough to send a gift notionally valued at €200, they're presumably a good enough friend to accept a conversation about how the UK and Ireland actually use different currencies!

Gummomarx

Per One4All via email:
Please note that when funds are transferred to a GBP bank account, the exchange rate applied and any potential international transfer or intermediary bank charges are determined by the receiving financial institution and/or correspondent banks involved in the transfer process.

Per First Direct agent:
“I can only see the conversion rate of 1.18034092. There are no other fees showing on our end because we just receive the payment. Any other fees would appear in the sending bank.”

I had no issue with Santander last year having received very close to the Mastercard rate.

flaneurs_lobster

What isn't clear is who do One4All use to process the payment for onward send to your FD account, and what fee do they charge?

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862079#Comment_81862079

Yes, so One4All are agreeing that charges can be applied by intermediary banks as well as the ultimate receiving one.