Escape Travel Card - Didn't work don't bother

JA1000 · 20 September 2010 at 8:29AM

This is a warning to those who are thinking of taking out a prepaid travel card. I thought it was an excellent idea of being able to withdrawal 100€ and it being 100€ with not charges and the same for purchases.

Having recently travelled to Greece, Italy and France and it has failed. I have had it rejected at petrol stations, tolls and cashpoints meaning I have had use a credit card.

It has failed at banks cashpoints at times of urgency and caused real problems, on all occasions I have had to spend significant time on the phone to Escape at great cost to resolve issues, the latest being the £150 which was taken from my debit card without authorisation and one which they state they have no record.

It theory it's and excellent idea - the reality is a nightmare.

Just a warning.

cineman · 20 September 2010 at 9:08AM

My advice is to complain. And complain. And complain.

All additional charges you had to make because the card wasn't accepted - you should claim them back by way of a letter/phone call.

I've had a card now for almost a year and when my new card with my name on it went missing twice I got an inconvenience payment and even recouped ryanair charges that I had to pay by using other cards in that period.

Don't give up - keep insisting what you were right to expect from the card and how you've been let down

lisyloo · 20 September 2010 at 9:47AM

Also do NOT jsut take one card on holiday.
Something as simple as a magnetic strip failure could be a major problem.

I would suggest taking at least 2 cards, but not carrying them all around with you all the time.
So for example if you are on a city break then carry one card and some cash around with you and leave the rest in your hotel safe.
Should something happen then you can go back to the hotel to get another card but you don't need to carry your wordly goods around with you.
Obviously sometimes you need to carry more with you than at other times, depending on how far you are away from your base, but you don't need to take 8 cards when you go tothe local supermarket, it's just an unnecessary risk.

Darcy1980 · 20 September 2010 at 9:53AM

So glad you posted here buddy, We where just about to call into Phones4U today and top ours up with 300 euro for a trip to Italy next week. so glad was browsing and came across your post. the only worry now is what to do... its ok saying take 2 cards but we had planned to use the escape card for the saving on fees we are probably going to end up just using the bank card while away

any tips?

lisyloo · 20 September 2010 at 11:53AM

any tips?

If the cheaper card doesn't work, use the more expensive card (probably 3%, which isn't a huge deal).
Have a nice holiday, don't make any expensive phone calls and then worry about it when you get home, when you can make phone calls in the UK.

We all like to save the fees of course, but it's only 3% not 30%, so just get on with it, have a nice time and sort it out for next time, when you are in the UK and phone calls aren't giong to cost you a fortune.

It's a shame, but it's not a disaster.

JA1000 · 20 September 2010 at 1:02PM

I just felt let down by what it was supposed to do, if you get to a bank and it does work and you withdrawal €30 you get this amount taken off so I would say use it for cash but only to know where you stand, I was getting a much much better rate on my Nationwide Credit and Debit card.

I always carry about 5 cards and leave one in the hotel just in case. The card was just not all it was cracked up to be and I wanted others to know. I am still left with €10 on a card because it would let me with drawal the last amount until I lowered what I wanted, I don't understand this either.

The only benefit is that if the rate does change you can buy Euros at a good rate but this has to be offset by the fact you have to pay to do it immediately.

I also uploaded £1000 in phones4U, well you should have seen them when I walked into their shop asking for this to be done and the work it took to do it whilst the queue of phone credit people behind me built up. I thought it was funny. Seems stupid and far easier to do it by debit card so why they charge I don't know.

JA1000 · 20 September 2010 at 1:44PM

I have finally got through to them and I have found out that and amount of £150 I topped up the card with on 2nd August did not go through until the 9th September, I was informed by my bank and not Escape / Tuxedo who deny everything.

Because of this I have now cancelled all my cards and I would advise anyone thinking of taking one out not to bother, they just haven't got it right. I have more card receipts from the card being declined than I do being accepted and that doesn't include the cash points it didn't work in, despite there being plenty of funds.

As I stated before in theory a good idea but in reality a complete nightmare!!!!

Trubby · 22 June 2011 at 7:35PM

I used this card abroad for the first time recently and all was fine, but when i came back to the UK I found that I couldn't get my remaining cash out of an ATM so I checked their site to see if there was a minimum balance, but later found that the cause was that they levy a charge for ATM withdrawal in the UK, unlike abroad. That was bad enough but then I see all the other charges that they have - i've never seen so many! They have dormancy fees for when you don't use the card for 90 days. They charge it monthly from then on. I go on holiday once or twice a year not every 90 days or less! There's an annual fee of £4.50 and various other charges. I got this card to avoid credit card foreign transaction and Interest charges but i will end up paying more charges this way! The T&Cs are on the website but should be highlighted not tucked away since you'll inevitably incur them. I'm so disgusted I am going to cancel the card but guess what - they charge you £10 to cancel it!!!!!!!!

jonesMUFCforever · 22 June 2011 at 8:03PM

Sometimes the moral is - use the devil you know ie bank debit cards which have the infrastructure to sort this out.

Broken_Jar · 21 September 2011 at 3:50PM

Trubby wrote: »

I used this card abroad for the first time recently and all was fine, but when i came back to the UK I found that I couldn't get my remaining cash out of an ATM so I checked their site to see if there was a minimum balance, but later found that the cause was that they levy a charge for ATM withdrawal in the UK, unlike abroad. That was bad enough but then I see all the other charges that they have - i've never seen so many! They have dormancy fees for when you don't use the card for 90 days. They charge it monthly from then on. I go on holiday once or twice a year not every 90 days or less! There's an annual fee of £4.50 and various other charges. I got this card to avoid credit card foreign transaction and Interest charges but i will end up paying more charges this way! The T&Cs are on the website but should be highlighted not tucked away since you'll inevitably incur them. I'm so disgusted I am going to cancel the card but guess what - they charge you £10 to cancel it!!!!!!!!

I have the same card and was worried but the dormancy charges as, like you, I only go on holiday once a year. I rang them up and the dormancy is only charged after 1 year of inactivity. They said it was 3 months on the 'escape general spend card' (which apparently is different to the escape travel money card). I also asked them about the annual charge and they said they don't collect it on active cards. When I asked what 'active' was, he said if you're using the card they won't take the annual fee. My card is a year old next month so I will keep an eye out to see if they do take the fee.

The card isn't great for UK use but if you only use it abroad it can save you money. I used it abroad this year and it worked OK, wasn't rejected at any ATMs or restaurants I used it in but it was rejected at toll booths on the motorway and a "pay at pump" petrol station which I found annoying. I was going to complain but in fairness they do mention on their site that you can't use it there.

Escape Travel Card - Didn't work don't bother

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