Currency exchange rip off rant
By Darren Cronian on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

I was supposed to be travelling to Berlin but due to issues with the train network I missed my flight. The day before I exchanged some money to Euros. I went to exchange the money back to Pounds, literally the day after, and my Euros’ when converted back were worth £370 but I had exchanged £430.

Currency exchange rip off rant

This meant I lost £60 in the space of 24 hours. The travel agencies and the post office say it’s commission free, but it’s not, well it can’t be. They give such a crap rate if you want to convert your Euros back to Pounds, and Thomas Cook made a nice tidy profit off me.

My advice is if your going on holiday and want to exchange Euros back to Pounds, don’t do it! Save it for your next holiday abroad instead. I wish I had done that now, because I’ve booked to go to Sardinia in April, which I am looking forward to, but I will be using my Maestro card to get foreign currency.


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15 responses to “Currency exchange rip off rant”

mike | 27 March, 2008 at 12:17 am

yea this currency exchange is nuts i also travel alot and i retail currency for a hobby and extra cash and the fluctuations from day to day are nuts so be careful

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Amanda Kendle | 27 March, 2008 at 8:59 am

Wow, that’s *extremely* frustrating! Definitely agree with the advice to just hold on to Euros. Even though I’m now based back in Australia I still have Euro cash that I haven’t exchanged – I figure that even if it’s a year or two before I’m visiting Europe again, I’ll lose less just by keeping hold of the cash than by converting it twice.

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Mary Goudie | 27 March, 2008 at 9:25 am

Absolutely, the best way is just to stick your credit card into an ATM machine when you get there. I live on the continent and the machines even give you the instructions in English or what ever the language of your card is. By all means take a little emergency money in the foreign currency but anyone thinking of buying travelers cheques or exchanging money at the bank or the travel agents are still living in the days of Fillous Fogg and hot air balloons!!

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Lee Harrison (owner Select World Travel) | 27 March, 2008 at 10:56 am

I’m Surprised in a way, that more hasn’t been done about the advertising of ” Comission Free” services offered by Forex outlets! All that has happened is that outlets can choose their own amount of commission by not taking a commission, but by changing the exchange rate offered to their advantage. Not forgetting that it is a service and costs outlets in extra security measures, training of staff, etc, etc which has to be paid for some how
To Be Frank unless, dealing in Thousands an Thousands of Pounds, the average person will probably waste more money by shopping around for Currency than just buying it from their nearest outlet!
The Rates for exchanging back are always going to be less than the Purchase value, as Euros are so widely accepted, and most People on a normal package Holiday are dealing in Peanuts when talking holiday money, so best keep it for the next holiday or trade it with a friend who may pay the same exchange rate.

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Darren Cronian | 27 March, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Good tip Lee about trading the currency with a friend.

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Brenda Fields | 28 March, 2008 at 6:11 pm

We jsut keep it locked up safe until we travel again, it’s not worth converting back., even when the Euro and Pound was stronger.

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Richard Hawkes | 29 March, 2008 at 4:23 am

It is not just selling that is a rip off but actually buying it too.

We bought Euros for 1.26 to the pound 10 days ago, now it’s 1.22.

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Jason McIntyre | 30 March, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Join the Euro.

Problem solved.

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Darren Cronian | 30 March, 2008 at 2:07 pm

No thanks.

Don’t you miss your Irish punt. I think you loose your identity when you move on to the Euro, that’s my personal opinion mind.

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G Wallace | 7 April, 2008 at 2:55 pm

There is a really easy solution to all of this.
Its overdue that we change to using the Euro in theUK. If you dont agree then shut up and pay for your soverignty! whatever that means.

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Darren Cronian | 7 April, 2008 at 4:48 pm

@ G Wallace

Ahh, you have started an whole new discussion now. I can see some advantages of buying into the Euro, but I’d like us to be unique and stick with our currency.

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G Wallace | 9 April, 2008 at 11:50 am

It is just this misplaced emotional need for uniqueness which is boosting the profits of money exchanges and we will continue to let them rip us off if we maintain this position. In any event do we expect them to provide this service for free?
Most transactions today are carried out by credit card, checks, or electronic banking. Cash transactions are dwindling daily, so the uniqueness of the currency matters not a jot.
Scotland and N. Ireland have there own paper money and a version of UK coinage and we use it in England, Many large shops here already accept Euros from tourists so the concept of uniqueness is already a fallacy. I just don’t care whose picture is on the money or what we call it, just as long as I get the same value for my earnings where ever I spend it. Especially within the EEC which, like it or not we, are part of.
It is all the same market but the business I work for pays a fortune in exchange charges just to purchase components with English pounds and re sell the finished products in the EEC. There is no real logic in this.
It’s inevitable that if the UK stays in the EEC we will revert to the Euro. For good financial reasons, this should have been done years ago. Holiday money within the EEC would then cease to be an issue. So what price a piece of paper with the queen’s face on it? If you really want this, buy a stamp!

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Marion | 29 July, 2008 at 12:53 pm

I Agree with Jason , we should just joint the Euro and then there would be no bloody exchange rates!!!!!

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Darren Cronian | 7 August, 2008 at 6:46 am

It’s interesting to hear peoples comments about moving to the Euro. I can’t see that happening any time soon though.

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chris | 11 May, 2009 at 8:11 am

we exchanged from pounds to euros recently to go on holiday at 1.07 even though the actuall exchange rate was 1.12 at the time…. 1.07 was the best we found.
when we got back we had 60 euro’s left ….. and we got 1.31 as a return exchange.

how disgusting is that.

They all say its now commission free but to be honest I prefered it when it was comisision based as you knew they all exchanged at the correct market rate .

now they can change their rates however they like and actualy earn more than they used to…

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