Just a head's up for anyone travelling this summer. SWMBO has a friend from the UK staying at the moment, she arrived Thursday, flew out of Stanstead and bought some Euros at the airport. The MoneyCorp cashier was busy so she went to the multi-currency ATM next to the cashier. Inserted her card, selected the currency €, and was presented with a choice of pre-set amounts to dispense, she chose 240. The machine displayed the FX rate being applied and asked for her confirmation. She confirmed and the 240€ was duly dispensed. No problems there you would think. However, on cleaning out her purse yesterday evening prior to her return she takes closer look at the receipt the ATM gave her. That little transaction cost her £300. £300 to buy €240. A transaction that should have cost her around £210 +/- a bit due to charges etc. What the the ATM had displayed was an FX rate of 1 = 0.80. She thought one Euro was going to cost her 80p. But no. £1 was only buying €0.80c rather than €1.15 (ish). Being cynical one might think that MoneyCorp have flipped the FX rates around on purpose. But then they wouldn't do that would they? She wrote them an email to complain, they responded saying 'the rates are clearly displayed on the screen prior to confirmation' i.e. not our fault, 'the rate applied reflects the high cost of operating in an airport environment', i.e. bull. Just be aware.
Oh yes, airports are SO much more expensive than everywhere else, are’t they? I agree with you - bullshit!
Financially dubious action by a company. But fully legal as she agreed to the rate. Painful lesson to learn'
More often than not I use Travelex as they can/tend to have the best rate of exchange - I order on line to collect at the airport.
Captive audience innit. Like concession stands at concerts or at race events. I avoid them like the plague and more fool anyone that doesn't pre plan when going into an area of 'lockdown'. All that being said, I can never resist a massive white chocolate Toblerone at the airport. and if you're ever in Tokyo, you have to get some Tokyo Banana.
My mate forgot to get his euros when we were off on a stag do, he decided to get them at Manc airport, after giving the exchange rate the lad behind the counter asked for my mates passport, 'why do you need that?' My mate asked, before the cashier could reply I said 'so he can look in your eyes while bumming you!" How we laughed
I use revolut - pay with card/contactless and they let you take a small amount of cash out of atm at market rate. Thanks for warning @PaulPhillips - I’ve probably been stung many times and not realised.
